Residential Rental Inspection
Residential Rental Inspection (RRI)
Since September 1, 2020, Buildings and Inspections (B&I), has administered a Residential Rental Property Inspection (RRI) Program. The RRI is established in response to concerns raised by tenants, neighbors, community councils, and housing advocates regarding substandard conditions in rental housing. An initial pilot program demonstrated that additional oversight of wayward housing providers through routine and ongoing inspection motivates and incentivizes the correction of code violations and the continued maintenance required to prevent deterioration of housing stock. The program is to ensure that rental property in the neighborhoods is compliant with applicable building, housing, and zoning codes. Currently it is active in seven neighborhoods: (Avondale, Clifton-Fairview-University Heights, College Hill, East Price Hill, Madisonville, West Price Hill, and Westwood). These neighborhoods were selected due to the higher number of rental properties, aged housing stock, and the volume of code violations.
In addition, the program attempts to address problems associated with poorly operating housing providers. If a housing provider owns a property within any of the identified neighborhoods that falls into disrepair and otherwise becomes eligible for the rental inspection program, the eligibility will trigger a review of the owner’s entire portfolio located anywhere within the corporate limits of the City of Cincinnati. Any properties owned by the same owner will be reviewed to determine if there has been a pattern of neglect. Those eligible properties will enter the RRI Program and receive additional attention until fully code compliant. The same eligibility criteria such as history of non-compliance will be used to determine eligibility of properties both in the focus neighborhoods, and when triggered by ownership throughout the City.
The owner of a property that has unresolved code violations, delinquent property tax bills, a history of health and/or safety violations, or meeting other similar criteria is required to apply for the Residential Rental Inspection Certificate for every eligible property, and is subject to an inspection of each property as part of the certification process.
All Initial inspections are charged an inspection fee of $100 per unit. All units at the location identified above require initial inspection. If violations are found on initial inspection, follow-up re-inspections and escalating reinspection fees will be required until code compliance is reached. To avoid re-inspections and fees, survey and correct violations on your property before your inspection by using the Pre-Inspection Guide and Checklist below. This will help ensure your success and minimize expenses.
All registrations must be filed via this website. If you have any questions, please call us at 513-352-3275 or CINCYRRR@cincinnati-oh.gov.