Code Enforcement

Beautiful Street View of Charlotte Neighborhood

Code Enforcement works to improve the appearance of Charlotte’s communities and maintain standards of living across the city. This HNS division helps strengthen Charlotte’s neighborhoods by addressing nuisance, housing, non-residential building code and zoning violations, and works with owners and tenants to bring properties into compliance. 

The city’s code inspectors are out in the community every day, proactively canvassing neighborhoods to identify and address violations before they become complaints. The people who work in Code Enforcement are highly trained and dedicated professionals.  They approach issues in a responsive and proactive manner to ensure basic living and working standards are enforced in every community.  The Code Enforcement Division investigates more than 50,000 properties per year.

 

Video Transcript

Intro

0:06

Hi, my name is Jane Taylon and I am the code enforcement division

0:09

manager for the housing and Neighborhood Services division

0:12

at the City of Charlotte.

What is Code Enforcement?

0:13

The code Enforcement division is responsible for enforcing

0:16

several local ordinances. These include the health and

0:19

sanitation ordinance, the minimum Housing Code Ordinance,

0:22

the non residential building code ordinance and the zoning

0:25

ordinance.

What is the Health & Sanitation Ordinance?

0:27

The health and Sanitation Ordinance, also known as the

0:30

Nuisance Ordinance, requires property owners to maintain

0:33

their premises in a safe and sanitary condition and is only

0:36

enforced within the city limits.

0:39

Nuisance violations may include overgrown vegetation, junk motor

0:44

vehicles and neglected conditions.

What is the Minimum Housing Code Ordinance?

0:50

The minimum Housing Code Ordinance sets basic standards

0:53

that homeowners, tenants and landlords must follow to ensure

0:57

residential properties are in a safe and clean condition.

1:00

Housing violations may include an operable smoke and carbon

1:04

monoxide detectors, broken windows and electrical, plumbing

1:07

or structural issues.

What is the Non-Residential Building Code Ordinance

1:14

The non residential building Code Ordinance makes sure our

1:17

cities commercial structures are safe and sanitary. It helps make

1:20

Charlotte a great place to live and work, and forcing standards

1:23

for the healthy upkeep of places where many of us spend our time.

What is the Zoning Ordinance?

1:31

The Zoning ordinance outlines how a property can be used

1:34

without this type of ordinance. A factory might be built in the

1:37

middle of a park or a nightclub next to a school. Zoning

1:40

prevents this by ensuring the way a property is used supports

1:44

the safety and well-being of its surrounding neighborhood. Zoning

1:47

violations include operating a business without a permit, large

1:50

commercial vehicles and residential neighborhoods,

1:53

construction without permits and property use not allowed for a

1:57

zoning classification.

1:59

Code inspectors are out in the community every day, working

What do code inspectors do?

2:02

alongside our partners. We proactively canvas our

2:05

neighborhoods to identify and address violations. We partner

2:08

with our neighborhood organizations to conduct

2:11

outreach efforts through knock and talks to educate our

2:14

residents, and we partner with our colleagues in the Community

2:17

engagement division to provide targeted outreach as needed for

2:21

our residents. One thing to keep in mind is we can't do it alone,

2:24

ways that you can help include joining your neighborhood

What can residents do to help?

2:28

organization.

2:28

Or becoming active in your homeowners association, reaching

2:33

out to neighbors who may be struggling with property

2:36

maintenance to see how you may be able to help and reporting

2:40

code concerns to the city. Now let's talk about how to report a

How to Report a Code Violation

2:45

suspected code violation. There are three different ways to

2:49

report a suspected violation to the city. They are over the

2:53

phone using the CLT plus mobile application and through

2:57

servicerequest.charlottenc.gov.

3:00

First, let's talk about how to file a report by phone. To do

Filing a code violation report by phone (311)

3:03

this, dial 311 to connect with a customer service representative.

3:07

The CSR will ask what type of violation is being reported to

3:11

ensure it gets routed correctly. The CSR may also ask for

3:14

additional details to ensure the inspector has enough information

3:18

to identify the suspected violation.

3:21

To make the call run more efficiently, please have

3:23

prepared the exact address and a description of the violation.

3:27

After reporting through 311 filers can expect a nuisance and

3:30

zoning complaint to be inspected within 3 business days and to be

3:34

contacted by the inspector if they provide contact

3:37

information.

3:40

To file through the SLT mobile app, download the app on your

Filing a code violation report via the CLT+ mobile app

3:43

smartphone after it is downloaded, launch the app and

3:46

select the appropriate request.

Filing a code violation report through www.servicerequest.charlottenc.gov

3:52

Next, let's talk about how to file through

3:55

servicerequest.charlotte.gov. On this page, you need to select a

3:59

request under neighborhoods or zoning for suspected code

4:02

violations.

4:06

To learn more about submitting a report of a suspected code

4:10

violation, visit charlottenc.gov and in the search bar type

4:13

report a code violation.

4:16

Thank you for watching.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Video Transcript

Brian McGinnis (Nuisance and Housing)

0:04

Unknown: What's interesting about this position is, we

0:07

mentioned a typical day, our days typically aren't typical,

0:12

because it's ever changing. Ultimately, every, every address

0:18

every case is going to be different. It just is. You may

0:21

have a renter, you may have an owner, you may have something

0:24

that's vacant, sometimes the ordinance, you have to discern

0:28

how you're going to handle a tree falling in someone's yard,

0:32

then it falls into the neighbor's yard. Well, whose

0:34

fault is it who needs to clean up the tree? Well, it's on both

0:37

properties. So sometimes there's a lot of discernment that you

0:40

have to make as well. That's the part of the position again, that

0:44

I enjoy just determining how to handle certain specially your

0:49

your more intricate cases. And there's always those cases

0:52

you're going to have that's just that's tucked into the woods

0:55

that you didn't even know existed and they've got a

0:57

junkyard going on, and we don't even know it was there. So all

1:01

cases, you know, whether it's just your simple, tall weeds and

1:05

grass, to your neglected conditions where they have 28

1:09

cars on the property. So there's varying degrees of complexity to

1:14

it.

Alexander Davila (Nuisance and Zoning)

1:16

So we have an ordinance that's written the city has written in,

1:20

and there's certain specific things that would be considered

1:24

a nuisance violation. So when it comes to bulky items out on a

1:29

property, high weeds and grass, the litter, having rollout

1:34

containers out on the street, after day of pickup, these are

1:38

things that are a small part of the bigger ordinance as written

1:43

on the nuisance. Our job, again, is to go out there and enforce

1:47

this stuff and make sure that people are abiding by this

1:51

ordinance and making sure that the properties are clean and

1:55

well maintained.

Maggie Rodriguez (Nuisance and Housing)

1:58

As soon as I arrive in the parking lot, because I always

2:01

try to come here first. And I'll usually be sitting in the

2:06

parking lot out front. But normally, I will come in, I'll

2:09

sit out in the parking lot, I will refresh my mobile app, I

2:15

will start up my laptop, get all my things situated all

2:20

everything I need to work. And the first thing I do is I look

2:23

at my itinerary

The Day Begins for the Code Enforcement Officers

2:28

he's playing when I walk in what I'm doing, one of the first

2:30

things that I'm doing is, I'm going straight to my itinerary.

2:34

itinerary is gonna let me know, any new cases that might have

2:37

come in overnight. So those are the things that I have to take

2:41

care of that's priority. Now, one of the things that that's

2:45

very helpful for us is the QC code app. And I'm going to go

2:49

into it now. So this app right here is very good app, it gives

2:53

us a map of the textbooks that we handle. So the green dots,

2:59

those are all my zoning cases that I have opened the red ones

3:04

on the nuisance cases. So what I usually do, when I come in, I

3:09

usually go ahead and look to see where I'm at. That's the blue

3:13

dot. And I work my way back. So my first case i'll probably hit

3:18

will probably be up here. I'm gonna work my way from here. And

3:22

I'm going to circle around, come take care of the cases that are

3:26

in the middle, and eventually make it back to the office.

3:32

For nuisance cases, I have my parking on the lawn information

3:38

card. And these are final warnings. And then this these

3:43

are just nuisance ones that we put on there when we're doing a

3:47

new complaint. And I have my building inspection tags as well

3:54

as vehicle tags. So I try to keep everything in this little

4:00

packet here so it's

4:02

readily available to me. So I keep that back here

4:11

from day to day, I'll work on however many cases that are in

4:15

my itinerary that day. Now this case here so I've read this and

4:19

this again, going into what I what I tried to do try to get

4:23

acclimated, I like to get an idea of what I'm walking into

4:26

the caller says that there's a Aldi that's wrecked black with

4:30

no no tag, whole front end rack so they're saying that this is

4:34

an abandoned vehicle. So at some point today I'll go out to this

4:38

property and try to locate this car to see if it is in fact

4:41

abandoned. And I'll tag it as such

Abandoned Vehicle

4:50

so I'm filling out the paperwork. Now I'm going to

4:52

place a sticker on the vehicle so if someone owns this car they

4:56

know to come remove it within the seven days they have a date

4:58

on here they have my name, my number to reach out to me to say

5:02

hey, this is written and abandoned. But it can't stay on

5:05

the street like this, we do allow for street parking. But we

5:09

don't allow people to store vehicles on the street. So in

5:12

this case, it doesn't have a tag either. And it's wreck. So it's

5:16

definitely would be considered abandonment in this case,

5:18

because it's reg. A hazard as well. So what I'll do is I'll

5:25

get the VIN number. And we'll run a plate to insure or run the

5:32

van to see if we can get in or any information, I'll send the

5:36

owner, the yellow copy of this, if I can, if any information

5:40

comes back, sometimes there's no information that comes back, I

5:45

try to put it in a way that's very conspicuous to where folks

5:48

can see it, whether they're coming. Or going, in this case,

5:57

I want to make sure I can get the picture of the red sticker

6:01

plus the damage to the front of the vehicle. To illustrate the

6:06

fact that I've listed it as a hazard. All right, and that's

6:12

it. And what I'll do, whether I do it in, in the field, or in

6:16

the office, I'll input the data into the case of what we found

6:25

for zoning, a nuisance inspector, for me, most of my

6:30

stuff can be handled on the field. And this is my, you know

6:34

what, this is my office, we have a cubicle, but basically, you

6:39

know, we won't, you know, we're with our laptops, everything

6:42

that we need to be done from here.

Neglect of Premise

6:53

This address right here has a lot of bulky items in the front.

6:57

This is neglect right here. You see how you have garbage bags,

7:01

you have some material, a pallet, you have all this stuff

7:05

thrown out. So I'm gonna go ahead and write them off. So

7:14

this here, will be in neglect the premise, it looks like

7:17

there's a lot of trash and stuff on the property. And they also

7:21

have a parking on the lawn issue. So we're gonna address

7:25

the neglect the premise issue, I'm gonna go ahead and write

7:28

them up for it. And I'm gonna go ahead and start the process. And

7:31

the process for me is pretty simple, it's just the same as

7:34

the other ones, we're gonna go ahead and take our pictures,

7:37

we're gonna go send them a notice of violation, we're going

7:40

to come back and re inspect and if they haven't cleaned it up,

7:43

we'll try to make contact with them. If they still haven't

7:46

cleaned it up, we'll go ahead and abate the property.

7:55

Now, as you can see, we have a little vicious one out the door.

7:59

So a lot of times when you have a dog like that, protecting his

8:02

home is a good time. Sometimes it's good to just keep your

8:07

distance, you don't want to get big safety first. You know, you

8:11

take your picture you get in your truck, you write them off,

8:14

you don't want to take the chance that the dogs aggressive,

8:16

it doesn't matter if he's a small dog, or big dog. Safety

8:19

first, always be safe. Sometimes people don't understand that

8:26

going on to the property and telling them what to do with

8:29

their property and what permits they have to get in order to do

8:34

certain things on a property is the challenging part. Because a

8:37

lot of people and I'm be honest, you know, before working for

8:40

code enforcement, I wouldn't have understood that myself. I

8:44

buy a property I figure I can do whatever I want to do with the

8:47

property. Well, yes and no. If you want to build this huge

8:52

structure and have people living in it, well you have to go

8:55

through the proper channels and see if it's even allowed in the

8:58

zoning designation. Because once you understand and this is what

9:01

I get for most people, anytime you educate somebody on

9:05

something and they understand that then they understand why

9:07

I'm there

Unsafe Building

9:19

what I'm going to do today is just put up my posting for an

9:23

unsafe conditions unsafe building, I had a referral from

9:29

CMPD regarding a fire at this location. I've already conducted

9:33

my inspection and ordered my title search for the property.

9:38

The property is definitely very unsafe. So I'm going to be

9:42

posting this on the property now to keep folks from injuring.

9:59

So the property also had a lot of debris due to the fire Of

10:04

course, and the owner has since picked up all the debris that

10:08

was out here at the time of the initial inspection. So now my

10:12

case, as far as the paperwork, a portion of it, and the

10:16

inspection portion of it is complete. So now we'll just wait

10:19

for the owner to deal with her insurance companies and

10:22

adjusters and to try and figure out what they're going to do

10:24

with the property either they're going to demolish it, or

10:28

renovate it and bring it back up to code.

Collaboration with CMPD (Officer Contreras and Officer Castro)

10:42

We're at another housing case, I got two of my community policing

10:47

officers. We have officer Contreras here with me. And I

10:51

also have officer Castro, they are part of the Community

10:54

Policing Team in this area. And they assisted me with this

10:58

particular housing case that was called in as a complaint due to

11:02

a vacant house being occupied. without authorization by

11:06

squatters. So the city did receive that complaint, we came

11:09

in with the assistance of CMPD, we completed the inspection in

11:13

the interior, as well as the exterior, the case was opened,

11:17

we did get in touch with the owner, they are actively or were

11:22

actively making renovations, when we first took the case,

11:26

they are on a time limit, they do have 60 days, I did provide

11:31

an extension. So I gave them another 30 days to show

11:34

improvement of the renovations in the property at that time,

11:37

then I'll come back out, do another inspection and see where

11:42

they are with repairs and bringing the property up to

11:44

code. The property is secured, it's boarded up to prevent any

11:48

more squatters from entering the structure. So the case is still

11:52

active until the all the renovations are completed and

11:57

all the permits are closed, and everything passes and meets

12:02

code, then at that time, it'll be closed. But right now the

12:04

case is still active with the city of Charlotte. So that's

12:07

where we are with this particular case.

Community Engagement

12:15

I pride myself on the human aspect of things. As far as I'm

12:19

going to use a home that looks neglected. And I've gone into

12:24

properties before for a nuisance complaint. And I've literally

12:29

thought the price the place was abandoned. And I go to the

12:33

property. And I leave my door hanger, I leave the information,

12:38

I take pictures of all the really the dilapidated

12:40

conditions of the grounds. And I get a phone call. And they

12:46

explained to me, you know, they asked, well, what's wrong with

12:48

my property? And I explained to them, and I'll also say, what is

12:51

everything? Okay, because when I came to your property, I thought

12:56

that it was abandoned. That's how bad it is, you know? So I'll

13:01

ask this person, are you okay? Do you need help? Because we do

13:04

have city resources that can go out and help folks that are in

13:08

need. Right? So community engagement, we tried to get them

13:12

in touch with folks who maybe they need some help with their

13:15

landscaping, maybe they need a new roof. We do have resources

13:20

for those folks. So not only and again, I can't speak for all

13:24

inspectors. But when I go out and see something like that, I

13:28

think goodness, there's got to be something else going on. So I

13:31

really tried to use that human aspect that that reaching out to

13:36

someone say, are you okay? You know, because we all go through

13:40

difficult times, right? So, you know, we want to make things

13:43

better. We want to improve the city, we want the city to look

13:48

nice when folks from out of town can see it. We want to keep our

13:53

city vibrant and growing and, and educating folks think that

14:01

this job is amazing. I think that I'm not gonna let me

Job Fulfillment

14:06

rephrase. I know the job is amazing. Because you get a

14:10

fulfillment from the job. You know, it's it's one of those

14:13

jobs that you can see something where you started at A and ends

14:16

at Z, and you saw the process go through. And when it gets to Z

14:21

when you finally closing a case, you feel fulfilled, and you did

14:26

a great justice to the community. Now the community is

14:29

looking better. You can take pride and say, I bet that and a

14:34

community is very appreciative of the job that you do. So if

14:39

you want to feel fulfilled, you want to work with a great team.

14:42

You want to work with great management. This is the place