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With the weather suddenly plunging in to a deep freeze, the city of Detroit wants to make sure people have heat.
The city of Detroit on Wednesday issued a statement say that building inspectors are putting apartment building owners on notice that they have to have heat systems working or they'll face possible fines.
Specifically, the city's Building Safety, Engineering and Environmental Department (BSEED) is targeting 143 buildings that been issued correction orders to address issues with their heating and cooling systems in the past year. Inspectors have been visiting the buildings to determine whether the ordered corrections have been made, the city says. If they haven't, owners are ticketed and fined.
“Inspectors try to visit buildings annually and will respond immediately to complaints of heating problems,” David Bell, director of BSEED, says in a statement, adding:
“Renters are often at the mercy of their landlords, so this is part of a stepped up effort to make sure the owners of these buildings are in compliance with their heating and cooling systems, as well as other important code and safety issues.
"Our goal is to work with every property owner and to get them into compliance without tickets or fines. But if conditions warrant, we will take whatever steps are necessary to protect the occupants of a rental property.”
Any tenant with heating problems or other serious issues at their building can contact BSEED at (313) 628-2451 or propertymaintenance@detroitmi.gov.
In January, it will provide an online form to submit and a search engine to verify that properties are registered and have compliance certificates.
