Jefferson Parish law restricts what code inspectors can cite for inside rental units

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Jefferson Parish leaders admit they could hold more negligent landlords responsible if code enforcement inspectors could cite for more violations inside rental units. But we found current parish law restricts the violations for which inspectors can cite.

Inside the Jefferson Parish Council chambers, property owners regularly face fines and violations at code enforcement hearings.

A four-plex on Destrehan Avenue in Harvey was included in that number during a hearing last month, for problems outside. But as assistant parish attorney Jourdan Mohamad explains, current Jefferson Parish law gives inspectors almost no authority to step inside.

“If you look at a lot of the property maintenance ordinances, most of them use the word ‘exterior’ throughout, so it’s not so much that they prohibit us, it’s just that it doesn’t give us the authority to really do anything once we’re inside,” Mohamad said.

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Inspectors can note blatant utility failures, such as lack of air conditioning or heating. But Mohamad admits, “Even then, those are things that we are usually able to see without going in.”

Bound by those parish codes, inspectors can’t mimic what’s happening in New Orleans. Under Orleans Parish’s Healthy Homes initiative, inspectors can go inside rental units if a tenant makes a complaint to assess if they have clean and habitable housing.

“You do have some great protections in New Orleans that, unfortunately, have not found themselves out into Jefferson Parish and into some of the outlying parishes,” said Christopher Kerrigan, an attorney focusing on medical-legal partnership at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

Housing advocate Y. Frank Southall, with the Jane Place Neighborhood Sustainability Initiative, says he’s seen the benefits of the Healthy Homes ordinance in New Orleans and how it gives renters a critical lifeline when landlords ignore their complaints.

“I know in our metro area, on the South Shore, Orleans Parish is the most proactive about inspections inside buildings,” Southall said.

But in Jefferson Parish, Mohamad says, “Anywhere the mailman can go or your meter maid can go, that’s typically our rule of thumb for inspectors. But crossing the front house line, going into backyards behind someone’s fence, that raises concerns for us.”

Such boundaries have real consequences for renters such as Alexis Scott. She was evicted from her Destrehan Avenue apartment after withholding rent over living conditions that she says she repeatedly reported to the parish over the past year. Those conditions included a hole that Scott said allowed rodents to enter, a broken window and possible mold.

Despite what she showed us, Scott says inspectors never stepped foot inside her home.

“They need to come in and see -- physically -- because just judging by the outside, it could be 1,000 times worse (on) the inside,” Scott said.

Scott says her landlord told her to make repairs to the unit and deduct money from her rent, but that some of the repairs were too expensive for a young, single mom. Had Scott lived in New Orleans, she could have filed a complaint with Healthy Homes and let an inspector view her concerns. Southall said he believes those protections shouldn’t be restricted to one parish.

“We want to ensure that everyone has access to the same things that the people have in Orleans Parish,” Southall said.

Fox 8 found most parishes in southeast Louisiana have similar exterior-only inspections. Some advocates contend that real reform might require state lawmakers to step in.

“I think something similar to what New Orleans has done with the Healthy Homes program,” Kerrigan suggested. “You do on a parish-by-parish basis or on a state level, but certainly requiring some degree of inspections or when there is a complaint, making sure there is someone from code enforcement out there to follow up.”

Landlords often face fines when violations are found on their properties. After several violations, the parish can take legal action against the owner of a rental property.

“Yes, if we had more ordinances that gave us more ability to do things on the inside, that would give us more things to cite for and then we could bring that to the judges and allow us to fine more,” Mohamad said.

That leaves housing advocates wondering how many more tenants could be helped in Jefferson Parish and negligent landlords held responsible, should leaders take another look at the law.

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