Phase 2 of “Oakland Blitz” will bring city inspectors indoors to cite landlord violations

Phase two of city government’s Oakland clean-up initiative is set to begin next week.

The… Phase two of city government’s Oakland clean-up initiative is set to begin next week.

The first phase of the “Oakland Blitz” kicked off in early May when Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg accompanied five city building inspectors as they canvassed the neighborhood issuing citations for exterior building code violations: broken sidewalks, graffiti, overflowing Dumpsters, littered lots and general neglect.

Phase two of the Blitz, loosely scheduled for August, will bring inspectors inside buildings to look for such interior code violations as holes in walls, stained carpets, leaks or water spots on the ceilings and walls, broken doors and functional plumbing, among other things.

Inspectors will circulate door to door and ask residents for permission to inspect the interiors of properties. They will only inspect, though, if tenants voluntarily welcome the inspectors into their units. This means students will have to answer the door and give the OK for inspectors to come through.

Students should clean their apartments and be available to point out anything in a state of disrepair to inspectors that they noticed when they moved in.

Upon inspection, officials will issue citations to landlords who have failed to maintain their properties.

The idea of the blitz is to make Oakland a safer place for its student-heavy population.

“The intention is not to pick on landlords,” G. Reynolds Clark, Pitt’s vice chancellor for Community and Governmental Relations, said in May. “The intention is for quality off-campus living for students who make the choice to live off campus.”

The city and the University also want to educate students about renting.

John Wilds, Pitt’s assistant vice chancellor for Community and Governmental Relations, said the University has worked closely with Student Government Board to set up the off-campus living center website at www.ocl.pitt.edu to inform students of their rights as tenants.

Among the helpful tips on the website is a landlord checklist. The list is a set of inspection guidelines that students should keep handy while living in off-campus housing.

Tenants who notice disrepair in their residences should make a note of the damage, take photos and notify the inspectors as they circulate during phase two of the Blitz.

If you cannot locate an inspector, contact the City of Pittsburgh Bureau of Building Inspection (412-255-2175) or notify your landlord via certified mail.

Sending certified mail means the landlord must sign a legal document upon receiving your mail, which will be officially on file at the post office to document that you notified the landlord in writing of the disrepair in the apartment – which can be very helpful when it’s time to recoup a security deposit, especially if legal action is involved.

The website also has a list of properties that are up to code according to city inspectors.

“We’re pushing to try and get as many apartments inspected as possible and to have consequences for landlords who haven’t agreed to be inspected,” Alexis Chidi of SGB said.

The Oakland Blitz is part of the citywide “Redd Up” project begun by the late Mayor Bob O’Connor and continued by Ravenstahl.