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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinanceCity of Miami Ordinance Legislation City Hall 3500 Pan American Drive Miami, FL 33133 www.miamigov.com File Number: 4707 Final Action Date: 9/13/2018 AN ORDINANCE OF THE MIAMI CITY COMMISSION AMENDING CHAPTER 10 OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA, AS AMENDED, TITLED "BUILDINGS," BY ESTABLISHING A NEW ARTICLE X, TITLED "CERTIFICATION OF RE -OCCUPANCY," TO PROVIDE THAT ALL RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES BEING RESOLD ARE TO BE RE -INSPECTED TO ENSURE THAT THE PROPERTY DOES NOT POSSESS ILLEGAL UNITS; CONTAINING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE. SPONSOR(S): Commissioner Wifredo (Willy) Gort, Commissioner Manolo Reyes WHEREAS, there are thousands of residences which are resold in the City of Miami ("City") each year; and WHEREAS, overtime, it has become apparent through the plethora of Code Compliance and Unsafe Structure cases that many residential properties are being sold to new owners that possess life safety issues including, but not limited to, illegal living units; and WHEREAS, other South Florida governments have embraced re -occupancy life safety inspections for their residents in order to provide a better quality of living; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI, FLORIDA: Section 1. The recitals and findings contained in the Preamble to this Ordinance are adopted by reference and incorporated as if fully set forth in this Section. Section 2. Chapter 10 of the City Code is further amended in the following particulars:1 "CHAPTER 10 BUILDIINGS ARTICLE X. CERTIFICATION OF RE -OCCUPANCY. Sec. 10-135. Certification of Re -Occupancy. 1 Words and/or figures stricken through shall be deleted. Underscored words and/or figures shall be added. The remaining provisions are now in effect and remain unchanged. Asterisks indicate omitted and unchanged material. City of Miami Page 1 of 3 File ID: 4707 (Revision: A) Printed On: 2/20/2025 File ID: 4707 Enactment Number: (a) Purpose. In order to ensure that residential units that are resold comply with life -safety issues, the City must inspect all residential properties upon resale to new ownership to confirm that the property meets the current zoning requirements, that the premises are being used solely for residential purposes, and that there are no illegal units on the property. (b) Single-family, duplex, and triplex structures. It shall be unlawful for any person, entity, or corporation to buy, sell, convey, or transfer a single-family, duplex, or triplex unless a Certification of Re -Occupancy has been issued by the City Manager or his/her designee. The Certification of Re -Occupancy, if issued, shall state that the City Manager or his/her designee has inspected the dwelling and has determined that the dwelling meets the provisions of the land development regulations of the City pertaining solely to the requirement that each individual unit is used, designed, or intended to be used as a single-family, duplex, triplex or condominium dwelling unit and that the dwelling unit has not been altered and conforms to its zoning designation. A Certification of Re -Occupancy shall not be required for the original transfer or conveyance of a newly constructed single-family, duplex, or triplex. Section 10-136. Certification of Re -Occupancy application, fees, and appeal. (a) Applications for a Certification of Re -Occupancy shall be made by the seller, owner, or the designated agent upon a form provided by the City along with the payment of an inspection fee. (b) Upon receipt of the application and fee, a City inspector shall inspect the dwelling within ten (10) days and, if such dwelling is found to be in conformity with the provisions of this Article, a Certification of Re -Occupancy shall be issued. If the dwelling is not in conformity with such provisions, the City Manager or his/her designee shall indicate, by itemized list, corrective action that must be taken and the Certification of Re -Occupancy shall be withheld unless and until such provisions are complied with to the reasonable satisfaction of the Building Official. Any determination of nonconformity is appealable within five (5) days of issuance of the corrections list to the City Manager or his/her designee and the appeal shall be reviewed as soon thereafter as possible. (c) The fee for re -inspection to be paid by the applicant shall be $150.00. A $500.00 expedited inspection or re -inspection fee shall be paid by the applicant if the applicant requests for an inspection or re -inspection to be completed within five (5) business days of receipt of the application. A re -inspection fee after a failed inspection shall be $100.00. All fees may be modified by the City Manager or designee. (d) Restriction on inspection. Inspections under this Section shall be limited to ensuring compliance with zoning requirements and dwelling use. Information gained or conditions observed, including life safety violations, other than as to the dwelling use or zoning designations addressed in subsections (a) or (b) of this Section, during the course of any inspection under this Section, shall not be utilized as the basis for denying a Certification of Re - Occupancy. This shall not preclude the bringing of Code Compliance actions against the property for violations observed during the inspection. Sec. 10-137. Conditional Certification of re -occupancy. (a) A Certification of Re -Occupancy may not be issued should there be previously existing and cited uncorrected life safety code violations on the dwelling. In the event that there are previously existing and cited uncorrected life safety code violations, a conditional Certification of Re -Occupancy may be issued subject to terms set by the City Manager or his/her designee. The City Manager shall have authority to enter into settlement agreements and issue the conditional Certifications of re -occupancy, which shall be executed by the buyer and seller. The fee for a conditional Certification of Re -Occupancy shall be promulgated by the City. Prior to the City of Miami Page 2 of 3 File ID: 4707 (Revision: A) Printed on: 2/20/2025 File ID: 4707 Enactment Number: issuance of the conditional Certification of re -occupancy, all code enforcement fines must be satisfied. (b) As an alternative to appealing the determination, as provided for in Section 10-136, that a property is non -compliant, the property owner/seller may request the issuance of a Re - occupancy Certification on a "conditional" basis. In order to initiate the "conditional" issuance process, the property owner/seller shall be required to pay the fee that has been established by the City. Although the City is aware of the usual expedited nature of the subject sales transactions, the time of completion for the City evaluation and preparation of the proposed agreement will be on a case -by -case basis. All agreements prepared by the City pursuant to this provision shall not be complete until they include the following: 1. City notice of determination of property noncompliance. 2. Fully executed contract or contracts for the property rehabilitation work required by the City. 3. Copies of any and all permit applications or other documents filed with the City evincing good faith to move forward with complying the inspection violations list. 4. Execution by the property owner/seller, property buyer, and the City Manager and his/her designee. Sec. 10-138. Enforcement. Any party who fails to comply with this Section may be subject to further legal action. Code Compliance or any other City official shall have jurisdiction for the proper and effective enforcement of this Section under Chapter 2, Article X entitled Code Enforcement. In addition to this remedy, the City shall not be precluded from seeking enforcement through other means such as any and all civil remedies as provided for by law. *„ Section 3. If any section, part of a section, paragraph, clause, phrase, or word of this Ordinance is declared invalid, the remaining provisions of this Ordinance shall not be affected. Section 4. This Ordinance shall become effective thirty (30) days after its adoption and signature of the Mayor.2 APPROVED AS TO FORM AND CORRECTNESS: sndez, ity Attor ey 9/4/2018 2 This Ordinance shall become effective as specified herein unless vetoed by the Mayor within ten (10) days from the date it was passed and adopted. If the Mayor vetoes this Ordinance, it shall become effective immediately upon override of the veto by the City Commission or upon the effective date stated herein, whichever is later. City of Miami Page 3 of 3 File ID: 4707 (Revision: A) Printed on: 2/20/2025