Certificate of Compliance Fees

Certificates of Compliance and the associated charges are billed to the property owner once the inspection process is completed. Payment is required within 30 days of receipt and payment can be mailed to or paid at the City Chamberlain Office.

Room Fees
The initial inspection charge will be based on the number of rooms contained within a building. Each room will be charged a rate determined by the building classification. Building types have been divided into three types of building classifications.

The classifications are as follows:
  • One- and two-family dwellings and multiple dwellings; the room charge is $7 per room. For buildings that contain more than 50 rooms, the room charge rate is reduced to $1.50 per room.
  • Fraternities and sororities; the room charge is $10 per room.
  • Dormitories; the room charge is $1.50 per room.
There are spaces that will not be considered a "room" by the inspector for the purpose of billing, but will be inspected as part of the inspection process. These rooms are; non-occupied attics, balconies, building exteriors, closets, decks, entry areas, hallways, porches, shafts and stairs.

Rooms are defined as; any enclosed or partially enclosed area, including habitable and non-habitable areas and spaces within rooms, contained in or connected to a building or structure located on a parcel.

Administrative Fees
Re-inspections will be charged an administrative fee of $40 for each scheduled re-inspection. Re-inspections are scheduled by our front office staff approximately 30 days from the day the violation letter is mailed. If the re-inspection date is inconvenient, it can be rescheduled for to up to 7 days before or after the initially scheduled re-inspection date, for your convenience.

In the case of a delay or missed appointment, other than the one time extension, the scheduled re-inspection will be charged the $40 administrative fee. In addition, any violations found on the previous inspection will incur the violation charge.

A new re-inspection date will be automatically scheduled for 30 days from the missed or postponed re-inspection date and will incur the charges for administrative and compounded violation fees. This scheduling process and subsequent fees will be repeated wherever a re-inspection has not occurred within the 30 day period.

Violation Charges
A fee of $5 per violation will be charged for violations found at the initial inspection. At the re-inspection, if any violation has not been corrected, the violation fee will increase by $5. If at the second re-inspection there are violations that are not corrected, again $5 will be added to the fee. An additional $5 charge will continue to be added for each re-inspection until the violations have been corrected.

Violations charges will be applied to the type of violation and grouped together as one violation for the building. The grouped violations will apply to repeat violations of one type, such as peeling paint that was found in three apartments, will be charged as one violation for the building.

Certain types of life safety violations will be charged for each occurrence of the violation. The Building Department considers these violations as very serious and ones that should be monitored by the landlord on a regular basis. These systems are critical to the safety of the tenants and should be maintained in working order at all times.

The following violations will be charged for each occurrence:
  • Fire and smoke detection:
    • Each obstruction to the detector or any part of the system
    • Each damaged detector or part of the system
    • Each inoperative detector or part of the system
    • Each removed detector or part of the system
  • Sprinkler system:
    • Each obstruction to a sprinkler head
    • Each damaged sprinkler head or part of the system
    • Each inoperative sprinkler head or part of the system
    • Each removed sprinkler head or part of the system
  • Exits:
    • Each obstruction to exiting or portion of an exit
    • Each inoperative exiting component
    • Each structural problem with an exit or portion of an exit
  • Fire separations:
    • Any damage to a fire separation or part of a fire separation that has been removed will be charged individually (i.e. holes in five different fire separations will be charged as five separate violations)
30-Day Grace Period
The property owner or agent is allowed one extension of 30 days to prepare for the inspection or to repair violations. This extension can be used for the initial inspection or a re-inspection without incurring additional violation charges or the administrative fee. This is one time extension and can be used for each property that is scheduled for a Certificate of Compliance inspection.