As the city struggles to enforce short-term rental regulations, a large majority of Austin’s STRs continue to operate illegally, according to a Sept. 6. presentation from the Code Department to the City Council Housing and Planning Committee. There are anywhere between 9,000 and 11,000 STR listings in Austin, depending on the day, according to José Roig, […]
Code Department
Posted inPublic Health
With tenants still enduring mold damage caused by Uri, Council pushes for more landlord regulation
Though it has been several months since Winter Storm Uri damaged infrastructure and homes across the city, some apartment residents are still dealing with severe mold damage that landlords have failed to fix. Worse, when some tenants asked the city for help, their landlords deemed the homes unlivable and forced the residents to leave. “We’ve […]
Posted inCity Hall
Audit shows employee wasted time, resources
When the Austin Code Department found evidence in late 2017 that one of its inspectors was using his city car to visit relatives outside the city and was not performing the inspections required by his job, the department referred the matter to the Office of the City Auditor. In an investigative report released last week, […]
Posted inThe Code
Code Department proposes higher fines for violations
Code violators will pay bigger fines for a number of offenses under a new ordinance that City Council is poised to approve. Under the proposed ordinance drafted by the Code Department, the minimum fine for a first offense related to property maintenance rises dramatically, from $20 to $250. The minimum for the second offense would […]