LYNN — The city is bringing rental inspections in-house next month.
“We’re going to house it all right here,” Inspectional Services Coordinator Jamie Cerulli said. “If you have questions you can call City Hall, or you can come here and we have people who will be able to help you.”
The city made the decision to hire its own dedicated staff to handle the rental inspections full-time after previously outsourcing rental inspections to SAFEbuilt.
“It’s going to simplify the process for (landlords),” Cerulli said. “I know there was a lot of confusion at first with where they needed to go and what they needed to do… We’re hoping this will be a vast improvement.”
Cerulli said the team, which the city is still in the process of hiring, will operate out of City Hall and consist of a senior sanitary inspector and two full-time sanitary inspectors. Cerulli said the Inspectional Services Department also anticipates hiring a part-time employee to join the team in the fall.
“This staff will work directly for the rental program,” Cerulli said. “The team will be housed right here in (room) 401 in City Hall.”
According to Cerullo, the department will also provide an online portal for landlords to view the license status, expiration dates, and inspection dates of their rental units.
Mayor Jared Nicholson said he was pleased to see the city can provide inspectional services directly.
“Our rental-inspection program is an important priority to ensure safe conditions for our residents,” Nicholson said. “We’re appreciative of the work previously done by SAFEbuilt to launch this and are excited to continue this work and fully support our new team of inspectors. We are confident they will deliver a rental-inspection program that is proactive and efficient.”
The city began outsourcing rentals inspections to SAFEbuilt in 2021 after the City Council passed a Rental Inspection Ordinance in 2020 that required inspection of rentals and condominiums once every five years.
Cerulli said she was hopeful the update to the rental-inspection program would streamline the process for both the city and landlords.
“I really think that it is going to be a smoother, easier, and less complicated process than having to deal with a third party,” Cerulli said. “Everybody can just come here to City Hall, we’ll have all the answers.”
