Ankeny, IA Rental Inspections: Inspection Programs (2026)

Code of Ordinances Section 102.12.5, enacted under Section 177.07 as the Ankeny Housing Code, requires regular inspections of every rental dwelling unit, but leaves the actual interval to a resolution the City Council adopts and can update rather than fixing a number in the ordinance itself. Whoever holds the certificate, whether the owner, a registered operator or an authorized representative, must personally accompany the Code Official during the inspection; the section specifically bars a tenant from acting as that authorized representative unless the owner has given written authorization.

Section 102.12.9 gives the city's housing inspectors, and any other Community Development Department employee the City Council authorizes, the right to enter, examine and survey rental dwellings without charging a fee, subject to the fee exceptions in Section 102.12.8. Entry into the interior of an occupied unit requires 24 hours' written notice to the tenant, delivered by the owner, registered operator or authorized representative, before the inspector may come inside. Mobile and manufactured homes are inspected under a separate classification scheme in Section 102.12.5.1 tied to their federal HUD certification date.

Every rental unit must also be re-inspected and recertified before its inspection certificate expires, under a timeframe again set by City Council resolution, and Section 102.12.15 makes any violation of the inspection program a municipal infraction enforceable under Chapter 4.