South Bend, IN Rental Inspections: Inspection Programs (2026)

Section 6-79(a) sets up the Rental Safety Verification Program (RSVP) to ensure that City of South Bend rental units meet minimum property standards based on the International Property Maintenance Code and IC 22-11-18, and requires an Inspection Certificate before a rental unit can be lawfully occupied by anyone other than the owner. Section 6-81(a) makes compliance mandatory: no person shall maintain, or allow occupancy of, a rental unit in the City that fails to meet the RSVP Inspection Standards. The program exempts owner-occupied units renting to two or fewer unrelated tenants, contract-for-deed purchasers, short-term rentals, housing co-ops, and units occupied by the owner's immediate family, and it exempts new construction for ten years and units with a recent licensed home-inspection tied to a sale.

Under Section 6-82, a rental unit that passes its initial inspection earns a five-year certificate; one that fails but passes a first reinspection, critical violations fixed within 10 days, others within 60, still earns five years; a unit that needs additional reinspections drops to a one-year certificate for a single-family or duplex, or two years for a multi-family property. Communities of six or more units have at least 20 percent randomly sampled, with the Department authorized to inspect the rest if the sample shows substandard conditions.

Section 6-86 sets the penalties: $250 a week for an uninspected or uncertified unit, $300 a week for one with an expired certificate, $250 for tearing down a noncompliance sign, and $500 for the first week of occupancy in a condemned structure, doubling every week after to a $7,500-a-week cap. Section 6-83 requires an Inspection Certificate before occupancy and lets the Department revoke it for a failed standard or unpaid fees.