Baytown, TX Rental Inspections: Tenant Complaint Process (2026)

Occupied dwelling units are otherwise outside the building official's routine periodic-inspection sweep, which covers building exteriors, common areas and vacant units automatically (Sec. 18-710(b)(1)-(3)). An occupied unit is added to that inspection list only "upon receipt of complaint by the unit's tenant or as otherwise allowed by law" (Sec. 18-710(b)(4)), and the building official is separately authorized to conduct "inspections based on indications of code violations, including complaints filed with the chief building official" (Sec. 18-710(a)(2)). To make that path usable, every landlord must post and maintain a sign giving tenants "a notice for reporting code violations to the city in a form approved by the building official," alongside a 24-hour landlord emergency number and the city's police/fire/EMS dispatch number (Sec.

18-720(1)). The signs must measure at least 12 inches by 24 inches, be weatherproof, and have a white background with contrasting lettering; at least one sign is required per complex, plus one additional sign for every 50 dwelling units beyond the first 50, placed in publicly accessible exterior areas and on the exterior of any on-site management office (Sec. 18-720(2)). Landlord/tenant self-inspection reports separately must include "a notice for reporting code violations to the city in a form provided by the building official" (Sec. 18-711(b)(2)d), giving tenants a second documented channel.

A complaint-triggered inspection that finds a violation is subject to the same 30-day correction window and $100-per-building follow-up fee that applies to failed periodic inspections (Sec. 18-710(e), (g)).