Kalamazoo, MI Rental Inspections: Tenant Complaint Process (2026)

Section 17-12 establishes three separate bases on which the City can send an inspector to a rental property covered by Chapter 17, meaning hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfast inns, residential cooperatives, residential collectives, rooming houses and rental dwellings: an area basis, under which every regulated premises in a neighborhood is inspected together (Subsection E(1)); a complaint basis, under which 'complaints of violations will be inspected within a reasonable time' (Subsection E(2)); and a recurrent-violation basis for properties with a history of uncorrected problems (Subsection E(3)). The complaint-basis inspection supplements, rather than replaces, the routine periodic inspections required by Subsection B, so a unit can be inspected on complaint even between scheduled cycles.

Under Subsection B, the Building Official or an inspector may enter at reasonable hours to conduct the inspection, and may enter at any time in a declared emergency; entry may proceed by voluntary access from the owner, agent or resident, or, if access is refused, by an administrative search warrant obtained under Subsections D and G, which must state the address, the nature of the inspection and the reason, including that it is a complaint-basis inspection. Subsection H lets the City charge a reasonable inspection fee, set by City Commission resolution.

Tenants who report a problem are protected under § 17-12.1J, which bars the City or the owner from discriminating against an occupant based on whether that occupant requests, permits or refuses entry, and bars an owner from billing inspection costs to tenants.