Lawrence, KS Rental Inspections: Tenant Complaint Process (2026)

Lawrence licenses and inspects residential rental property on an approximately three-year cycle under § 6-1310, with the code official inspecting at least 20 percent of an owner's licensed units (up to 25) in the scheduled year, rising to an additional 20 percent if more than seven violations turn up in a single unit. Section 6-1312 rewards licensees whose inspected units show three or fewer violations with a six-year exemption from that cycle, but that exemption 'shall not apply to any inspection made as the result of a complaint within that exempted period,' so a tenant complaint reopens the door regardless of the owner's clean record.

Under § 6-1313, absent exigent circumstances, the code official may enter to inspect whenever it is necessary to enforce the rental article or whenever there is reasonable suspicion of a condition that makes the unit unsafe, dangerous, hazardous, or a public nuisance; the official must first try to contact an occupied unit's tenant and present credentials, and if consent is refused or contact cannot be made, may seek an administrative search warrant or other lawful means of entry. A tenant found to have caused a violation of the property maintenance standards in § 6-1314 or the occupancy limits in § 6-1315 receives a written notice of violation under § 6-1316(b), giving 30 days to remediate (immediately if exigent) and 14 days to appeal to the building code board of appeals under § 6-1317, which stays enforcement while the appeal is pending. A tenant's own violation never affects the licensee's § 6-1312 incentive eligibility or fees.