New NC Rental Laws for 2013

All of us at Alarca hope that you and your families had a wonderful holiday season and wish you the best for 2013. Our team is looking forward to a great year and will be implementing a number of initiatives to provide our clients with more value-added services and communications.

There are a few new ordinances and laws that took effect on January 1 and although I won’t address all of them here, I want to discuss a couple that will impact many landlords. 

Charlotte Rental Property Registration Ordinance – This ordinance took effect on Jan 1 and requires all owners of rental properties in Charlotte to register their properties with the City. There is no immediate cost and the registration is available online at this link: https://rentalregistration.charlottenc.gov/ . 

The City has stated they will give owners a six month grace period to complete the registration. More information can be found at this link:  http://charmeck.org/city/charlotte/CMPD/resources/Ordinances/Pages/RentalOrdinance.aspx

Tamper Resistant Smoke Detectors - When installing a new smoke alarm or replacing an existing smoke alarm, a landlord must install a tamper-resistant, 10-year lithium battery smoke alarm.  Compliance with the new law is not be required if: (i) the dwelling is equipped with a hardwired smoke alarm with a battery backup, or (ii) the dwelling unit is equipped with a smoke alarm combined with a carbon monoxide alarm that meets existing requirements for carbon monoxide alarms.  Also, this legislation does NOT require a landlord to replace existing smoke alarms that are in good working order or which simply need new batteries. Tenants will NOT be required to replace batteries in the new 10-year lithium battery equipped alarms. The cost for these alarms is about $25 each (compared to roughly $10 for the type we used to install).

If you have any questions about either of these or any other property management issues, please contact Alarca (http://www.alarca.com) and we'll be happy to help you out!


Here's to a great 2013!