A Missouri landlord is suing the City of St. Joseph, Missouri over the city’s rental property inspections ordinance.
Vince Shipp, Janeen Shipp and Multi Midwest Properties own seven properties in St. Joseph and are challenging the ordinance. According to the lawsuit obtained by the local KQ2 ABC television station, the property owners are claiming the ordinance is coercing landlords to warrantless searches.
The City of St. Joseph issued a statement to KQ2 saying it, “does not comment on pending litigation.”
Jonathon Nicol is the legal attorney representing the rental property owners and says he wants to make sure the city is following the Constitution.
“We’re not trying to stop the city from doing inspections at all,” said Nicol.
“There is a pretty standard sort of public safety interest in making sure properties are being rented and do have some basic level of safety, but if there’s going to be any kind of search of a property, you’ve got to comply with the U.S. Constitution. As the ordinance is written now, it simply doesn’t do that.”
According to Nicol, the City of St. Joseph has until Oct. 5 to respond.
Groups like the Institute for Justice argue that mandatory warrantless inspections violate Fourth Amendment privacy rights by forcing tenants and landlords to allow government workers inside without individualized probable cause.
