Such a conditional certificate shall be deemed to be a notice under this code that the premises and its owners are in violation of this code or other applicable ordinances and that the unsafe, hazardous, or unlawful conditions must be corrected. The certificate shall constitute a notice, as referred to in Section 111.4, and shall include all matters required by that section.
111.6.2 Responsibility for making repairs.
The responsibility for making repairs or completing such work as may be necessary to correct any defective aspects of the premises shall rest upon the person who was the owner immediately prior to the inspection which was the basis for the notice. Such responsibility may be shifted to a new owner by a written agreement in which that new owner assumes the responsibility, after having been given a copy of the conditional certificate of occupancy including the list of violations. A signed copy of such an agreement shall be filed with the code official. A written assumption by the new owner shall release the previous owner from responsibility to the city under this code.
If responsibility is so assumed, the new owner shall be obligated to comply with the requirements of the conditional certificate of occupancy within the time required by the code official.
A new owner who does not assume such responsibility but instead relies upon the prior owner being obligated to correct violations identified during an inspection of the premises takes the risk that the prior owner may fail to do so as and when required. If that occurs, the new owner is at risk because any unsafe structure on the premises must be ordered to be vacated under provisions of this code. Further, the conditional certificate of occupancy constitutes a repair, closing or removal order under other provisions of this code, to remedy any unsafe, hazardous or any unlawful nuisance condition, with the expenses of such a procedure to be assessed against the premises as part of real estate taxes on that property.
111.6.3 City utility bills to be paid immediately as a condition of occupancy certificate.
To obtain either a certificate of occupancy or a conditional certificate of occupancy, all outstanding water and sewer bills for the property must be paid at once and in full.
111.6.4 Certificate of Occupancy required for new owner.
It shall be unlawful for any person who acquires legal or equitable title to a premises (after the date this Property Maintenance Code is adopted) to occupy or to use it without having obtained from the code official or the previous owner a valid certificate of occupancy (absolute or conditional) for that premises. A certificate of occupancy is valid for only one year after its date or until 60 days after title to the premises is transferred to a new owner, whichever occurs sooner. No new occupancy certificate shall be issued for the premises without a new inspection (which may or may not reveal and require correction of additional unsafe or unlawful matters).
111.6.5 Disclosure of violations to new owner.
It shall be unlawful for the owner of any property upon whom a notice of violation has been served (in the form of a list of defects or violations attached to a conditional certificate of occupancy or as a result of violations otherwise noted by the code official) to transfer legal or equitable ownership of the property to another until the defects and violations listed in that notice have been corrected, or until the owner or a lienholder has entered into a satisfactory written contract to make the corrections, or until such owner furnishes the proposed new owner a true copy of that notice and obtains a signed receipt that he has done so and that the proposed new owner is aware of the pending notice and its requirement of corrective work.