This page's web address: http://www.cityofsouthfield.com/Default.aspx?TabId=245

City Departments

Building Department

Rental Housing
The following should serve as a guide for the registration process:

City of Southfield Rental Registration Ordinance No. 1291 requires all one (1) and two (2) family, rented or leased dwellings be registered and inspected every two years. Failure for the owner or the agent of the owner to comply is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding $500.00 or by imprisonment for a period not exceeding 90 days, or both fine and imprisonment.
The following should serve as a guide for the registration process:

  1. Submit an application for Rental Registration (interactive pdf) and the $200.00 registration fee (checks payable to the City of Southfield).
  2. Arrange a date and time for the inspections with the Rental Registration Coordinator. Inspections take place weekdays and are scheduled for a three hour time frame either in the morning (9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.) or in the afternoon (12:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.). An adult must be present during the entire three hour time period in order to allow the building inspector and the electrical inspector to gain access.
  3. If housing code violations are cited, you are given thirty days to obtain any permits which may be required by the Southfield Building Department, make the necessary corrections, and schedule follow-up inspections.
  4. The rental certificate, required by Ordinance No. 1291, is issued after all the cited violations are corrected, and approved by inspection.
  5. In two years, the certificate expires and you must contact the City of Southfield to start the certification process from the beginning. It is recommended that you start the renewal process 30 days prior to a current certificates expiration date.
 

Did You Know?

  • Temperature of water and time until skin damage
  • 120°                        4 minutes and 50 seconds
  • 125°                        50 seconds
  • 130°                        15 seconds
  • 135°                        5.5 seconds
  • 140°                        2.6 seconds
  • Greater than 140°     Less than 1 second

  • Residential plans are required to be kept by the Building Department for 10 years. As a courtesy, the plans are returned to the property owner after that time period.

  • The required width of an exit door in a residential home is 3 feet. This dimension was based on the ability to get a coffin through the door.

  • It's OK to be square.....sometimes.
    When the top and bottom are the same length and the sides are identical the job should be square (90 degree angles).

  • The weight of one cubic foot of concrete weighs 150 pounds.

  • The weight of the average house is 40 pounds per square foot.

  • The Building Code of Hammurabi, King of the Babylonian Empire, is the earliest known written Building Code of Law, written in 2200 B.C. It is noted that exact requirements for construction are not given; rather, the code assesses penalties if the building is not properly constructed. An example: In Hammurabi’s kingdom the ultimate penalty for unsafe construction was death.