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Berkeley became the first California city to adopt into law mandatory inspection of gas heaters in rental units. Tonight it will consider an amendment to charge property owners for the administrative costs of the new ordinance. 

The gas appliance inspection ordinance was adopted in principle Nov. 21, without setting fees for the inspections. Tonight the City Council will consider charging rental-property owners $12 per unit to pay the estimated $50,000 it will cost to process the required documentation. The council is also considering modifying a requirement to inspect units every three years, reducing the frequency of inspections and also waiving fees for landlords who install carbon monoxide detectors. 

If the amendment is approved tonight, landlords who install detectors will not pay any administrative fees and will only be required to have their gas appliances inspected every five years, according to the staff report. 

The mode of inspection is up to the property owner. Interim Director of Housing Stephen Barton said landlords will be able to hire private contractors to carry out the inspection, which may cost as much as $75 per hour, or they can take advantage of a free inspection service offered by PG & E.  

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that is produced when any fuel is incompletely burned. There are about 200 carbon monoxide deaths each year in the United States from poisoning associated with home fuel-burning heating equipment, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. 

Some property owners said the new ordinance will be costly and at best provide tenants with a false sense of security because it is impossible to predict when gas appliances will malfunction.  

Property manager Primo Facchinni said the best way to protect tenants is to install carbon monoxide detectors and require property owners to certify their installation every year when they pay registration fee to the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board. 

“You can have the inspector come out and tell you everything is all right and as soon as he leaves something can go wrong,” he said. “This law doesn’t do what it sets out to do, save lives.” 

Dr. Michael Apte, who works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories, will make a presentation to the City Council at tonight’s meeting about the benefits of inspection programs as well as ways to encourage the installation of carbon monoxide detectors. 

Mayor Shirley Dean said she isn’t sure if carbon monoxide detectors are enough. “My first concern is safety, and I intend to listen very carefully to what Dr. Apte has to say and expect to rely on his input.” 

Facchinni said there are other problems with inspections including gaining access to rental units. “If you have 14 units, you have 14 problems,” he said. “You have to coordinate the inspections with tenants’ schedules and people are busy and there’s always complications.” 

He said the cost of the inspections could become punitive if PG & E stops offering the free inspections. “PG & E representatives have told me there’s no guarantee they will continue these inspections,” Facchinni said. 

Barton also said he is concerned about PG & E’s ability to continue to offer the free inspections. The utility’s solvency has been in question and electricity suppliers are currently under federal orders to sell electricity to California utilities despite their alleged inability to pay. 

But PG & E spokesperson Staci Homrig said PG & E will continue to offer the free inspections. “We’ve offered the service for a number of years now and we’ll continue to offer that service as long as customers call and schedule in advance.” 

The inspection ordinance was authored by Councilmember Maudelle Shirek after the November 1999 carbon monoxide death of Indian immigrant Chanti Jyotsna Devi Prattipati, 17. Prattipati died in an apartment at 2020 Bancroft Way when an air vent became clogged as a result of roof repairs. The landlord, Lakireddy Bali Reddy was not charged with her death, which was ruled accidental.