§ 56-33. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Accessory building or structure means a detached building or structure used in a secondary or subordinate capacity from the main or principal building or structure on the same premises.

Approved means approved by the director of neighborhood and community services or his or her predecessor and defined in promulgated rules and regulations.

Basement and cellar have the same meaning, that being any space located partially or totally below the surface of the ground.

Board means the property maintenance appeals board.

Certificate of compliance means a certificate issued by the director stating that a structure or portion thereof complies with the requirements of this chapter and chapter 48, nuisances.

City means the City of Kansas City, Missouri.

Department means the neighborhood and community services department of the city.

Deterioration means the condition of a building or part thereof characterized by holes, breaks, rot, crumbling, cracking, peeling, rusting or other evidence of physical decay or neglect, lack of maintenance or excessive use.

Director means the director of neighborhood and community services or an authorized representative.

Duplex means any habitable structure containing two single dwelling units.

Dwelling means a building or structure or portion of a building or structure designed for or used for human habitation.

Dwelling, multiple means a dwelling designed for more than two dwelling units or occupied by more than two families.

Dwelling unit means any room or group of rooms located within a dwelling and forming a single habitable unit with cooking, living, sanitary and sleeping facilities.

Extermination means the control and extermination of insects, rodents or other pests by eliminating their harborage places; by removing or making inaccessible materials that may serve as their food; by poisoning, spraying, fumigating or trapping; or by any other recognized and legal pest elimination method.

Family means an individual; or two or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption; or a group of not more than five persons, excluding servants, who need not be related by blood or marriage, living together and subsisting in common as a separate nonprofit housekeeping unit.

Fire hazard means any device, material or condition likely to cause a fire and which is so situated as to endanger persons or property.

Floor area means the total area of a habitable room which has a minimum ceiling height of seven feet.

Garbage means the animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking, serving and nonconsumption of food.

Habitable room means every room in any building or structure in which persons sleep, eat or carry on their usual domestic or social vocations or avocations. It shall not include private laundries, bathrooms, toilet rooms, pantries, storerooms, closets, halls, corridors, rooms for mechanical equipment for service in the building or other similar spaces not used by persons frequently or during extended periods. No room shall be considered a habitable room which contains less than 70 square feet of floor area.

Hot water means water at a temperature of not less than 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Inspector means an authorized representative of the director.

Kitchen means any room used for the preparation of foods.

Occupant means any person who has a legal or equitable interest in a parcel of real property other than a fee interest, including a life tenant, lessee, tenant at will, tenant at sufferance or adverse possessor, as well as a person in possession or a person who has charge, care or control of the parcel of real property, as the agent or personal representative of the person holding legal title to a fee interest. Possession, charge, care or control may include living, sleeping, cooking or eating in the parcel of real property.

Owner means any person who, alone or jointly or severally with others:

(1)

Shall have legal title to any parcel of real property, building or structure, or part thereof, with or without accompanying actual possession thereof; or

(2)

Shall have charge, care or control of any parcel of real property, building or structure, or part thereof, as agent or personal representative of the person having legal title to the building or structure, or part thereof; or

(3)

Shall have possession or right to possession under a contract for deed.

Person means and includes any individual, firm, estate, cooperative, governmental agency, corporation, limited liability corporation, association or partnership and the partners, members, or officers thereof. It shall also include a personal representative, executor, administrator, trustee, receiver or other representative appointed according to law.

Plumbing means all of the following supplied facilities and equipment: gas pipes, gas-burning equipment, water pipes, garbage disposal units, waste pipes, water closets, sinks, installed dishwashers, lavatories, bathtubs, shower baths, installed clothes washing machines, catch basins, drains, vents and any other similar supplied fixtures, together with all connections to water, sewer or gas lines.

Premises means a lot, plot or parcel of land, including the buildings or structures thereon.

Refuse means unwanted or discarded waste materials in a solid or semisolid state consisting of garbage, rubbish or a combination thereof.

Rental dwelling means any dwelling which contains a dwelling unit or rooming unit which is being held out or being offered for rent or is being let for rent and/or occupied by any person who is not the owner of the premises. However, property occupied by a direct family member of the owner of the premises shall be considered as occupied by the owner. Direct family members of the property owner shall be considered to be child, grandchild, mother or father, sibling, mother-in-law or father-in-law or grandparent. Additionally, duplexes in which one of the units is owner-occupied and rental units within an owner-occupied, single-family dwelling that is in compliance with the city's zoning ordinance shall be considered owner-occupied. Single-family dwellings or duplexes shall not be considered rental dwellings if they are owner-occupied.

Rental unit means a unit within a rental dwelling or structure intended for occupancy by a person other than the owner, including rooming units. A rental unit includes any unit occupied by a property manager or agent of the owner.

Rooming unit means any room or group of rooms forming a single habitable unit used or intended to be used for living and sleeping, but not for cooking purposes.

Rooming house means any building, or portion thereof, containing not more than nine sleeping rooms which are used by not more than nine occupants where rent is paid in money, goods, labor or otherwise.

Rubbish means solid wastes consisting of combustible and noncombustible waste materials from residential, apartment, commercial, industrial and institutional establishments, including yard wastes and items commonly referred to as trash.

Sleeping room means a room whose principal use is for sleeping purposes only.

Substantial violations means violations of this chapter revealed during an inspection that demonstrate a failure to maintain the rental property in a safe condition so that the dwelling endangers the health and/or safety of the occupants.

Ventilation means the process of supplying and removing air by natural or mechanical means to or from any space.

Weathering means deterioration, decay or damage caused by exposure to the elements.

Yard means all parts of a piece of property lying between a structural foundation and the property lines, as well as that portion of public property or right-of-way lying between that piece of property and the street curb or pavement, or lying between the said piece of property and the centerline of an alley.

(Code of Gen. Ords. 1967, § 20.3; Ord. No. 47717, 4-22-77; Ord. No. 56567, 6-14-84; Ord. No. 59593, 7-3-86; Ord. No. 930091, 2-11-93; Ord. No. 971353, § 1, 10-2-97; Ord. No. 991334, § 1, 10-28-99; Ord. No. 071046, § 1, 10-18-07)

Cross reference

Definitions and rules of construction generally, § 1-10.