Des Moines, Iowa — The Iowa Supreme Court has reversed a Sioux County District Court decision regarding renters’ rights and mandatory searches.
Attorneys for renters and landlords in Orange City claim city-required inspections of rental properties every five years violate renters’ rights. They argued before the Iowa Supreme Court that mandated check-ups are unrestricted searches, and that it could result in police involvement if inspectors report activity they think is suspicious. Attorney Zachary Clausen represented the city and claimed the inspections help address health and safety risks. He added police haven’t been involved in the past.
The city has to give landlords 15 days notice ahead of the inspection, and if the inspector arrives and isn’t allowed to enter, they can obtain an administrative search warrant. John Wrench, an attorney for the renters and landlords, said this loophole violates the Iowa Constitution, which protects against “suspicionless home searches.” Wrench argued the mandated inspections could give the city broad grounds for seeking warrants.
The decision by the justices was unanimous and was basically based on a technical point of law. They said that since this ordinance has not been used in an unfair way, they could not try it on an “as applied” basis. They had to decide on the constitutionality of the ordinance on what the court calls a “facial challenge.” A facial challenge has very high standards of proof, and it has to be proven that there is no application of the statute that could be constitutional under any set of facts. In this case, the court said that there could be situations where there IS probable cause. There could be situations where warrants are not used, and according to the ordinance, private inspections are also acceptable, and in that case, no government official would be involved. So, because they couldn’t say the ordinance was unconstitutional in every case, they could not strike it down. So the case has been reversed and remanded in favor of the City of Orange City.
