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FT. MADISON, IOWA -- UPDATED: June 1 at 7 a.m.

Fort Madison will begin its new rental property inspection program in a month.

The city council has already approved the plan to require safety inspections for all apartment complexes, duplexes and rental family dwellings.

According to the Daily Democrat, Property owners will receive letters in the coming days to register their properties with inspections to begin in July.

The program began in an effort to stop nuisance problems.

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ORIGINAL STORY: January

Take a drive down almost any street in Fort Madison and you will see an old house converted into apartments or even an apartment complex. In fact, city records show that there are 1,360 rental units within the city limits. So after seeing there wasn't any type of rental inspection program on the books, city building inspector Doug Krogmeier got busy to start putting together a proposal for an inspection program.

"When we're getting repeat nuisance violations, whether it's gutters falling or just trash in the yard or dilapidated cars, that's where they seem to be showing up the most. And we think by being proactive and doing rental inspections, we'll help that side as well," said Krogmeier.

Krogmeier says the city is in the very early stages of putting together the rules as to how the program will be implemented. But he does say that it's not the city's intent to make landlords overhaul their units completely. He says what started as an issue with nuisance abatement evolved into the inspection program. He says safety for renters is the number one goal.

"We want to protect the tenants and want to make sure that buildings aren't falling apart around them and want to make sure landlords are taking care of their properties. And the only way to do that for sure is to do inspections of all of them," said Krogmeier.

The inspections will involve looking at both the exterior and interior of the property. Krogmeier says they hope to have it in place by the beginning of the summer.