Agent
Any person, firm or corporation who is responsible for the management, maintenance, operation, renting, leasing or sale of any property or who makes application for or seeks a permit or certificate on behalf of the owner of any property or who in any other way represents the owner or the property in any particular case.
Basement
A portion of a building which is located partly underground, having direct access to light and air from windows located above the level of the adjoining ground.
Cellar
A portion of a building located partly or wholly underground having an inadequate access to light and air from windows located partly or wholly below the level of the adjoining ground.
Dwelling
Any building, structure, manufactured home, mobile home or part thereof, used and occupied for human habitation or intended to be so used and includes any outhouses and appurtenances belonging thereto or usually enjoyed therewith, except that it does not include any temporary housing as hereinafter defined.
Duplex
A structure containing 2 complete and separate dwelling units with a common wall or ceiling and under 1 roof.
Dwelling unit One or more rooms physically arranged as to create an independent housekeeping establishment with separate facilities for cooking, sleeping and toilet.
Equivalent dwelling unit.
For purposes of computing the means of egress required by this chapter, the following shall be considered equivalent to a dwelling unit: any room or rooms not provided with cooking facilities and occupied by 4 persons within a rooming house, fraternity, sorority, rest home or any dwelling however styled.
Extermination
The control and elimination 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, trapping or by any other recognized and legal pest elimination methods approved by the inspector.
Family
An individual or 2 or more persons related by blood to the third degree lineally or the fourth degree collaterally, marriage or adoption living together in a dwelling unit; or a group of not more than 4 persons, one or more of whom is not related by blood as described above, marriage or adoption to the other. A family may include 5 or fewer foster children placed in a family foster home licensed by the State of North Carolina.
Garbage
The animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and consumption of food.
Habitable room
A room or enclosed floor space used or intended to be used for living, sleeping, cooking or eating purposes, excluding bathrooms, water closet compartments, laundries, heater rooms, foyers or communicating corridors, closets and storage spaces.
Infestation
The presence, within or around a dwelling, of any insects, rodents or other pests in such numbers as to constitute a menace to the health, safety or welfare of the occupants or to the public.
Inspector
The Appropriate City Official or his authorized inspectors. In addition to the powers and responsibilities granted in this article, the Appropriate City Official or his designee shall exercise the powers and responsibilities given to "public officer" in G.S. 160A-441 et seq.
Meaning of certain words
Whenever the words "dwelling, dwelling unit, rooming house, rooming unit, premises" are used in this chapter, they shall be construed as though they were followed by the words "or any part thereof."
Multiple dwelling
Any dwelling containing more than 2 dwelling units.
Occupant
Any person, regardless of age, living, sleeping, cooking or eating in or having actual possession of a dwelling unit or rooming unit.
Operator
Any person who has charge, care or control of a building or part thereof, in which dwelling units or rooming units are let.
Owner
any person who alone or jointly or severally with others: Shall have title to any dwelling or dwelling unit, with or without accompanying actual possession thereof; or shall have charge, care or control of any dwelling or dwelling unit, as owner or agent of the owner or as executor, executrix, administrator, administratrix, trustee or guardian of the estate of the owner. Any such person thus representing the actual owner shall be bound to comply with the provisions of this chapter and of rules and regulations adopted pursuant thereto, to the same extent as if he were the owner. Plumbing and include 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 supply fixtures, together with all connections to water, sewer or gas lines.
Rooming house or lodging house or tourist home.
A type of equivalent dwelling located in a dwelling which contains rooms without cooking facilities that are rented to the general public as a whole to more than 4 persons.
Rooming unit
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 or eating purposes.
Rubbish
Combustible and noncombustible waste materials, except garbage and ashes and the term shall include paper, rags, cartons, boxes, wood, excelsior, rubber, leather, tree branches, yard trimmings, tin cans, metals, mineral matter, glass, crockery and dust.
Supplied
Paid for, furnished or provided by or under the control of, the owner or operator.
Temporary housing
Any tent, trailer or other structure used for human shelter which is designed to be transportable and which is not attached to the ground, to another structure or to any utilities system on the same premises for more than 30 consecutive days.
Unfit for human habitation
That conditions exist in a dwelling, dwelling unit, rooming house or rooming unit which violate or do not comply with one or more of the minimum standards of fitness or one or more of the requirements established by this article.