GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The Greensboro City Council recently passed an ordinance that expands city inspectors' abilities to investigate apartment units.

• Inspectors can now look at units where there aren't reported violations but that are in complexes where problems have been found
• There are regulations in place that still protect tenant and owner rights in these situations
• The Greensboro Regional Realtors Association sent Spectrum News a statement that the group was disappointed not to be a part of the discussion

Inspectors can now look at units where there aren't reported violations but that are in complexes where problems have been found. The executive director of the Piedmont Triad Apartment Association says there are regulations in place that still protect tenant and owner rights in these situations.

"They have to have a reasonable expectation that there's a life safety issue in the other units, and they also still need to get permission of the resident to enter the premises," Jon Lowder said.

The city council and housing groups started working together after the fire in a Summit Avenue apartment killed five children. Later hundreds of code violations were found in the complex.

"Typically the Greensboro Housing Coalition and some of these groups are at odds with each other, but what we saw was the Apartment Association and the good operators, the good landlords out there saying 'We don't want to be associated with this. Our units aren't like this,'" Brett Byerly said. He's the executive director of the Greensboro Housing Coalition, which helped work on the ordinance.

Lowder agrees and says inspections that weed out poor property owners help those doing the job right.

"It is in their best interest to take care of their property and to take care of their residents. It just makes common business sense. So they are actually harmed by operators out there that don't do the right thing."

Some groups disagree with the ordinance. The Greensboro Regional Realtors Association sent Spectrum News a statement that the group was disappointed not to be a part of the discussion.

"The changes leave out clear protections from state and federal law," the statement read. It added "we hope the city council will reconsider the issues we’ve identified."

Byerly has high hopes for when the process goes into effect. "There probably will be some landlords that start doing better just because they don't want to end up getting periodic inspections," he says.

The city is currently in the process of clarifying the legalities of the ordinance and training inspectors.