Landlords should be allowed to do some minor repairs to their rental properties without breaking the law, some New Iberia City Council members say.

Depending on what changes are proposed, however, City Attorney Ted Haik said it might be possible to either change or get an exception to the state law that requires which repairs must be done by certified plumbers, electricians, contractors or others.

New Iberia City Councilman Dan Doerle and Mayor Pro-Tem Freddie DeCourt will be working together to determine what exact repairs landlords can make themselves and ease undue hardship on them.

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“We need to do something to help these owners to do maintenance work on their properties,” Doerle said, emphasizing by placing the discussion topic on the agenda he was not attempting to address major repairs. “They sell hundreds of toilets at Lowes — someone’s changing them. And you know what it is, it’s making honest people criminals.”

Doerle said most people do not know any better than to do the repairs, which are illegal for those not licensed to do so to rental property.

Inspections Department head Jimmy Landry agreed and said most people do not know which repairs they are and are not allowed to make. He said the only way New Iberia differs from the state law is in requiring homeowners to take tests to ensure they have sufficient know-how before making repairs to their homes.

Haik said while it is legal to have a city ordinance that is more stringent than state law, it is illegal to have one that is less stringent.

“You’ve got to obey the law,” Haik said. “And if the law of the state is too onerous, too harsh, too hard, you’ve got to change the state law.”

The definitions of maintenance and minimal repairs, about which DeCourt had inquired, are in the state law, Haik said.

He also said it might be possible to get an exemption for New Iberia specifically.

“New Orleans does that all the time,” he said. “But it has to be done through the Legislature.”

DeCourt said the issue would require more time, adding officials with codes would need to be involved.

“Look at the greater good,” DeCourt said. “If you burn a rent house down and a child dies ... well, the liability issues, the buck’s gonna stop and it’s gonna stop with us for making the exception.”

Mayor Hilda Curry said the city can’t tell people they can break the law, “but we certainly need to warn people that these laws are in place.”

DeCourt and Doerle — who will challenge each other in the fall for DeCourt’s mayor pro tem seat — are in “that industry,” said Curry, and both have expressed interest in the issue. They will meet with Landry and other interested parties and determine what work can and cannot legally be performed on rental properties and which, if any, to address.

Landlords Terry Trahan, Jack Rowe and David Munnerlyn spoke in favor of some kind of action that would allow landlords to do minimal repairs on their own property during the meeting’s public comment section.

Exemption for certain repairs, said Rowe, is “in the spirit of improving rental property — helping landlords, helping tenants.”

“A lot of times (doing repairs ourselves) we can expedite the repairs,” Munnerlyn said. “That’s the biggest thing, is just getting someone to come out to do a small repair.”

He said it also lessens potential costs, which Trahan had mentioned can lead to increased rental costs.

Landry said a lot of the municipalities and parishes are not up to the standards New Iberia has.

“Our goals are for the protection of the people, and we’re ahead of the game right now,” Landry said. “We don’t want to take a step backwards. We want to keep going forwards.”