Queen's University is joining forces with City of Kingston inspectors to make sure students aren't living in decaying buildings infested with mice and cockroaches.

Teams of inspectors, which include two trained students, a city fire inspector and a city property standards inspector, were visiting homes near the university Friday to assess the health and safety conditions in the buildings and educate students about their rights as tenants.

The Queen's student government, the Alma Mater Society, has raised concerns about the quality of off-campus student housing in Kingston through its golden cockroach awards, presented to a notably neglectful landlord.

Joan Jones, the co-ordinator of the university department that handles community relations with the city, said so-called slum landlords will receive notices immediately following the inspections.

"This is not going to be a warning situation. They will write up the order right there. The city then will follow through for the tenant," she said.

"We want to know the walls don't have big cracks in them, that banister railings are safe, that kitchen counters can be cleaned so they don't impart germs, that there aren't large holes that can allow for pests and rodents to infiltrate the house."

The inspection teams were to visit about 100 homes on University Avenue between Princess and Clergy streets and perform on-the-spot property standards assessments and fire safety audits on about 20 of them.

They planned to do similar blitzes in other neighbourhoods in the future.

Robert Reid, a landlord who won a "key to the ghetto" award from the Alma Mater Society on Feb. 13 for being an exceptionally responsible property manager, said he welcomed the new initiative.

Reid, who provides housing for about 100 students through his company Reid and Smith properties, said the publicity around poor student housing is working to encourage local landlords to improve the state of their properties.

This year, the Alma Mater Society was unable to find a winner worthy of its third annual golden cockroach award.