diff --git a/designateclient/hacking/__init__.py b/designateclient/hacking/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/designateclient/hacking/checks.py b/designateclient/hacking/checks.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e2a5410a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/designateclient/hacking/checks.py
@@ -0,0 +1,163 @@
+# Copyright 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
+# Copyright (c) 2012, Cloudscaling
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+# not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain
+# a copy of the License at
+#
+#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+# WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+# License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+import re
+
+from hacking import core
+import pycodestyle
+
+# D701: Default parameter value is a mutable type
+# D702: Log messages require translation
+# D703: Found use of _() without explicit import of _!
+# D704: Found import of %s. This oslo library has been graduated!
+# D705: timeutils.utcnow() must be used instead of datetime.%s()
+# D706: Don't translate debug level logs
+# D707: basestring is not Python3-compatible, use str instead.
+# D708: Do not use xrange. Use range for large loops.
+# D709: LOG.audit is deprecated, please use LOG.info!
+# D710: LOG.warn() is not allowed. Use LOG.warning()
+
+UNDERSCORE_IMPORT_FILES = []
+
+
+mutable_default_argument_check = re.compile(
+    r"^\s*def .+\((.+=\{\}|.+=\[\])")
+string_translation = re.compile(r"[^_]*_\(\s*('|\")")
+translated_log = re.compile(
+    r"(.)*LOG\.(audit|error|info|warn|warning|critical|exception)"
+    r"\(\s*_\(\s*('|\")")
+underscore_import_check = re.compile(r"(.)*import _(.)*")
+# We need this for cases where they have created their own _ function.
+custom_underscore_check = re.compile(r"(.)*_\s*=\s*(.)*")
+graduated_oslo_libraries_import_re = re.compile(
+    r"^\s*(?:import|from) designate\.openstack\.common\.?.*?"
+    r"(gettextutils|rpc)"
+    r".*?")
+
+
+@core.flake8ext
+def mutable_default_arguments(physical_line, logical_line, filename):
+    if pycodestyle.noqa(physical_line):
+        return
+
+    if mutable_default_argument_check.match(logical_line):
+        yield (0, "D701: Default parameter value is a mutable type")
+
+
+@core.flake8ext
+def no_translate_debug_logs(logical_line, filename):
+    """Check for 'LOG.debug(_('
+    As per our translation policy,
+    https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/LoggingStandards#Log_Translation
+    we shouldn't translate debug level logs.
+    * This check assumes that 'LOG' is a logger.
+    * Use filename so we can start enforcing this in specific folders instead
+      of needing to do so all at once.
+    N319
+    """
+    if logical_line.startswith("LOG.debug(_("):
+        yield(0, "D706: Don't translate debug level logs")
+
+
+@core.flake8ext
+def check_explicit_underscore_import(logical_line, filename):
+    """Check for explicit import of the _ function
+
+    We need to ensure that any files that are using the _() function
+    to translate logs are explicitly importing the _ function.  We
+    can't trust unit test to catch whether the import has been
+    added so we need to check for it here.
+    """
+    # Build a list of the files that have _ imported.  No further
+    # checking needed once it is found.
+    if filename in UNDERSCORE_IMPORT_FILES:
+        pass
+    elif (underscore_import_check.match(logical_line) or
+          custom_underscore_check.match(logical_line)):
+        UNDERSCORE_IMPORT_FILES.append(filename)
+    elif (translated_log.match(logical_line) or
+          string_translation.match(logical_line)):
+        yield(0, "D703: Found use of _() without explicit import of _!")
+
+
+@core.flake8ext
+def no_import_graduated_oslo_libraries(logical_line, filename):
+    """Check that we don't continue to use o.c. oslo libraries after graduation
+
+    After a library graduates from oslo-incubator, as we make the switch, we
+    should ensure we don't continue to use the oslo-incubator versions.
+
+    In many cases, it's not possible to immediately remove the code from the
+    openstack/common folder due to dependency issues.
+    """
+    # We can't modify oslo-incubator code, so ignore it here.
+    if "designate/openstack/common" in filename:
+        return
+
+    matches = graduated_oslo_libraries_import_re.match(logical_line)
+    if matches:
+        yield(0, "D704: Found import of %s. This oslo library has been "
+                 "graduated!" % matches.group(1))
+
+
+@core.flake8ext
+def use_timeutils_utcnow(logical_line, filename):
+    # tools are OK to use the standard datetime module
+    if "/tools/" in filename:
+        return
+
+    msg = "D705: timeutils.utcnow() must be used instead of datetime.%s()"
+
+    datetime_funcs = ['now', 'utcnow']
+    for f in datetime_funcs:
+        pos = logical_line.find('datetime.%s' % f)
+        if pos != -1:
+            yield (pos, msg % f)
+
+
+@core.flake8ext
+def check_no_basestring(logical_line):
+    if re.search(r"\bbasestring\b", logical_line):
+        msg = ("D707: basestring is not Python3-compatible, use "
+               "str instead.")
+        yield(0, msg)
+
+
+@core.flake8ext
+def check_python3_xrange(logical_line):
+    if re.search(r"\bxrange\s*\(", logical_line):
+        yield(0, "D708: Do not use xrange. Use range for "
+                 "large loops.")
+
+
+@core.flake8ext
+def check_no_log_audit(logical_line):
+    """Ensure that we are not using LOG.audit messages
+    Plans are in place going forward as discussed in the following
+    spec (https://review.opendev.org/#/c/132552/) to take out
+    LOG.audit messages. Given that audit was a concept invented
+    for OpenStack we can enforce not using it.
+    """
+    if "LOG.audit(" in logical_line:
+        yield(0, "D709: LOG.audit is deprecated, please use LOG.info!")
+
+
+@core.flake8ext
+def check_no_log_warn(logical_line):
+    """Disallow 'LOG.warn('
+
+    D710
+    """
+    if logical_line.startswith('LOG.warn('):
+        yield(0, "D710:Use LOG.warning() rather than LOG.warn()")
diff --git a/designateclient/utils.py b/designateclient/utils.py
index ad5835a1..1425b83c 100644
--- a/designateclient/utils.py
+++ b/designateclient/utils.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ from keystoneauth1 import adapter
 from designateclient import exceptions
 
 
-def get_item_properties(item, fields, mixed_case_fields=[], formatters={}):
+def get_item_properties(item, fields, mixed_case_fields=(), formatters=None):
     """Return a tuple containing the item properties.
 
     :param item: a single item resource (e.g. Server, Tenant, etc)
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ def get_item_properties(item, fields, mixed_case_fields=[], formatters={}):
     :param formatters: dictionary mapping field names to callables
         to format the values
     """
+    if formatters is None:
+        formatters = {}
     row = []
 
     for field in fields:
diff --git a/doc/source/conf.py b/doc/source/conf.py
index 31c3b653..34bbb5f2 100644
--- a/doc/source/conf.py
+++ b/doc/source/conf.py
@@ -21,12 +21,13 @@ html_theme = 'openstackdocs'
 
 apidoc_module_dir = '../../designateclient'
 apidoc_output_dir = 'reference/api'
-apidoc_excluded_paths = [ 'tests/*', 'functionaltests/*' ]
+apidoc_excluded_paths = [ 'tests/*', 'functionaltests/*', 'hacking/*' ]
 apidoc_separate_modules = True
 
 autodoc_exclude_modules = [
   'designateclient.tests.*',
-  'designateclient.functionaltests.*']
+  'designateclient.functionaltests.*',
+  'designateclient.hacking.*']
 
 # Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
 templates_path = ['_templates']
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 8bdf84c0..0c687b05 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -97,6 +97,19 @@ ignore = H105,H302,H404,H405,W504,H904
 builtins = _
 exclude = .venv,.git,.tox,dist,doc,*openstack/common*,*lib/python*,*egg,build,tools
 
+[flake8:local-plugins]
+extension =
+  D701 = checks:mutable_default_arguments
+  D703 = checks:check_explicit_underscore_import
+  D704 = checks:no_import_graduated_oslo_libraries
+  D705 = checks:use_timeutils_utcnow
+  D706 = checks:no_translate_debug_logs
+  D707 = checks:check_no_basestring
+  D708 = checks:check_python3_xrange
+  D709 = checks:check_no_log_audit
+  D710 = checks:check_no_log_warn
+paths = ./designateclient/hacking
+
 [testenv:lower-constraints]
 skip_install = True
 commands =