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Rental Inspection Ordinance! Does your city have this?

It has been brought to my attention that the City of Mt. Dora (a Lake County Florida city) has a rental inspection ordinance. This ordinance is ridiculous and will just make the property owner spend more. As if the extremely high property taxes weren't enough...

What is the Rental Inspection Ordinance?

--requires rental properties located in the city of Mt.Dora to pay an annual license fee of $30.00

---requires an inspection fee of $75.00

Notice I didn't say that is was an annual inspection fee. That's because the inspection is performed every time there is a change in renter, if a renter requests an inspection, a renter has a complaint or just if an inspector decides the property needs to be inspected.

This could result in a couple hundred dollars per year for rental owners.

This looks to be just the beginning of more fees to help ease the burden of the property tax cut.

I am curious how many cities around the country have this type of ordinance and how you feel about it.

Until next time....

Johnny Davis

Platinum Professional Realty PLLC

Broker/Owner

www.iselllakecounty.com

Posted by Johnny Davis on 02/20/2008 10:19 AM

Comments (6)

mount dora rental properties, mount dora real estate, lake county rental properties, lake county florida real estate, rental ordinances

This post has been included in Florida Information Lake County, FL Information Mount Dora, FL Information

6 Comments on Rental Inspection Ordinance! Does your city have this?

FEB

2008

We just went through this in two of the suburbs I work in and I wrote several posts about these stringent landlord ordinances. It costs landlords more money but worse than that, the towns that pass these kinds of ordinances have just damaged the saleability of rental properties in these towns. I live in one of these villages and now that these ordinances have passed, I wouldn't even consider purchasing a rental property in my own town of Oak Lawn, IL or our other affected neighbor, Chicago Ridge. In fact, our ordinance holds landlords accountable for bad tenants, which is very scary. Also, both landlords and tenants have to get permits now - just more heavy-handed government to get more money with no thought towards future economic impact this could cause when landlords can't sell their properties. Some of these properties could fall into foreclosure when the landlord needs out and no one wants to buy in these towns. Boarded up, foreclosed buildings and deteriorating values is what I see ahead.

Judy-

How does the ordinance hold the landlords accountable for bad tenants? That sounds really bad. How is the landlord responsible if the tenants all of a sudden go bad?

This is so new I don't know if anyone knows how this will pan out. But one scenario is if there are 3 complaints against a tenant (and I'm not 100% sure if these need to be police answered and ticketed complaints but I think that's what was being asked for instead of just phoned in complaints from neighbors), the landlord is required to take action. I think the "action" is in writing somewhere but I haven't seen it - maybe it's just available for landlords once they are licensed.

If the landlord does not follow the written instructions to deal with the tenants being complained about then I think they can be fined and maybe worse. If I were living in or near an apartment that had bad tenants I would want the landlord to take care of them, but I also wouldn't necessarily expect the landlord to be fined or brought to court over the actions of the tenants. Make them pay for illegal acts.

I guess the rules are to encourage landlords to evict such troublesom tenants but how far can a city go to enforce this? I'm sure I'll be reading more about it down the road (at least I hope any interesting cases go public so we can all follow how these ordinances will develop.

FEB

2008

Judy--

Well, it looks like the city council was surprised at the outcry at the last city council meeting. They have decided to discuss the ordinance further at the next meeting.

APR

I am a new landlord in Oak Lawn. I have no experience being a Landlord. I am currently reading the Village building codes and regulations. But I am not familiar with the current Landlord/tenant agreement. Any suggestions? Which one should I use? Any other advice before I start renting my property. I can use all the help I can get.

Ruth, you'll have to get a copy of the new agreement from the village and register your rental property. There is a form online but you need all the rules in writing. They used to have it online but the link went dead and I can't find it anymore. Best of luck and by the way we do list rental properties. Click my link for my contact info.

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