Illinois REALTORS® advocate for rental property registration and inspection programs that target “bad actors” and encourage providers of quality housing to continue to do so. The intention of these programs is to address blight, code violations, and overall problematic property owners (i.e.”bad actors”). But while quality is a goal, your Governmental Affairs Directors (GADs) recognize the vast strain, extra costs, and overall detriments these registration ordinances can have on professional property owners and their ability to offer affordable housing.

For the past several years, local housing advocates in Springfield have been asking for a full-on residential rental property registration and inspection program. While REALTORS® recognized that government intervention was needed to address blighted properties in neighborhoods, enforcement should be targeted.

Through amended language we were able to give input and have conversations regarding having a targeted rather than blanket approach. With a blanket approach, a yearly fee is commonly assessed and only touches rental property. While a targeted approach means the city can go after all property, not just rental property. This enables the city to target blighted areas and housing code violations no matter if it is residential, rental, or commercial. The way the ordinance ended up shaping itself is through these new frames:

• Three or more violations on three separate occasions on one property within 12 months means you must register your property with the city.
• Once registered, a full inspection of the property is conducted, and the owner is given 90 days to cure all issues. If the property does not receive another violation, they will get another inspection 15 days before or after the initial registration date, and they will be removed from the registration.
• If three or more properties under the same ownership end up on registration, they must register all properties and pay a steep fine of $5,000.
• Registration fines are $300 SFH/Duplex, $500 3-25 units, $1,000 26+units and commercial.

Under this new structuring of fines, single-family homes and apartments with 3-25 units are no longer subject to the same $1,000 fine as 26+ units and commercial buildings. This type of targeted approach gives the city the power to go after “bad actors” in the community, without inadvertently and negatively affecting responsible property owners and housing providers.

This recent debate in Springfield is an example of how GADs uphold a standard of housing quality for the industry, and fight for lower operating costs in the name of affordability.