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Rental Inspections and Licensing Policy Discussion <br />City Council Review; 2-8-22 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />Page 3 <br /> Concurrent with reviewing data from the Federal Reserve, our GIS specialist (Mark Andrle) examined Ramsey <br />County tax data to identify properties with an owner address different than the property’s mailing address. <br />While not a fool-proof methodology, this did provide us with a secondary measure of potential rental properties, <br />and that analysis suggested that up to 614 homes could potentially be rentals <br />Given the two data sources examined, we believe it is reasonable to assume that an additional 550 units would <br />need to be licensed and inspected if code were amended to require all licensure of all rentals. <br />WHAT ARE OTHER COMPARIBLE-SIZED CITIES DOING WITH REGARDS TO RENTAL INSPECTIONS? <br />To answer this question, staff examined the latest census data for metro area Cities, and selected 17 Cities of <br />comparable size to New Brighton to assess how others are approaching this same issue. A spreadsheet showing all <br />of our findings is attached to this report. <br />Summarizing our findings of the seventeen (17) cities polled: <br /> Only four (4) do not undertake any form of licensing and inspection of rental units (New Hope, Robbinsdale, <br />Stillwater, and Vadnais Heights). <br /> Of the remaining thirteen (13) communities that do rental licensing and inspection at some level, only one <br />(Roseville) follows New Brighton’s current policy of only inspecting buildings with 3+ units. <br /> All twelve (12) of the other Cities polled require licensing and inspection of all rental units in their community. <br />IN CITIES REQUIRING LICENSING AND INSPECTION OF ALL RENTAL UNITS, HOW OFTEN MUST LICENSES BE <br />RENEWED? HOW OFTEN DO INSPECTIONS OCCUR? <br /> In most cases, licenses must be renewed on an annual basis and units must be inspected on an annual basis. <br /> In one community (Brooklyn Center), renewal time-frames are based on a license category and the number of <br />ordinance violations/police calls received on the property (i.e. cause more problems, then you’ll pay more <br />fees…built in incentive for landlords to address problems before they arise, and to rectify issues ASAP when they <br />do). <br />ARGUMENTS COUNCIL WILL LIKELY HEAR FOR AND AGAINST A CHANGE <br />These assertions may or may not be true, but are rather what we anticipate Council will hear from both sides should <br />this matter move forward for debate. <br /> Opposition Arguments <br />− New licensing and inspection fees for single-family and duplex units will be passed through to tenants, so <br />Council will be impacting affordability levels by taking this action