Agenda - Council - 10/27/2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ramsey's Existing Rental License Program Ramsey has a rental license program in place but exempts single-family homes and townhomes. Ramsey requires multi -family rental property owners to obtain a license from the city at a cost of $75 per unit. These licenses are good for two years and an inspection of each unit is required for the initial license and for each license renewal. Ramsey also requires that multi -family property owners designate a local agent (empowered to respond to maintenance requests, emergencies, and code violations) if they live more than 75 miles away from the city. What Purpose Might a Program Change Serve in Ramsey? Ramsey does not currently have a crisis situation concerning poorly -maintained rental properties the way many of its peer communities have experienced. Part of this may be a result of Ramsey's historically very low rate of renting which was just 3% of properties in the 2000 census. The prevalence of renting has been increasing in Ramsey, however, and the 2009-2013 American Community Survey now estimates that 10% of units are rentals. Ramsey is not expected to quite reach the rental rates of neighboring cities like Anoka (45% rental) but the trend towards an increase in renting is expected to continue for the foreseeable future. For Ramsey, a rental licensing program that affects all rentals would be largely a proactive and preventative measure aimed at keeping the city's relatively young housing stock from slipping into decline through lack of maintenance as it ages. The city could establish a performance -based program with tiered fees and tiered inspection frequency to help ensure that it was not imposing an undue regulatory burden on good landlords. In many ways, this modified program would be friendlier than the existing rental licensing program which offers no performance -based incentives to multifamily property landlords who are good stewards of their buildings. Rental Licensing in Other Metro -area Communities The majority of cities larger than 10,000 people in the Twin Cities metro have some sort of rental licensing or registration program in place although there are notable exceptions including Edina, Lakeville, and Minnetonka. Ramsey's exclusion of single-family homes and townhouses from licensure appears to be highly unusual. Several surveyed communities reported that single-family home rentals are actually more problematic and prone to code violations than apartments since they lack on -site property management and often have absentee or accidental landlords (defined as a property owner who becomes a landlord by necessity for financial reasons). Rental licensing/registration programs in other metro cities vary widely in terms of program requirements, program goals, and fee structure. There are a few cities, Apple Valley and Eagan for example, that require only that landlords register their property with the City and provide up-to-date contact information. These programs do not charge fees and are intended mostly to connect landlords with city resources and ensure that contact can be made in emergencies. Many cities, Coon Rapids for example, began their licensure programs in this bare -bones format but later realized that these programs were not very effective for reaching more advanced goals such as maintaining the quality of the housing stock. Cities such as Andover and Roseville have gone a step beyond simple registration and perform exterior inspections of rental properties every two years, looking to prevent visible blight. The most common licensing program type is essentially what Ramsey already has in place for multi -family rentals, a rental licensing program that requires interior and exterior building inspections. Most cities require inspections for single-family homes but they vary somewhat in terms of frequency. A few cities such as Elk River and Mounds View require yearly inspections. Bi-annual inspections are most common and cities such as Columbia Heights, Spring Lake Park, East Bethel, Saint Louis Park and Chaska have adopted that frequency level. There are also a few cities such as Maple Grove and Blaine that perform inspections every three years. Minneapolis, Champlin, Saint Paul, and Brooklyn Center all have tiered inspection schedules and reward their good landlords by requiring less frequent inspections. In Minneapolis, good landlords might go as long as seven years in between inspections. Bad landlords with serious infractions might have inspections every six months. Fees for licensure vary but generally range from around $50 per year to $190 per year for a single-family home. Unlike Ramsey, which charges $75 per unit regardless, most cities offer a steep licensing discount for additional units within a rental building. Some cities have instituted one-time conversion fees of as much as $1,000 for any property owner that is seeking to convert their owner -occupied single family home into a rental. Some cities use