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