The City Wants to Start Registering Rent Houses By No Later Than February 1, 2010

It's been a couple of months since last we heard of the city council's plan that would require rent-house owners to register with the city for a fee, but it's still very much alive and well at Dallas City Hall and moving forward with a briefing to the entire council...

By Robert Wilonsky

November 2, 2009

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It's been a couple of months since last we heard of the city council's plan that would require rent-house owners to register with the city for a fee, but it's still very much alive and well at Dallas City Hall and moving forward with a briefing to the entire council this Wednesday. And, if all goes according to plan, the council will vote on the new ordinance at its December 9 meeting; it would then go into effect two months later, with Code Compliance in charge of the ordinance's enforcement.

Best I can tell, tenants will be popped if they let the outside of the house go to seed; owners will be cited for "structural violations," or if they've failed to properly register the property. But there will be some modifications to the original proposal, chief among them: The city likely won't require rent-house owners to attend so-called "Safe Complex Symposiums" (originally, those who skipped the annual meeting were going to be fined $600), and, after meeting with stakeholders, the city's considering offering "provisions to promote good operators by granting free registration in subsequent years for operators with no confirmed violations." Question is: Does Dave Neumann still think the proposed ordinance is a "$2 million tax on a business element" and "an overreach of government"? Guess we'll find out Wednesday.

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