Council declines to take up landlord registry

The Springfield City Council refused to advance a measure out of committee that would require landlords to register their properties with the city. Among Illinois’ 10 largest cities, only Springfield, Naperville and Champaign do not have such a requirement.

Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams Jr., sponsor of the ordinance, said registration would make it easier to monitor and police owners of vacant lots, abandoned houses and landlords who do not maintain their houses. He said that when the organization Springfield Inner City Older Neighborhoods conducted a survey of candidates before the April 2023 local election, some council members said they were in favor. A review of the Springfield ICON survey shows that in response to the question: “Would you support a city ordinance requiring all landlords renting property in the city to register annually with the city providing local contact information and proof of garbage service?” Mayor Misty Buscher, Ald. Shawn Gregory and Ald. Jim Donelan said “no,” while Ald. Roy Williams Jr., Ald. Larry Rockford, Ald. Lakeisha Purchase, Ald. Jennifer Notariano, Ald. Brad Carlson and Ald. Erin Conley said “yes.” The other current council members did not answer the survey.

At the May 30 Committee of the Whole meeting, council members decided whether to advance the registration proposal for debate and vote. Ald. Ralph Hanauer, who voted not to advance the measure, said such a list is unnecessary and asked director of Public Works David Fuchs why the city would spend resources implementing such a program when landlords’ names can be obtained through property records. Fuchs replied that the problem lies in locating and serving some landlords with court papers, particularly out-of-state landlords. The registration ordinance proposed by Williams would require that any out-of-state owners of rental properties to have a local agent for receiving violation notices, and that corporate owners maintain contact information for all officers and partners of the company as well.

Seven of Illinois’ 10 largest cities require landlords to register with the city, and half have special registration requirements for vacant properties. Marti Ryan, president of the McLean County Area Landlord Association and a Bloomington real estate agent, says she supports Bloomington’s and Normal’s requirements that landlords register with the city. “As a landlord, you hope that other landlords are doing the right thing, but not all do,” she said. “The registration requirement also helps community associations identify owners who are renting in violation of community rules.”

Williams told Illinois Times that neglect of investor-owned properties is an acute problem in his ward, where he estimates that 80 percent of residents do not own the homes they live in. This makes issues like overgrown grass and fly dumping harder to solve because there is no owner at the property to cite or serve with legal papers. “I appreciate the perspective of my fellow aldermen who are opposed to this measure, but they represent districts where most property owners can be found by knocking on the door,” he said. In his ward, he says, those owners must be tracked down, delaying the process of remediating distressed properties. He told his fellow council members that a constituent said raccoons and other animals living in a vacant house next door harassed them during their Memorial Day cookout. “No one should have to deal with that,” he said.

Hanauer said current rules are adequate, but “we aren’t hitting [noncompliant landlords] hard enough,” and it takes “three to four years” to tear down dilapidated houses. He said he wants to see the city pick up the pace of demolitions, because vacant houses attract vagrants who sometimes start fires, putting first responders in danger. He also said he didn’t think it good for neighborhood associations to have access to a list of landlords because they could “bother the landlords, or whatever, if something’s not kept up to their standards…. I don’t know if that’s necessarily a good thing.”

As proposed, the ordinance would only apply to single buildings with 50 or more units or to properties with 10 or more total units in two or more buildings. Conley said the ordinance wouldn’t address the issue of dilapidated single-family homes and suggested forming a working group of no more than three council members to refine the proposed ordinance with advice from corporate counsel and the public works director.

Ward 2 Ald. Gregory, Ward 3 Ald. Williams, Ward 4 Ald. Rockford and Ward 6 Ald. Notariano voted to advance the proposal from committee to debate, while Ward 1 Ald. Redpath, Ward 5 Ald. Purchase, Ward 7 Ald. Carlson, Ward 8 Ald. Conley, Ward 9 Ald. Donelan and Ward 10 Ald. Hanauer voted against, so the measure failed. It needed seven votes to pass.

Don Howard is an intern at Illinois Times while completing his master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting at University of Illinois Springfield.  He can be reached at dhoward@illinoistimes.com or 336-455-6966.

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