The Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (RLTA) regulates the creation of residential tenancies and the relationship between landlords and tenants of residential dwelling units. Under the RLTA, local municipalities may require that landlords provide a certificate of inspection as a business license condition to operate as a landlord. However, a local municipality does not need to have a business license or registration program to require that landlords provide a certificate of inspection. A local municipality may only require a certificate of inspection on a rental property once every three years.
Numerous local municipalities throughout the state have exercised this authority in establishing rental housing safety, inspection, or registration programs, with many having a goal to ensure that all rental housing units comply with specific life and safety standards and provide a safe place for tenants to live. Some local municipalities have implemented a business license requirement for landlords.
The Department of Commerce (Commerce) must create and maintain a website that tracks and discloses statewide rental and vacant housing unit inventory in real time as well as reported monthly rental rate data.
Rental property owners must register all rental and vacant housing units and report monthly rental rates with Commerce every two years. Rental housing units must be registered when the rental housing unit is made available or listed, or when a tenant occupies the unit. The registration fee for each initial rental or vacant housing unit is $70 plus a fee of $15 for each additional unit. Registration information must be kept current and any change in information contained in an initial or renewal registration application must be updated within 60 days. Unless the unit is registered, owners of a rental housing unit may not end a tenancy or evict a tenant from the rental housing unit except for the following causes:
Revenues generated from registration fees must be deposited in the rental property registration account and may be used only for programs that provide legal representation in eviction cases, distributions to local governments to assist in inspections of rental housing units, and administration.
Registration requirements do not apply to the following housing units:
Property owners with a rental housing unit within a city with a population of at least 700,000 that administers a rental property registration program, or within a city that requires residential landlords to obtain a business license, are not subject to the registration requirements. The local jurisdiction or agency that administers a city's rental property registration program or landlord licensing program must report program data to Commerce monthly.