Springfield does not currently have a rental property registration ordinance. ICON has supported such an ordinance from our beginning. This issue appeared on the ICON 2023 Candidate Survey:
ICON believes we should follow what many other cities have already put in place to ensure rental property standards are maintained and that local contacts for out-of-town landlords are on file. 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?
I do not believe an ordinance would be needed for this. I believe through our publicly owned utility should collect the owner of records contact information. We should REQUIRE the owner to update their records with us when there is a phone number change or an address change. I would then allow all city departments who needed access to this information, access to these records in a central database. We would have already captured this information and an ordinance would not be necessary.
~ as answered by Mayor Misty Buscher.
Read answers from other elected city leaders here…
April 2024 Speaker
Our speaker on April 29 will be Michael Sinnet, the Neighborhood Services Director for the City of Joliet. He oversees what is essentially their code enforcement team, with ten inspectors. He is implementing Joliet’s newly-initiated single-family rental registration program. With a 2020 population of around 150,000, the City has had a multi-unit rental registration program for decades.
Mr. Sinnet, prior to his role in Joliet, headed up a similar team in Bloomington, where he still resides.
We’ve previously discussed how Springfield’s process works – or fails to work. Mr. Sinnet’s talk on rental property registration and overall code enforcement should be enlightening.