Real estate group weighs in on Aurora rental property proposal
Aurora real estate experts say they'll support the city's proposal to get tough on nuisance tenants and absentee landlords, but only if the rules are enforced equally.
Aldermen were set to discuss their four-tier Crime Free Housing Initiative package earlier this week. They put off those discussions, though, to give them time to respond to concerns from the Aurora Tri-County Association of Realtors that certain aspects of the plan may be too strict or provide enforcement officials too much latitude.
The proposed initiative is designed to form a partnership among residents, rental property owners and police, as well as to implement firm guidelines for the city's landlords in dealing with problem tenants.
"We're not wholly against the ordinances at all and we're certainly not trying to delay it," said attorney Todd Turner, who represents the Illinois Association of Realtors and the Aurora association. "We just have concerns that the language now is overly harsh and provides too little latitude to property owners."
Turner specifically takes issue with the section that would allow police to suspend or revoke an owner's rental license, or charge the owner for costs associated with dealing with the violations, after just one nuisance call.
City officials have maintained they and police would use discretion and judge scenarios on a case-by-case basis.
That's where Turner objects.
"They're telling us that they're not interested in revoking everyone's license on the first call and that the language is there so that it has teeth," he said. "Well, we think they should either enforce it how it's written or change the language to reflect what they're telling us, because folks are getting scared."
Turner said he's concerned a future administration may decide to follow the letter of the law, to the detriment of landlords.
His other concern relates to how the city would enforce the ordinance in relation to a large complex owner.
"If there's one bad tenant in a 100-unit complex and the owner loses his license, do the good people in the other 99 units have to find a new home? Or will they only restrict the owner's license to rent that one unit for a year?"
Mark Anderson, Aurora's assistant director of neighborhood standards, referred questions on the subject to city attorneys Thursday. City attorneys did not respond to calls Thursday afternoon.
If those issues are answered, Turner said the association could see benefits to the proposal.
"The ordinance, in concept, can be very helpful," he said.
The proposed ordinances also would increase penalties for drug and criminal activity in rental properties. The new set of laws also would require landlords and property owners to order criminal background checks and strongly encourages credit checks of tenants.
When first proposed, the ordinance required credit checks but that language was softened in recent weeks after aldermen received feedback from the community.
The discussion will now be held during an Aug. 19 committee meeting, meaning the earliest the full council would vote on the ordinances would be Aug. 26.