Carol Stream eyes rental inspection program

Carol Stream landlords could soon face penalties for allowing properties to deteriorate or not offering basic services and maintenance in their apartment buildings or homes.

A new program the village hopes to implement Jan. 1 would provide for periodic inspections and would require rental property owners to apply for business licenses.

The final draft of the ordinance has not been completed yet and the village hopes to meet with landlords in early November to receive feedback to their plans.

Village Manager Joe Breinig said the meeting will serve as a way of hearing from those who will be most affected by the ordinance.

"We recognize that there's a face to it," he said. "There's a landlord relying on it for income and there's a tenant paying rent and expecting no less of that dwelling than an owner-occupied home."

Breinig said the program would be self-sufficient with licensing fees paying for the inspections as well as administrative costs.

The village board first investigated such a program two years ago, Breinig said. They researched similar ordinances in surrounding communities and a draft of the law created last month. A revised version was presented this week.

The 14-page ordinance would cover apartment buildings as well as rentals of houses. Breinig said past complaints have been of vacated homes near other homes that put a blight on a neighborhood because of broken windows or deterioriated lawns.

Community Development Director Bob Glees estimated that about 4,500 rental units exist in town, including around 3,620 apartments.

Each landlord would be required to obtain a license for the initial year.

Single-family homes, including townhomes, would be charged at $90 a dwelling for the licenses. The tentative fee for any apartment building will be based on the number of units it contains. At $30 a unit, a landlord of a building with 30 apartments would have to pay $900 for an initial license. Each year, 20 percent of the units chosen randomly would be inspected. Within five years, every apartment in a building would have at least one inspection.

If a building does not require a follow-up inspection during the year, it would automatically qualify for free license renewal.

Village President Frank Saverino said the ordinance will help Carol Stream renters by providing support and holding landlords accountable.

"It's to let the landlords know that somebody will inspect them," he said. "It's so they treat people the way they should be treated if they are paying their rent."