Hoffman Estates will inspect rental homes

Hoffman Estates will inspect and license rental properties — single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums, according to an ordinance the village board gave preliminary approval to Monday.

The vote was unanimous, and the question will come up for final approval Monday, Dec. 16.

Property managers “can’t wait,” said Karen Mills, chairwoman of the Planning, Building and Zoning Committee, under whose auspices the board advanced the measure.

“Managers don’t want to run into a situation where the landlord is not taking care of his or her unit,” she said after the meeting. “This gives everybody a leg to stand on.” Mills manages the Barrington Square Improvement Association, a townhouse community of 680 units.

The village currently inspects the exteriors of these buildings and the hallways and common areas of apartment buildings. Inspectors go into homes if tenants complain about their condition.

An estimated 2,250 of the approximately 15,000 Hoffman Estates homes that are not in apartment complexes are rentals, said Peter Gugliotta, director of planning. He plans to hire a full-time and a part-time inspector and a part-time administrative assistant and start licensing and inspecting homes by spring. The licensing fees of $150 for single-family homes and $75 for condominium licenses will pay the salaries.

Perhaps some day the village will inspect apartments in complexes, he said.

“We have some degree of confidence that owners of complexes are maintaining their units,” said Gugliotta after the meeting. “They are important assets, and they have to maintain them if the are going to keep them full.”

While most landlords in the village are responsible, “we have a handful of people that just want the rent,” he said.

The idea is licensing will make it easier to contact owners when there is a problem, and the ordinance gives the village the power to ultimately revoke a license and make the landlord quit renting a home that is not maintained.

“We have been talking about this seriously since 2011, but I have found documentation that the idea has been out there for 10 or 20 years,” Gugliotta said.

National companies purchasing large number of homes, including one named Invitation Homes, are active in the village, officials said.

Village Manager Jim Norris said the companies will rent the homes until the for-sale market rebounds.

“They are putting $40,000 to $50,000 into each home,” said Gugliotta, and it can be good for the community if they fix up homes that have not been improved much over their 40 years of life.