New Joliet rental inspection program has some surprises

Some Joliet property owners are being subject to a new rental inspection program even if they don’t collect rent.

A new inspection program for single-family homes had been the subject of debate for decades, facing opposition from landlords while getting support for neighborhood advocates.

But the program approved in October by the City Council has come to a surprise for some people who own houses they don’t live in, but don’t exactly rent out either.

.City Council Member Bettye Gavin said the city may have to take another look at the inspection program approved last year.

“The calls I’ve been getting are from people who have multiple houses,” Gavin said. “They are not rent-income producing houses, and they are wondering why they are getting these letters.”

The letters notify people that they must now pay $100 a year and register for the program that now subjects the houses they own to inspections.

The city issued a news release in the past week confirming that houses are considered rentals when the owners don’t actually live in them, even if no rent is collected.

Even if the house is occupied by a son or a mother of the property owner, it is considered a rental.

“If you own any property you do not reside in, and someone else does, this is considered a rental property, per the ordinance,” the city notice said.

The ordinance applies “even if no rent is paid or the unit is occupied by a relative,” the notice says.

Owners of such property, just like rent-collecting landlords, need to register with the city, obtain a license to operate the property, pay the annual fee of $100, and open the home to inspection by the city.

Gavin, who voted for the rental-inspection program, said this is the type of unexpected complication that she worried about when she voted.

“The whole program has not been vetted,” she said.

Gavin said she received five calls from constituents. Most of them are Joliet residents with second houses in the city that they open up for visitors. It’s a situation that Gavin doesn’t quite understand, but she does understand their concern that their property would be considered rental property.

“Their property is not income producing, and they’re questioning why they’re being put into this,” she said.

Gabe Friend, interim director for the city’s Neighborhood Services Division, said in December that the city’s latest count of 7,000 single-family rental houses includes properties that were questionable as rentals.

Gavin said the city needs to take another look at the rental inspection program for single-family homes.

“The program, as long as it has been talked about, was not vetted enough,” she said.