This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Salt Lake City landlords need to get with the program — or face a hefty licensing fee.
The city's new Landlord/Tenant Initiative begins this month, requiring all landlords to receive a business license and encouraging them to participate in an education program. The goal is to reduce crime — and its cost to the city — in Salt Lake City's rental properties.
The program, similar to Good Landlord programs in other cities, requires landlords to obtain a business license, said Mary Beth Thompson, revenue manager with Salt Lake City. Previously, only landlords with three or more units were required to license, about 23,000 of the city's 37,000 rental properties.
If landlords participate in the program, they pay a reduced license fee of $20 per unit, Thompson said. But if landlords decline to participate, they must obtain a license at a cost of $342 per unit. The high price is an incentive to get landlords to participate, Thompson said, though the program is voluntary.
Landlords who enroll in the program receive training from the Utah Apartment Association. They learn to carefully screen tenants and when to handle issues on their own versus calling the police, said UAA Executive Director Paul Smith. Code enforcement is generally a big problem for cities, Smith said, and landlords in the program learn how to monitor their tenants and properties to ensure they comply with code.
Landlords are also empowered to evict troublesome tenants through the program, said Salt Lake City's Thompson. Landlords are encouraged to have tenants sign an addendum stating they understand they can be evicted if they commit a serious crime while living at the property. A similar program in Ogden has helped drop crime by 31 percent, Thompson said.
"The better renters we get in, the higher our property values are," Thompson said. "And the safer our neighborhoods are."
The ordinance differs from some in other cities in that it does not direct landlords to decline renting to anyone with a home foreclosure in their background, said Tara Rollins, executive director of the Utah Housing Coalition. With the state of the economy, many potential tenants may have lost their homes to foreclosure, Rollins said, and need to rent while getting back on their feet.
Landlords who have participated in similar programs in other cities only need a short course to understand how Salt Lake City's ordinance differs from others, Rollins said.
Landlords with less than three units will need to get licensed in September, Thompson said, while those with existing licenses can wait until they are up for renewal.
Twitter: @Katie_Drake —
How to get with the training program
o For more information on Salt Lake City's Landlord/Tenant initiative, visit slcgov.com/landlord.