Provo reports sharp increase in rental‑license applications after blitz; civil fines now in use

Scott Johnson, Provo's zoning administrator, briefed the council on changes to code enforcement aimed at improving compliance and speed. Key operational changes include issuing body cameras to code officers, allowing officers to do more solo inspections, and cross‑referencing county property data to find likely unlicensed rentals.

Johnson said staff began sending letters in June based on the cross‑reference and, by October, had sent 680 letters. As of his update, the city has received 609 rental license applications year‑to‑date, including 88 in October, and reported 34 applications in early November. The Pleasant View door‑knock blitz visited 350 single‑family residences and found 187 properties in compliance, 112 with no answer (follow‑up planned), 30 ADU‑related violations and 16 properties being rented without a license. Johnson said staff opened cases and is pursuing enforcement for the violations identified.

On civil fines, Johnson described the notice‑and‑fine workflow: a notice of violation gives 14 days to comply; if the property owner does not schedule an inspection and comply, the city begins recording daily fines at $100 per violation. Johnson reported operational figures through October: 213 notices of violation issued (57 with criminal threats, 156 threatening civil fines), 156 cases were sent notices threatening civil fines, 86 of those were resolved without fines, six cases had invoices generated, and the city issued 17 invoices totaling a little over $57,000 (largest invoice about $14,000). Only one invoice had been paid ($950). Johnson said the city sends invoices for every 30‑day increment of fines, and delinquent invoices are currently sent to collections after 120 days; he is working with finance to shorten that to 45 days to improve collection rates.

Councilors asked for further breakdowns — how many cases go to collections, the percentage of applications that fail due to unpermitted duplexes or unpaid fees, and whether enforcement reduces housing stock. Johnson estimated about 8–10% of applications uncover occupancy/use issues or documentation problems and said staff will provide additional data on the composition of violations, including unpermitted ADUs and duplex conversions.

Johnson also described a pending RFP for a data‑gathering vendor to map rental properties citywide; nine proposals had been received by the RFP close. He said IS and legal are reviewing submissions to ensure data security and legal compliance.

Ending: Council praised the team for results and asked staff to return more granular data (numbers sent to collections, counts of illegal ADUs/duplexes) and to monitor the housing‑stock impact of enforcement.