Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Columbus council adopts rental‑registry ordinance to track landlords, require inspections
Summary
The City Council voted to create a mandatory rental registry requiring annual registration, local operator contact information, and periodic preventive exterior inspections; properties with repeated violations face conditional registration, inspections and penalties. Supporters said it improves tenant safety; critics warned of burdens on small landlords.
Columbus City Council on Wednesday adopted Ordinance 0923‑2026, creating a city rental registry that will require every residential rental property to register annually and provide a named local operator and contact for emergencies.
Proponents said the registry will give the city data to identify problem properties earlier and protect tenants. “This ordinance begins to fix that by requiring clear ownership information and creating a structured registration system,” Michael Edwards of Legal Aid told the council, describing tenant cases where only an LLC could be found on county records and repairs were delayed until rent escrow revealed the true owner.
The registry requires property owners to report unit counts, shared systems and common areas. The Department of…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
