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Committee to forward proposed $100 per-unit rental registration for council review after debate
Summary
A local committee reviewed proposed changes to rental registration rules that would raise the registration fee from $25 to $100 per unit, clarify owner responsibility for inspections, exempt tenants from paying when they request an inspection, and stagger inspections to ease staffing needs; members agreed to send edits and forward the package to council.
Committee member and staff reviewed proposed revisions to Charles Town’s rental-inspection ordinance and agreed to forward edited language to the full council for consideration after committee members receive the final redline by email.
The package under discussion would raise the registration fee for rental dwellings from $25 to $100 and apply that fee on a per-unit basis, staff said. "They changed that to a 100," the Staff member said, explaining that other cities charge between $25 and $100 and the higher fee would help fund enforcement and at least a part-time staff position. The Staff member added, "If the tenant requested... they do not pay a fee," describing an exemption when tenants request inspections.
Why it matters: The committee said the change would move the city from a long-unenforced ordinance to an active program, but members expressed concern about the cost impact on owners of large apartment buildings. "If you have an apartment building with 20 units, you're gonna pay a lot of money," a Committee member said, signaling "sticker shock" among owners.
Committee discussion focused on implementation details. Staff said many new developments already have a certificate of occupancy and are inspected; the proposed program would target uninspected stock. The Staff member said inspections were modeled on neighboring municipalities and discussed options to stagger inspections to reduce workload, suggesting reinspection could be tied to tenant turnover or a minimum multi‑year cadence. "So let's change 13608 to reinspection ... when a change in tenant or a minimum of every 3 years, whichever comes first," the Staff member proposed.
Members pressed staff on how inspections would be scheduled and whether the city would have authority to enter units; staff said owners would need to coordinate access and that inspectors would not force entry if tenants refuse. The Staff member said the program would rely on notices of violation rather than routinely requiring vacating a dwelling — a vacate subsection had been removed from the draft.
On procedure, the committee asked to receive the edited ordinance language by email before finalizing. One Committee member said they were "happy to vote to approve it to the next council meeting" after reviewing edits. The group agreed to forward the recommended revisions to council for consideration and to revisit language and cadence as implementation experience accumulates.
Next steps: Staff will circulate the redlined ordinance for committee review by email; the committee intends to forward the item to the council agenda for formal consideration.
