Kansas City Landlord Licensing

I received an email over the weekend from a concerned citizen. He wanted to let me know about some things going on with rental properties that perhaps the public is not even aware. "Now, there are people living in these residences and these air ducts have visual mold in them, these ducts have fecal matter from mice and rats in them and they have pounds of debris (including dead rodents) in them. The air that these tenants are breathing is poison and these landlords know that our city inspectors are not going to look anywhere where they have to bend down. This is the biggest crime of all, to knowingly neglect and reject the health of the citizens of this city. " I have to admit I was not aware of this. But then again I'm not in the heating and cooling business. Getting emails like this frustrates me, but it also makes me feel good that somebody out there trusts that I will do something about it. He's right. I don't agree with Councilman Weaver's Landlord Licensing program. I think it's another layer of expensive bureaucracy that we don't need. What we do need is to enforce the laws and codes that we already have. We can do this with minimal investment, and by working smarter. In my latest position paper I propose the following: We dedicate one full-time employee in the Neighborhood Preservation department that will be responsible for tracking down suspected rental properties and maintaining a database of said properties along with their registered agents. Information to populate a landlord database can be obtained in many ways. We should develop a partnership with any organizations that can provide information on rental property. Insurance companies should be required to have valid local landlord contact information before issuing a renter's insurance policy. If possible, the addresses where renter's insurance has been issued should be shared with the rental property administrator. Charitable organizations such as the United Way and the Don Bosco center that offer rent assistance should also be approached to share information. We need to dedicate two police officers to a set number of days tracking down offenders who have outstanding warrants from housing court. The amount of time spent on property offenses will be determined by case load and availability of personnel. These officers will be responsible for tracking down leads and arresting offenders. Perhaps this program could be used to allow officers looking for a promotion the opportunity to prove their detective skills. A webpage will be established that has a fully searchable index allowing anyone to search for information on a rental property by address, or registered agent name. This webpage will also have a "most wanted" list of outstanding housing court warrants, as well as an anonymous form for people to submit tips on unregistered rental properties as well as the whereabouts of registered agents with outstanding warrants. The purpose of this site will help the rental property administrator to keep an updated list of landlords and properties as well as help the police in their search for offenders. Finally a graduating series of penalties needs to be established and enforced by the housing court. Repeat offenders need to have their punishment be progressively worsened until such a point that they are no longer allowed to rent property within Kansas City.