The Dunkirk Common Council recently reinvigorated discussions of a rental housing registration law. Such legislation gained traction in 2011 before fading from view.

Dunkirk, which is in the early stages of discussions, has proposed making it a crime to rent property without registering. The law would identify and register rental properties, provide a means to contact property owners, allow for inspection of properties, ensure maintenance, alleviate substandard housing and blight and outline landlord and tenant responsibilities. In addition to the registry and inspections, the law would also require out-of-town landlords to appoint a local agent or point of contact that can be called and held responsible for violations.

City officials approved Jamestown’s landlord registration form in March 2010 that is intended to provide city Development Department officials, police officers and firefighters with information about rental properties in the city and who they should contact if a problem arises. Included on the form, which is one page long, is the address and tax identification information for the rental facility, the number of rental units in that facility and contact information for the facility’s owners and any property manager with whom the owner is contracted. As The Post-Journal’s Dennis Phillips reported last year, many properties classified as rental properties aren’t registered while city officials couldn’t recall taking legal action against a landlord who doesn’t comply with the regulation.

There are many good landlords in Jamestown who are attentive to their properties who treat their tenants fairly. There are also good tenants who look after their landlord’s property and take care of the property as if it was their own. That’s the way it should be. We also know there are landlords who aren’t taking care of their properties or tenants and tenants who destroy apartment after apartment and stick good landlords with thousands of dollars in repairs. Rental registration legislation that includes enforcement can help with landlords who don’t uphold their end off the bargain. And perhaps there can be a mechanism that helps landlords in good standing after their property is damaged by poor tenants.

Jamestown should follow Dunkirk’s lead and reopen discussions on rental registration legislation with some teeth to replace the current, ineffective regulation on the books.