SHREVEPORT, La. -- Landlords aren't rolling out the welcome mat for a new ordinance to improve living standards for renters in this city.
The Metropolitan Planning Commission is forming an ordinance aimed at stopping deplorable conditions in rental homes and apartments. It would require landlords to register their properties so that they can be inspected every three years.
Registration fees for each house or apartment building would range from $15 for single family homes to $50 for multi-family dwellings. Inspection fees would range from $25 to $50 dollars, according to figures outlined at public meeting on Thursday.
But landlords who packed that meeting told the MPC committee that they don't like being painted with a broad brush.
"I would hope this body continues to consider shifting this to a violator driven, fee based schedule, instead of requiring a separate fee for every property," said William Bradford, an attorney who represents several landlords who were in the audience.
Another landlord, Tommy Black, told the committee, "I'm the guy to drive through the neighborhood to see whether or not I can analyze that property, invest my capital, turn that property around, above standards, and have a tenant move into that property. So it benefits me for sure since I'm an investor. But it benefits the city of Shreveport as well."
But MPC Director Alan Clarke says the broad ordinance is needed to keep landlords from depriving renters of livable conditions.
"We intend to come up with an ordinance that will guarantee that there will be quality living for citizens, and that every citizen will have an opportunity to the basic necessities of life -- the basic heating, cooling, basic plumbing. And these are some of the things that are not happening," Clarke told the Shreveport City Council on Tuesday.
Some tenants have complained that the fees will be passed on to their rent.
Read more about the Residential Registration Inspection Program here.
