Landlords Speak Out Against Proposed Rental License Increase

DULUTH - If you're a renter in Duluth, be prepared to possibly write a bigger check every month if the city council has its way. Duluth is considering adding yet another fee to the tax payers. This time it will affect landlords and renters. "They just want to keep asking us for more, but they're not that willing to work with us," said president of the Duluth Landlord Association, Barbara Montee. Duluth landlords are speaking out after that proposed fee would force them to increase rent. In the midst of Duluth’s housing crisis, the Duluth City Council is striving to bring back a program with the potential to keep people off the streets, but in the end may cost renters and landlords a pretty penny. "It's over $3,000 just to have this house licensed," Montee said. With 20 years’ experience and 10 rental units scattered through Duluth, Montee estimates she's spent hundreds of thousands of dollars flipping single family homes into rentals. “I try to be a good neighbor,” she explained. “I try and improve the houses, be part of the neighborhood.” She says she spends the money and does the work simply because she loves it. “I love being a part of people's lives,” Montee smiled. “I'm their permanent history where they lived when they were in college.” The cost of doing what she loves is starting to add up, and with the proposal to raise the price of rental licenses she's stunned. “I'm going to take a risk and say Duluth is the most expensive place for a landlord to have a rental,” Montee said. Not only does she pay for a rental license which is renewed every three years, but extra fees per bedroom, parking fees, and the cost of putting in required railings and egress windows. The city says the increase is to revive the housing access center that'll offer services like mediation and ready to rent programs."Before the council would consider proceeding we'd have to have a lot more discussion about the merits of the proposal," explained Duluth city councilor, Joel Sipress. It'll cost the city $140,000 a year for the Housing Access Center. City officials say if there is a fee to help fund it it'll be modest and hopefully won't impact on the cost of rent."Can we find a sustainable fair way to fund the center and is it in fact going to provide services that make the investment worth it?" asked Sipress. For landlords like Montee she says any extra fee will be passed on to the renter causing the price of housing to skyrocket even higher than it already is. “I don't want them to just add on fees without really finding out if there's another way to fund it,” Montee said. She’s also concerned about overlapping services that are already provided. The proposal is still in the very early planning stages and isn't even on the city council's agenda yet. They hope to have conversations with renters, landlords, and all parties involved before making a decision on how to bring the Housing Access Center back and how to fund it. Councilors hope to have a preliminary plan to bring to the table by the end of the year.