Denver has issued its first fines to rental properties that have failed to get a newly required license from the city.
The city fined 36 properties on Wednesday, according to Eric Escudero, spokesman for the city’s Excise and Licenses Department. A list of the properties is available here.
Owners of those properties had previously been told they would be fined if they didn’t take steps to obtain a license in 45 days, Escudero said.
The fine was $150. If the properties don’t obtain a license, they are poised to be fined another $500 in two weeks, then $999 two weeks after that. The $999 fine could ultimately be assessed daily.
The City Council voted in May 2021 to require licenses for rental properties. Because an independent inspection is required to get a license, members argued the program would ensure adequate living conditions for tenants.
The application window opened in March 2022. Properties with multiple residential units were required to be licensed as of Jan. 1. Single-unit properties don’t have to be licensed until Jan. 1, 2024, but the city is issuing licenses for those properties already.
Licenses are good for four years. Licenses are specific to individual properties, meaning landlords with multiple properties need to get multiple licenses.
As of late Wednesday morning, Escudero said, the city had issued 5,882 rental licenses, with about two-thirds of those for multi-unit properties. Another 428 applications were pending.
In total, because individual properties can have hundreds of apartments, there are now 120,000 licensed rental units in Denver, Escudero said.
“Considering this is the largest expansion of required licensing in Denver history, we are off to a great start only 131 days into the initial licensing requirement and believe tenants are going to see a benefit across Denver,” he said.
More fines could be coming. Escudero said the city has sent out 928 “notices of violation” to property owners giving them 45 days. The city is identifying unlicensed properties through public health complaints, work by department staff and information provided by a vendor that scrapes the Internet for rental advertisements.
The properties fined Wednesday include several giant apartment complexes, including Civic Lofts at 360 W. 13th Ave., The Station at Riverfront Park at 1460 Little Raven St., The Acoma at 816 N. Acoma St. and X Denver at 3100 Inca St.
In the early days of the application window, there were few inspectors prepared to check properties out. But there are now 45 individuals or companies who have told the city they’re qualified to do the inspections required for licensure, up from four last May.
Kevin Lewis of Denver Residential Rental Inspector estimated he’s been doing 10 to 20 inspections specific to the program each week, and has availability to do more. Inspections for single-family properties generally take 15 to 20 minutes, he said, declining to say what he charged. But he’s also still hearing from owners of multi-unit properties.
“People have mentioned they’re getting letters,” he said, adding some landlords have said they weren’t aware of the requirement.
The city’s inspection checklist is available online. Lewis said the most common thing landlords need to do is to install smoke detectors and ensure that there’s a GFCI outlet in the bathroom.
“For the most part, the landlords are doing a good job,” Lewis said.
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