WORCESTER—The city on March 9 initiated its Rental Registry Program, mandating property owners to register each rented unit with the municipality, encompassing residential, commercial, industrial properties, and even vacant lots rented for any purpose.
The idea of the new program is to give the city a comprehensive overview of its rental housing stock and furnish contact details of property owners, facilitating prompt communication in cases of emergencies, violations, or other rental property-related issues.
The primary aim of the rental registry is to establish a structured system enabling direct communication between the municipality and rental property owners based on property type or geographic location within the city.
It’s not so simple, argued city councilors at Tuesday’s meeting. Several raised concerns about the clarity, structure, and fees associated with the new program, highlighting numerous inquiries from the community.
“It’s absolutely chaotic with people asking me questions about this item,” said Councilor-at-Large Donna Colorio. “They don’t understand it. They don’t understand that everybody got a letter. They don’t understand that not just landlords got a letter. They don’t understand that if they have a three-family and they are only renting out one floor they only have to register one floor. They don’t have to register all three floors. There’s so much confusion around the rollout of this that, I mean, I’m getting inundated with calls, and people are stopping me in the street. I’m not going to tell you what my father did with the letter, but that’s beside the point.”
In addition to the noncompliance penalty, the program, officially approved by the council in 2022, incorporates a nominal fee structure. These fees contribute to funding the program, including the hiring of new inspectors. First-time or initial registration fees for residential, commercial, or industrial units amount to $15 per unit, while annual renewals cost $5 per unit. For the first-time or new registration of a lot, the fee is $25.
Colorio motioned to reduce the non-compliance fee “down to zero a day for the rollout. I don’t think we should be penalizing people. I think people are going to be very confused. I don’t think we should have a fee for the first five years while we’re rolling this out. I think we should use that time to educate. We don’t we do the units at the colleges? Why aren’t we looking at those?”
District 3 City Councilor George Russell, who is also a real estate agent, asked for a report for more details, also indicating that many were reaching out to him with concerns, and questions. He suggested reducing the fee for not filing from $300 to $10 a day.
“God forbid somebody didn’t get the letter or somebody was away,” said Russell. “I was talking to a guy from Grafton who owns a couple multi-families— he swore up and down he never got a letter but saw it in the newspapers. I mean, $300 a day is too strong.”
Council Vice Chair Khrystian King, the only councilor to vote against the program in 2022, asked if any other municipalities that have a rental program have incentives for them to participate.
“I don’t know what that looks like,” said King, adding that “$300 is too much, but perhaps zero is not enough.”
Commissioner Christopher Spencer of Inspectional Services emphasized the significant time the department invests in attempting to contact property owners regarding various matters, and that the registry would help alleviate that challenge.
Councilor-at-Large Bergman expressed concerns about the potential difficulty of registering individuals, noting that not everyone feels comfortable navigating the internet. In response, Spencer assured that Inspectional Services would facilitate registrations over the phone and provide hard copies for those who prefer offline methods.
King requested that the city furnish a report outlining potential strategies to encourage property owners to register for the program, which was formally introduced during the March 9 city landlord summit at the DCU Center. City Manager Eric D. Batista said he would communicate with Spencer for the council specifically regarding the $300 fine.
Charlene Arsenault can be reached at carsenault@theworcesterguardian.org
