Wilmington City Council heard an ordinance Thursday that would create a Landlord Education and Resource Awareness Program.
The city has seen unlicensed rental units and other code violations, prompting City Councilmember Shané Darby to draft the ordinance.
If passed, program staff will create an online resource hub, offer workshops and trainings, and hold an annual fair to connect landlords with city staff, non profit and state partners.
Darby said the program will help people be decent landlords to their tenants and in the city.
“Landlords play a very important part in our city, so I think it's important for us to support them, right? Especially the ones who want to do well,” Darby said. “And you know, for me, it's really the small landlords.”
Wilmington City Council has passed several ordinances based on tenant rights in the last year. Darby said just because this ordinance is focused on landlords doesn’t mean it's anti-tenant. She said her goal is to improve the housing ecosystem in Wilmington, and part of that is having good landlords.
This is an effort to protect tenants and support landlords in the city, Darby added. If approved, offer quarterly trainings and workshops to city landlords.
Darby said some smaller landlords are breaking the law or city code because they’re not aware of regulations in place.
“This is actually a business, and you have to treat it as such,” Darby said. “And there's rules. There's regulations in the city. We won't just demonize you. We won't just say all landlords are bad, but we have programs to help you before we say that.”
If the ordinance passes, landlords who have three or more substantiated violations involving health, safety or habitability or one major violation involving unsafe or unsanitary conditions will be required to attend a training session. The Department of Licenses and Inspections would also be responsible for forwarding the names of non-compliant landlords to the law department for potential legal action.
The ordinance would also require the Department to compile an annual report including the number of landlords reached through the programs, workshop attendance numbers and recommendations.
