OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Over the past two years inspectors in Overland Park, Kansas, have visited 6,015 buildings with rental units. The city employees look for code violations on the exterior of the buildings as part of a rental licensing program launched in July 2017.
Wednesday evening the city's Community Development Committee will review a report on the success of the program and consider tweaks moving forward.
Licenses are valid for two years, so the city felt like two years since issuing the first license was a good time to review the program.
In a staff report, the city says overall the program is working; it holds property owners responsible for maintaining a minimum level of standards.
The owner of a property management company that looks over hundreds of rental properties in Overland Park says she sees what the city is trying to accomplish.
"It protects the neighborhood in general so that investors don't come in and buy all these rental properties and nobody's paying attention and maybe the property manager isn't all that great and the houses deteriorate and that causes the neighborhood to deteriorate, the property values deteriorate," said Kandy Meehan, the owner of Home Rental Services.
The staff report says 70 percent of the buildings passed inspection without any issue. Some common violations for the other 30 percent included roof and gutter problems, tall grass, and bad walls or trim on the exterior of the unit. 20 percent of properties corrected the problem by the time of their re-inspection.
In two years the city has collected roughly $700,000 of the $710,000 it has invoiced in permit fees through the program.
The city has suggested minor tweaks to the program. They include focusing more on condos for rent, collecting less information, and charging property owners a pro-rated fee.
