More than 20K landlords now licensed in Denver
DENVER (KDVR) — The city of Denver is celebrating a milestone. More than 20,000 landlords have completed the city’s licensing process.
This requirement is fairly new for Denver, but city officials hope it helps them keep a closer eye on landlords while ensuring better living conditions for renters.
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“We reached a really exciting milestone with our residential rental property license. We have now issued over 20,000 licenses, and we are just in the first four months of this license being fully required,” said Molly Duplechian, executive director of the Denver Department of Excise and Licenses.
In 2021, Denver City Council passed an ordinance requiring all landlords with more than one unit to get a local license. To obtain one, a property has to pass an inspection from a third party. Then properties must include the inspection results when they apply for a license.
“It’s a proactive licensing tool to ensure that housing and rental housing in Denver meets minimum housing standards. So for decades and years, we’ve had a license and regulation inspection process for things like restaurants, bars, child care, but this is the first time we’ve had a license and inspection requirement or process for where people spend most of their time — which is in their house,” Duplechian said.
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The city even set up a portal for residents to report landlords out of compliance by not being licensed.
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While the goal is to ensure Denver renters live in adequate conditions, the Duplechian said this process also gives them a better count of how many units are rented out.
“We don’t know how many rental units we have in Denver. That’s one of the benefits of the program: As we get further and further into compliance, we’ll be able to have some of that data. We know we’re not there yet, we know there is more work to do. We are continuing to do education and outreach and identify landlords that have not gotten licensed yet. And if necessary, as a last resort, we are enforcing this too with citations,” Duplechian said.
Those who fail to get licensed are also subject to a fine. So far, the city has handed out more than 2,000 citations and more than $87,000 in fines.
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