Rental license?

Question

I found something interesting about my city today. Apparently you must license your property as a rental property prior to having tenants. This has some fees associated with it. This makes sense. The thing I'm more surprised about is that St. Cloud, MN requires a landlord to go through a rental licensing class in order to rent out a property. I also believe there is some sort of annual fee you must pay in order to keep your license.

Is this true with most cities or is this unique to my city? I have just never heard of this before.

Jacob Seaquist · Answer

Hey Kyle,

I have taken the class for Saint Cloud. I self manage a couple of properties in SC, one on the North side and one on the South. If you manage real estate with in the city limits of SC you have to take the class. If you own a rental but use a property manager, the property manager needs to have taken the class.

It is actually a very helpful class, as they provide a lot of detail and resources that specific to our city! If you have other questions about my experiences please feel free to reach out!

- Jake

Dan Vleck · Answer

In Brainerd the properties are licensed, no training required. I can see value in it. We have a lot of lousy landlords. They never show up to the monthly landlord meetings.

Kyle Soderman · Answer

Thank you all for the feedback! @Jacob Seaquist, If you used a PM was also something that I was wondering about with the classes. I do plan on using a manager but I think I will still go to the class as it seems it would be helpful!

Michael Tempel · Answer

I see all cities doing this that we manage in.   Normally a license fee, class for landlords and annual inspection.    You can usually use proof of one class certificate for other cities.

Jared LaLonde · Answer

From my experience in the Twin Cities area all require licenses, and a few required classes.  Seems like I remember being able to use the class attendance for more than one city, and some you can do online.  Some cities inspect every year, while others like Minneapolis and St Paul may be several years between inspections depending on how well the property is kept up and complaint calls.

John Thedford · Answer

I haven't heard of classes but many cities across the country are requiring licensing by landlords. How much of that is to help them do a better job, etc and how much is strictly a revenue grab is up for debate. IMO we already have too much government intrusion into our lives and this is just another example. One reason I don't do section 8 is the paperwork and hassles of being "in the system". I have talked to lots of landlords that no longer accept section 8 for that very reason.  Sometimes I wish I could "opt out" of all their "help"!!

Peter Mckernan · Answer

@Kyle Soderman I have not heard about a class that is needed for rental property; however, some cities require a fee for code enforcement for your rental house. This is to keep the exterior of the property in good working order and the exterior clean. These things can be looked passed since it's not a primary home.

Fred Heller · Answer

I've never heard of landlords being required to take a class before renting out their property, but I can't say it's a bad idea.

I'm assuming the purpose of this class is to acquaint landlords to the various federal, state and local regulations that apply to rental properties. I'm talking about issues like how to handle the security deposit, what kinds of extra security devices, smoke detectors, etc. are required in a rental property.

If that's the purpose of the class, then it's not a bad idea don't cha know.

Rental license?

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