After public commenters spoke out against a proposed annual rental registration and inspection ordinance in Brookfield, village staff will bring trustees projected fee structures for versions of a program that would require inspections every three years or none at all at an upcoming meeting.
At trustees’ Oct. 27 committee of the whole meeting, Libby Popovic, Brookfield’s community development director, walked the board through the details of the program as recommended by staff.
Property owners would be required to register their rental buildings each year by March, paying a $125 fee for each property with four or fewer units and $225 for those with five or more. Properties would be subject to annual inspections of the exterior and of interior common spaces, and a random living unit in each building would be subject to inspection every three years. Properties that fail inspections would be subject to reinspection within 30 days, and owners would be subject to fines up to $750 if they continuously refused to comply.
Trustee Kit Ketchmark, the board liaison to Brookfield’s economic development commission, noted the EDC had unanimously approved the registration program — without fees or inspections. Popovic maintained that staff recommended both to ensure tenant safety and recoup the village’s administrative costs related to the program.
“We haven’t found a single municipality that waives that fee completely. Not within Cook County, DuPage County or Will County,” she said.
Popovic said in-unit inspections would be “standard” and look at items like active smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, plumbing, modes of ingress and egress for fire safety and structural integrity.
“It’s very limited in scope. This isn’t something that falls within a search and a seizure, for example. This is an inspection for life safety issues, and it’s very narrowly tailored to that specific role,” she said.
At the meeting, nine people gave public comment, with the majority of them speaking out against the proposed ordinance.
Lou Arzon, a provider of housing in Brookfield, said he took issue with the unknown financial implication of the program to the village and a perceived lack of evidence of improved safety outcomes from other municipalities with similar programs.
“Is it responsible policy to adopt an ordinance with no cost analysis or clear problem statement?” he said. “We should not subjugate responsible landlords and their tenants to routine government intrusion.”
Other rental owners in town described the program as an unnecessary financial burden that will mainly target “good landlords who will potentially end up leaving Brookfield” or raising rents, passing the costs onto tenants.
Amy Kettle, a 10-year rental tenant in Brookfield, said she felt the program was unfair to landlords and tenants alike. She said her landlords had taken “exceptional care” of the two units she had lived in, and she felt the in-unit inspections would be an invasion of her privacy.
“I will never let some inspector come in my home. It’s my home. My landlord does not come in my home,” she said. “That’s my privacy. I don’t invite people I don’t want over. Why would I invite an inspector into my home?
Ketchmark seemed to agree with the public commenters, saying he felt in-unit inspections would be a step too far.
“Certainly, we want the town to be as safe as possible, but I’m not sure that this is the way to do it. A lot of these [public] comments are similar to what the economic development commission was talking about,” he said.
Other trustees seemed to agree. Trustee Jennifer Hendricks said she would only support inspecting a tenant’s unit if they complained and requested an inspection.
“I appreciate the idea of inspecting the public spaces, the common areas, the exterior, maybe not even on an every-year basis, maybe every three years for that, but I don’t want to be inspecting private spaces, even on a random, every-three-year basis,” she said.
Village Manager Tim Wiberg said he understood the sentiment against in-unit inspections but said they could be useful in helping renters who don’t understand their own rights, including reporting code violations.
“I’m sure all of these landlords who are here tonight are very responsible, and that’s great. I will say that all landlords are not, though,” he said. “The reality is, most tenants don’t have any idea what the rights are. They don’t think to call the village. They’re probably afraid of the village. Nobody likes working with local government. There’s a built-in bias against doing that.”
Trustee Katie Kaluzny said Brookfield should consider an education campaign to inform tenants in town of their rights and how the village can help them.
With the board in agreement, Village President Michael Garvey suggested Popovic bring cost and fee estimates at the next meeting for versions of the program that would have no inspections and less frequent inspections, such as once every three years.
