Thousands of landlords ignoring code violations in Cleveland could get hit with a new $200 fine in early 2025.John Pana, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Thousands of landlords ignoring code violations in Cleveland could be getting a special gift from the city’s inspectors to start 2025: a $200 fine.
The city’s Building and Housing department is preparing to use its new civil ticketing system, designed to financially punish property owners who break the rules. Director Sally Martin O’Toole told City Council members that the first order of business is to blanket issue fines to “everybody who has not registered a rental property but should have.”
Cleveland has long had a problem with landlords who are supposed to register rental units with the city, but don’t. City officials say the first round of tickets will include 4,000 to 6,000 properties.
Before civil tickets became an option, inspectors often had to rely on slow-going criminal filings to force owners to fix up properties.
Martin O’Toole told Council members that the old methods of enforcement included constant “tail-chasing.” She said civil tickets are the tool inspectors have been waiting for.
“We intend to launch them with a bang,” Martin O’Toole told council members.
The city was supposed to start writing tickets in November, but Martin O’Toole told cleveland.com that IT issues had delayed that plan.
City spokesmen Jorge Ramos Pantoja said inspectors now plan to start issuing tickets in the first few months of 2025, potentially in January. Inspectors will start with thousands of unregistered rental properties. The second phase will be unregistered vacant properties.
The tickets may generate up to $2 million in revenue each year for the city, Ramos Pantoja said.
It’s unclear how many rental properties there are in Cleveland, but research suggests there may be around 90,000, according to the city. There were 58,681 registered rentals in 2024, down from 64,519 in 2023.
Ward 13 Councilman Kris Harsh emphasized the need for more inspectors, especially to make progress on Cleveland’s lead-safety goals. However, he acknowledged the challenge of advocating for additional positions when existing roles remain unfilled.
“I’m proving to myself for everybody’s benefit, code enforcement works,” Harsh said. “It gets attention.”