Even if the city restores the Certificate of Rental Suitability, the big question is: will it actually protect renters? Because after this series, I’m getting the sense the regulation before might have not been too effective. Landlords either knew about it or not, and/or found it impossible to comply with. Meaning renters like Hallemah Creighton, who had never heard of the law ended up living in a place found to have violations. As for Dellarosa Wroten, she moved into a rental unit during a period when the regulation was not being enforced. So you wonder if she would have been protected if the ordinance was in place. But in her case, the answer is probably not. For one reason, Wroten says she didn’t pay good enough attention when she went to look at the house. On top of that, her landlord wasn’t even licensed with the city when Wroten signed the lease. Add all that together, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster: unlicensed landlord and uninformed renter equals mess.   

When you think about it, the city right now has a second chance to revamp the law and make it more amenable to all parties involved. But what good does the law serve if renters and landlords don’t know about it or ignore it. To start with, Licenses and Inspections could send reminder notices to all landlords at least several times a year. And the Mayor’s Office could launch a public awareness campaign to educate renters about their rights to a Certificate of Rental Suitability. In the long run, the more educated renters out there might mean a stronger housing code enforcement system and less people living in substandard conditions. Besides public awareness, the city could also help renters get better access to information about a property before they sign a lease.

Right now, renters can contact Licenses and Inspections to find out if a property has any violations and get a free copy of those reports. But it’s a time-consuming process that requires waiting on the telephone, and visiting L&I, which can be costly especially if you commuted by public transportation, taxi or paid to park your car. Considering that most of us work during the day, really- who has the time to go down and sit at L&I? That’s why it’s time for the city to start making this information available online. It would save renters time and provide a useful and necessary service. Instantly knowing if the apartment you’re interested in renting has any violations might make you think twice before signing that lease, and save you and your landlord a potential nightmare down the road. It could also help the city move away from a Buyer’s Beware market. From what I hear, the city is interested in putting violations online but is stuck on how to get the job done. But really, that shouldn’t be too hard. If Baltimore can do it, so can we.