Overview
- Mayor Brandon Johnson has formally advanced the Protecting Renters Ordinance as a comprehensive update to the city’s landlord-tenant law, aiming to strengthen renter rights and enforcement.
- The proposal would require landlords to show just cause before evicting or refusing to renew a lease and would require relocation assistance when no just cause is provided.
- Officials would require annual registration of non-owner-occupied rental units so the city can build a centralized data system to guide enforcement and housing policy.
- The ordinance would ban so-called junk fees, standardize deposits and charges, and create a Bureau of Rental Housing Services inside the Department of Housing to process complaints and investigate violations.
- Landlord groups have already criticized the plan as adding heavy regulation and costs, the mayor says small 'mom and pop' landlords would be exempt from the registry, and the measure now moves to the City Council housing committee before a full vote.