Salinas renters might soon have to pay registrations fees

SALINAS, Calif. (KION-TV) Right now, landlords who rent out a home, apartment units or a room in Salinas don't have to pay a registration fee. But that could soon change, and it might have an impact on tenants' monthly rent.

By a 6 to 1 vote, the Salinas City Council decided to proceed with a rental registration program.

The rental registration program was a hot topic at Tuesday's meeting, sparking a lot of questions from council members and the public. The issue was divided, until it came time to vote.

The majority of the council decided to move forward with the rental registration fee. The ordinance will first be refined and developed before its represented at a later date this spring.

“This is a positive move forward for the city of Salinas. Hundreds of residents right now in our communities are living in, not good conditions and this would be an opportunity to have some level of protection," mentioned Cesar Lara, with the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council.

The goal is to enhance public safety, create accountability, and bridge communication gaps between landlords and tenants to help with questions about laws, regulations, and city compliance issues.

“We do have a number of illegally rented units that we don’t really have a record for which creates a lot of enforcement issues as well as fire life safety issues if the fire department is not aware of something being rented out,” said Megan Hunter, Community Development Director for the City of Salinas.

The rental registration would have up-to-date contact information, which in return would let the city know who is renting. The fee would be a sliding cost, $20 annually for a single unit and $150 for a property with 100 or more. Even with low cap fees, not all city council members were on board.

"My argument is: we have code enforcement and we don’t necessarily need an additional burden or cost that ultimately would be a cost to renters,” expressed Steve McShane, District 3 Salinas Councilmember.

The most a tenant may pay is about $1.50 and $1.75 per month because of the sliding scale, for those with more units the fee is less. Before moving forward, they plan to reach out to the community for feedback to better the proposed program model.

There were three options: no program, rental registration program, or rental registration with inspection program. The inspections portion was also eliminated from the rental registration but will be re-looked at in a year.