Landlord licensing process poorly run

In the Oct. 7 Gazette, I saw an article stating that few landlords have complied with a new ordinance requiring them to obtain a license for the rental of housing.

As I read the article, I could find no direction as to how to obtain said license or any contact information to obtain that information. It seems to me that this program was hastily assembled and poorly administered.

My wife and I have rented our former residence since 1970 or so as a single-family dwelling. We have been registered as landlords and undergone some housing inspections, etc. It would seem that we might have been mailed a notice of this change and that a bit more publication of these requirements could have been made.

A case for entrapment could almost be made for this situation. A $1,000-per-month penalty for non-compliance seems excessive, especially in view of the lack of communication from the city.

We try to be law-abiding citizens and conform to the laws of the land, so we finally tracked down the phone number to call and had the application forms mailed to us. The question now is, how and where do we submit these forms as there are absolutely no directions accompanying the forms.

Perhaps our city government is deluged with paper work, what with FEMA dealings, etc., and doesn't have the time to properly administer its new ordinance.

Jim Larison

Cedar Rapids