Cleveland Rental Registrations - A Guide to the Nightmare

[Nathan Fisher]

As I go through the trainwreck of the new Cleveland Rental Registration Process, I wanted to help everyone else out and create a guide. It is not legal advice and is not guaranteed to be accurate. I'll update it as I learn more.

You may be thinking, "I already registered for my rental this year." I did too. But Cleveland had all their data destroyed in a cyber attack.  You have to do it again. A few properties are still registered, you can check them here: https://aca-prod.accela.com/COC/Default.aspx

If you do not have a rental registration, you cannot evict, and eventually they're going to start throwing out fines.

To get a rental registration in Cleveland Proper you will need the following:  - links attached

1. A certificate of Good Standing with the State of Ohio - LLCs Only - It costs $5. If you haven't registered your LLC with the state of Ohio, you'll have to do that too. https://ohio.gov/business/resources/certificates-of-good-sta...
2. A Lead Clearance certificate from within the last 2 years.
3. A Local Agent in Charge form - You need to have a person living within Cuyahoga or neighboring counties to be a "local agent in charge."  they don't have to do actually do anything, merely exist. Yes, the form must be notarized by the agent. Yes, there is the possibility of legal action if the property owner doesn't follow through.
4. Proof that your property taxes are in good standing. I'm not 100% certain how this one works yet, since most people pay property taxes
through mortgages, but you can download a pdf here: https://myplace.cuyahogacounty.gov/

5. If you have 4 or more units, you have to prove that utilities are current, and every year you need to get a HVAC Certification. Usually that means water/ sewer bills through Cleveland Water and NEORSD. Make sure you have a fax machine, cause you'll need to send your documents that way.

Rental registration is $70 each, plus convenience fee. All the documents need to be uploaded in the accela https://aca-prod.accela.com/COC/Default.aspx
More Details can be found on the city website. https://www.clevelandohio.gov/city-hall/departments/building...

A few properties are still registered, you can check them here: https://aca-prod.accela.com/COC/Default.aspx

Is this an intelligent method of getting a rental registration and improving the city? No. Is it the law my hometown voted for? Yes.

In the meantime, good luck and I hope this helps. Want someone to do this for you or need a Local Agent in Charge?  I'm probably the only one who's done the process all the way through. Give me a shout.

Data hack reference:
https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/cleveland/cleveland-...