LANSING, Mich — Lansing City Council has unanimously voted to replace the city's pink and red tag system for rental properties with a new 4-tier notice program that officials say will better hold landlords accountable.
The council passed the ordinance at its March 9 meeting, with a 7-0 vote. The change comes as the city reported 614 red tags and 326 pink tags under the outgoing system.
The new system includes four levels of notices: a white notice for properties without a valid renters certificate, a yellow notice for properties with failed inspections, a red placard for homes that should not be occupied, and a black placard for homes that are dangerous and close to demolition.
Violations of these notices could result in fines or misdemeanor charges for landlords.
"If you continue to rent without the property being certified and we're fining you and providing penalty and you're not paying we're going to take you to court and the court could order garnishment and the court could even issue jail time," a city official said.
Mayor Andy Schor said he supports enforcing the change and described it as a collaborative effort.
"It's a variety of different resources. Whether we identify it, whether neighbors identify it, whether we find it through some other means but when we find it we make sure that it gets taken care of," Schor said.
Schor said residents could start seeing the new notices as soon as next week.
For some renters, the change is a welcome one. Ross Fisher, who has rented a property in Lansing for about five years and serves as one of the chairs of the Lansing Rent Is Too Damn High group, said stronger protections for tenants are long overdue.
"I have definitely dealt with landlords in the past who took a long time to make repairs and its for sure a frustrating process. And it made me realize we need more rights in protections as renters to deal with those issues," Fisher said.
Fisher described the group's mission as fighting for better conditions for renters across the greater Lansing area.
"We're a tenant union representing tenants across the greater Lansing area who are fighting for better housing conditions," Fisher said.
Fisher said he believes renters deserve the same security as homeowners.
"I believe that all renters deserve a safe and stable place to live just like home owners do, and they deserve the protections in place to allow for that to happen," Fisher said.
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