Photo by PoPville flickr user AWard Tour

This morning I received an email from DCRA’s Helder Gil asking if I could ask for readers’ thoughts on how the city could simplify the licensing process for someone looking to rent out their home/condo/basement. I think it’s great DCRA is soliciting feedback like this:

“Dear PoP,

“Generally, we have different license types depending on whether renting out a multi-unit building, a condo unit, an entire house, or a basement. We list the info on requirements here.

We often hear complaints from small landlords about the time and hassles it can take for them to get a rental license from us. Partly that’s because we require the property to pass an inspection before we’ll issue a license. One idea that’s been suggested to us is to issue the license and conduct a property inspection afterwards (we also conduct inspections any time we receive a tenant complaint). I’m interested in gauging people’s reaction to that idea, as well as to try to get other thoughts on how that process could be simplified.”

How would you like to see the process changed?