Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Ohio Lawmakers Already Looking To Fine Tune New Residential Property Registration Law

For owners of residential investment property in Ohio (one unit or more), get ready -- state lawmakers are getting ready to noodle around with the newly enacted "property owner/contact" registration process.

Originally a statewide answer to widely varying registration schemes in cities large and small around the Buckeye State, the registration "standard" now is apparently causing problems. And state lawmakers are going to see what they can do to make everyone happier. The issue is that smaller counties, which had no registration process at all, or had small towns with their own registration programs, are now responsible for the process and view the mandatory registration of contact information for residential property owners as an unfunded mandate. Which, technically, it is.

County auditors offices in the state's poorer counties are concerned about the extra requirements being assigned to them. The registration idea was born in Ohio's urban markets, where city and county officials were having trouble tracking down absentee landlords who skipped on taxes or neglected their properties. The thinking is that some counties might have the option to enforce the state law. That will be an interesting fight!

Stay tuned...

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