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All owners of single-family rental homes in Allen will be required to register the property with the city by the end of January.
Allen City Council approved two ordinances establishing a Single-Family Rental Inspection Program at an Oct. 13 meeting.
The gist
Rental properties make up 14% of the city’s single-family housing, but generated 38% of the total property maintenance violations in 2025, Director of Community Enhancement Lee Battle said.
“That tells us there’s an opportunity here to have an impact on code violations by directly being more proactive with our rental properties,” he said.
The ordinance defines a single-family rental unit as a house, townhome or duplex, and requires owners of these properties to register annually with the city, per city documents. In addition, the ordinance authorizes city staff to complete an annual inspection of the exterior of the home and follow up on tenant complaints.
Rental property owners will pay a $150 annual fee to register the property, city documents state. The city will also charge a $25 fee for inspections when staff have to make repeated visits to a property if a code violation is not resolved, as well as a $50 late fee for expired registration.
The context
The program aims to address tenant complaints and current challenges with contacting owners of rental properties, and prevent neighborhood decline, per city documents.
Rental properties are continuing to increase within city limits, Battle said.
The city of Allen had about 3,000 single-family rental properties in 2017 and over 4,000 in 2025, city documents state. In addition, the percentage of rental properties compared to Allen’s entire housing stock rose by three percentage points.
“Now that we’ve reached a stage where we’re not really building any more single-family homes or neighborhoods … that proportion is going to continue to increase,” Battle said. "We expect that trend will continue."
What they’re saying
Allen resident David Bishop spoke in opposition to the program because he said it would lead to higher costs for renters.
“When you give it to the landlord, he’s not going to raise the rent $150,” resident David Bishop said of the program's registration fee. “It’s going to be $50 a month.
Mayor Chris Schulmeister spoke in favor of the program, emphasizing that neighborhood enhancement is important to the community.
“I never want to be a guy that imposes a fee ... to a city that I can’t, in my own heart, find acceptable to me as a resident of Allen,” Schulmeister said. “This is a program in my mind that I think is fair.”
Next steps
The online registration portal will open Nov. 1, Battle said. Rental property owners will receive a notice from the city in early November and a second notice in January before the registration deadline on Jan. 31.
