Some rental property owners are getting a tougher look from the city after Austin City Council passed two resolutions June 6 directing the creation of ordinances that would establish a registry of rental properties and tenants as well as stiffer penalties for properties with repeat code violations.

"I think both resolutions have merit, and we need both in our tool kits," said Austin resident David King, who spoke at the meeting.

The first item approved by council allows for increased penalties and the formation of a list of properties that have had more than two code violations within a year.

Councilman Bill Spelman also directed staff to look into issues brought forward by residents at the meeting, including a comprehensive plan for using the measures the city already has more effectively, a better way to allow people to report violations without retaliation and developing a checklist for code officers to follow.

Spelman said he recognized that the majority if the complaints and code violations come from only a few "bad actors" in the city, despite repeated complaints and notices.

"What we tried to do in item 49 was focus the attention of code compliance officers, the municipal court and prosecutors on those people," Spelman said.

Melinda Schiera, a North Austin Civic Association member and resident, said spoke out in favor of the resolutions saying her neighborhood has been proactive in reporting code violations, saving the report numbers and contacting property owners. She presented to council several photographs of code violations in the NACA area.

"I really hope [council] considers helping our neighborhood," Schiera said. "We're working really really hard, and I just hope that y'all want to help us."

Spelman said the issue the council is trying to address is not just identification, but enforcement of the codes.

"It seems to me the real issue here isn't so much the lack of proactivity. We need somebody to be proactive, somebody has to file a complaint. But you're doing that. It's that nothing's happening then or at least we're not getting abatement of the problem quickly enough."

The other item approved by council stipulates the creation of a pilot registration program in certain areas for residential rental properties that includes information such as property managers, scheduled inspections and a list of tenants' names. Selected areas include the Restore Rundberg area, East Riverside/Oltorf Combined Neighborhood area, Central Austin Neighborhood Advisory Committee planning areas, the Hyde Park area, the Northfield area and the North Loop area.

Council members said one reason for the a rental registration program pilot is to address the issue of "stealth dorms" in neighborhoods. Stealth dorms are homes or duplexes rented to more than six unrelated people. City code only allows up to six unrelated people to occupy a duplex.

"My professional opinion, as it relates to rental registration, is that it can be a very effective tool for code compliance," said Carl Smart, director of the Code Compliance Department. "It sets a standard and communicates that standard very well to property owners and tenants so that everyone is aware what that standard is, and provides a more proactive method of addressing code violations."

Mayor Lee Leffingwell was hesitant about the pilot program creating a rental registry that includes information.

"I am not going to support this because I believe there are privacy issues that can't be overcome," Leffingwell said. "I believe it's overly intrusive. I believe it's going to be overly costly. I believe eventually the pilot program would, in order to be fair, would have to cover the entire city creating a huge new bureaucracy, and I don't think it's a wise, targeted allocation of sources we have available."

Stuart Hersh, an Austin resident and renter, spoke to council against both items, saying council already had the tools it needs to cite and enforce its code.

"The issue before you, as you've heard, is we've got a lot of substandard conditions, and we have mechanisms that allow us, without any additional tools, to get all those fixed," Hersh said. "But we have lacked not resources but political will to reinstitute the things that used to work so that they can work again."

Both resolutions are expected to come back to council as ordinances in 90 days.