Cleveland now requires landlords to have boots on the ground in the metropolitan area. That rule, part of a law the city passed last year, is meant to hold out-of-town property owners accountable for their rentals.
The boots belong to people known as “local agents” — often, property managers or real estate brokers — who have agreed to take legal responsibility for their clients’ rental properties. If maintenance problems go unfixed, and the landlord ignores code violations, city prosecutors can haul the local agent into court instead.
Landlords must list a local agent when they apply for Cleveland’s rental registry. As of mid-June, landlords who own 10,314 properties had signed up 2,433 local agents to be responsible for their rentals, according to the Department of Building & Housing…