Cleveland City Councilman Kevin Bishop, a supporter of tougher rental and lead-safety rules, has been hit with seven civil tickets after city inspectors found that several of his rental homes were not registered and did not have required Lead Safe certifications. The tickets, issued this month, cite lapses in rental registration and missing lead-safety documentation at multiple properties, according to inspection records. The case lands just as the Building & Housing Department is stepping up enforcement in an effort to cut childhood lead exposure in the city’s aging housing stock.
As reported by Cleveland.com, Bishop has owned four rental houses in Cleveland and, after the citations were issued, he submitted paperwork this week to get those units registered. Inspection records reviewed by the outlet show two tickets linked to properties on Rexford Avenue and Imperial Avenue, with additional citations tied to addresses on Miles Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. A Jeffries Avenue house was not cited because inspectors could not confirm it was being rented. Bishop told the outlet that updating registrations and lead certifications had been on his “to-do list” after he lost help from a property manager.
The fines are part of a larger push to use civil tickets to force landlords into line. City enforcement now includes $200 tickets for rental registration and housing code violations under rules the council passed last year, according to Signal Cleveland. Inspectors ramped up ticketing in late 2024 and throughout 2025, issuing thousands of citations to landlords who had not completed the rental registry or obtained Lead Safe certifications. City officials say the tickets are designed to drive both repairs and paperwork, and unpaid fines can be added to property tax bills, while tenant advocates counter that enforcement needs to be matched with quicker access to repair funding.
What the law requires
Cleveland’s 2019 lead-safe ordinance requires owners of rental units built before 1978 to secure a Lead Safe Certification or show proof of abatement before they can legally rent those homes, and the city also requires annual rental registration for non-owner-occupied units for $70 per unit, according to the City of Cleveland. The registration process is meant to ensure landlords submit documentation such as HVAC inspections, proof of tax compliance, and, where required, lead-risk assessments or certificates that sign off on occupancy. City staff and coalition partners describe the rules as preventive, intended to head off lead hazards before children are poisoned rather than reacting only after elevated blood-lead levels are detected.
Scope and stakes
The enforcement surge is significant because only a slice of Cleveland’s rental stock currently has active lead-safe certification. The Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition and city data put that number at roughly 28,000 units, well below the total rental inventory. Signal Cleveland reported that the total represents less than one-third of the city’s rentals, while local reporting has estimated Cleveland’s overall rental count at roughly 90,000 to 100,000 units. Meanwhile, News 5 Cleveland reported that more than 1,300 children in the city tested positive for elevated blood lead levels last year, a statistic public-health officials point to as a clear reminder of why registration and certification rules matter…