No rental agency or agent or employee thereof shall advertise or otherwise solicit consumers for the rental agency business in the City unless the following procedures are followed:
(a) Payment; Contracts.
(1) The rental agency shall not require payment by a consumer of a charge or fee in excess of ten dollars ($10.00) at any time prior to the consumer’s entering into a rental agreement or lease with a landlord as a result of information provided by the rental agency. A conspicuous sign shall be posted in the rental agency office in an area in which the agency conducts business with consumers, stating that no fee in excess of ten dollars ($10.00) may be collected until the consumer has entered into a rental agreement or lease as a result of rental information provided by the agency.
(2) The agency’s agreement with each consumer shall be evidenced by a written, dated contract which contains the following notice:
PROCEDURE FOR PAYMENT
The complete charge for services provided by ________________ is $__________. Upon registering with ________________, you will be required to pay an initial nonrefundable fee of ten dollars ($10.00). If you rent housing through listings provided by ________________, the balance of the fee for services must be paid to _________________ not later than thirty (30) days from the date of rental.
(b) Advertisements and Listings.
(1) No residential housing shall be listed by a rental agency unless the rental agency has received express permission to list the property from the person responsible for showing, renting, leasing or subleasing such property, and has knowledge that such residential housing is available for rental, lease or sublease at the time it is placed on the list. A list of residential housing for rental, lease or sublease prepared by a rental agency shall be accurate and current.
As used in this subsection, “current” means that the availability of residential housing listed shall be verified at least once every forty-eight (48) hours by the rental agency. Such verification may come only as a result of actual contact with the person responsible for showing, renting, leasing or subleasing such property or with a person expressly authorized by him or her to give such information.
(2) All advertisements placed by a rental agency, including, but not limited to, those which describe specific residential housing, shall include the words “rental information services.” Availability of rental properties appearing in newspaper advertisements must be verified within forty-eight (48) hours of the time the advertisement appears. All advertisements running in daily newspapers must be ordered to run for one (1) day only or in such a manner as to permit immediate deletions from those advertisements as listings become unavailable.
(3) A list of residential housing for rental, lease or sublease prepared by a rental agency shall contain the following information for each listing, such information to be disclosed to the consumer as part of a residential housing referral:
A. The complete street address of the residential housing, and the apartment or room number;
B. The rental agency charge and whether or not the rental charge is computed weekly, monthly or otherwise;
C. Which utilities, if any, are included in the rental charge. If no utilities are included in the rental charge, this fact shall be disclosed;
D. The number of rooms;
E. The period of tenancy;
F. Any other restriction or limitation (e.g., the impermissibility of children or pets);
G. The name and telephone number of the person who is responsible for showing, renting, leasing or subleasing the residential housing;
H. The date the residential housing was placed for listing with the rental agency;
I. The source of the listing (e.g., landlord, superintendent, newspaper advertisement, etc.). If the source is a person or business entity, the name of the person or business entity shall be disclosed. If the source is a newspaper advertisement, the name of the newspaper and the date of publication shall be disclosed. The source of the listing shall be a newspaper advertisement if the rental agency’s initial contact with the listing was a newspaper advertisement.
A list or listing of residential housing provided by a rental agency shall be clearly written, typewritten or otherwise clearly reproduced.
(4) If twenty percent (20%) or more of the listings of a rental agency have been advertised in a newspaper by an individual or business entity other than the rental agency, this fact shall be disclosed by a sign. Such sign shall:
A. Measure no less than thirty-six (36) inches by twenty-four (24) inches;
B. State the following in solid black letters measuring no less than one and one-half (1-1/2) inches in height:
A substantial number of apartments and houses listed by our service can be found in the classified section of local newspapers.
C. Be conspicuously displayed near the entrance of the rental agency.
(5) When the rental agency refers listings to the consumer over the telephone, the following information shall be disclosed whether or not the consumer specifically requests such information:
A. The complete street address of the residential housing, the apartment or room number, the rental charge, included utilities, the number of rooms, the period of tenancy and other restrictions or limitations; and
B. The name and telephone number of the person who is responsible for showing, renting, leasing or subleasing the residential housing.
(6) Rental agencies shall, upon request made by the Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses or the Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs, provide copies of all agreements entered into between the rental agency and its subscribers.
(7) Records of all listings and information required by paragraphs (b)(3) and (b)(6) hereof shall be maintained by rental agencies for a period not less than one (1) year from the date of the listing and subscription respectively.
(Ord. No. 224-81. Passed 5-4-81, eff. 5-7-81)