Why almost nobody follows Detroit rental law

Windows nailed shut. No heat on the second floor. Sewage backing up into the basement — in a home the city never cleared to be a rental in the first place.

For 40 years, Detroit has had a law meant to prevent exactly that: landlords must register a rental and prove it's safe before anyone moves in. Almost nobody follows it. Only about 1 in 7 Detroit rentals meets the bar, and rewrites of the law in 2017 and 2024 have barely moved the needle.

Outlier Media senior reporter Aaron Mondry joins host Robyn Vincent to explain why — and who pays for it. Part of the answer is enforcement; part is math: a Center for Community Progress study found that fixing an old house can cost more than the rent will ever bring back, so landlords ignore the law. It's a bind in any city built on old, cheap housing. Mondry lays out what it costs tenants, why a landlord without a certificate of compliance isn't even allowed to collect rent, and what it would take to change.

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