JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The City of Jacksonville and Jacksonville Area Legal Aid (JALA) announced on Friday the launch of jaxstablehousing.org, an online rental registry for Duval County where renters can check if a property has code enforcement violations or evictions.
“We can’t make landlords register for anything in Florida, but we can help bring some transparency to the rental process by helping you learn more about where you are renting, or in particular, where you want to rent,” said Jim Kowalski, CEO and President of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid.
JALA got access to all of this data through a public records request. They will be in charge of operating this database.
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This tool is something Tiajuana Bell-Williams wished she had when she was moving to Jacksonville.
“From a renter’s perspective, I think it’s good, especially relocating to a city that you don’t know, with all the military people we have coming. They need a resource that they can actually trust even if it’s temporary,” said Bell-Williams.
While this website can’t hold landlords accountable from a legal perspective, city leaders hope this tool will provide Jacksonville renters some transparency.
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“If they are about to rent from there, and they see that there’s a code violation, now it gives them the tools they need to say, maybe I don’t want to rent in this property,” said Councilman Jimmy Peluso (District 7).
Click here to access the website.
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