What is the Rental Registration Process in Grand Rapids? – How to Register a Rental

Ready to register your Grand Rapids rental property? As a new investor, it can be intimidating and confusing to register your rental property with your city. In this post you will be taken step by step through the process. Just follow the video or the steps below to learn how to register your Grand Rapids rental property.

Where to Register Your Rental

1. First, go to the City of Grand Rapids website here. 
2. Scroll down to the green button “Register Online in English”, this will take you to the Citizen Access page.
3. Log in with your username and password. If this is your first registration, you will need to create an account.
4. Once logged in, look for the tab “Registration”, click there and then select “Create Property Registration”
5. Read and Agree to the city’s terms to continue.
6. Under the Select a License or Registration screen, open the drop-down and scroll down to “None Applicable” and click “Continue” (Please Note: most people won’t have the same view with so many properties.)

Step 1: Register the Owner and Manager

1. This begins the rental registration. Under Registered Owner, select “Add New”. Enter the contact information. (Name, Address, City, phone number and email). Click continue.
2. Under Registered Manager, you can “Select From Account” or “Add New”, 
3. If you choose “Add New”, enter the manager’s contact information (Name, Address, City, phone number and email) and click continue.
4. Now you have the owner, and the manager. From here, you can either save your progress or continue.

Step 2: Register the Rental Property

1. After clicking continue, the properties section will open.
2. Under Rental Properties Owned click “Add a Row”.
3. Enter the information for the rental property. (Tip: Type is “Dwelling” If there’s no LLC, leave it blank) Click “Save”.
4. The property information is complete, click continue.

Tip: Inside the properties section, you can also register properties that are sold or vacant.

Step 3: Other Info

Before you start! In this section, you will need the owner’s and manager’s date of birth.

1. Under the Additional Information section, Fill in the required fields.
2. Read and sign the disclaimer with your Initials and Signature at the bottom of the page and click “Continue”.

Step 4: Review and Save

1. Review all the information on the screen. If everything is correct, click continue.
2. The system will open the Receipt/Record Issuance screen.
3. “Print/view summary”: we recommend saving a copy of this for your records.
4. Done!

What Happens After your Register Your Rental?

Registration is done, that was the easy part. After you register your rental, you will need to obtain a Certificate of Compliance. This is a program the city has in place that consists of an inspection or series of inspections to insure the unit is habitiable. You won’t hear any sugar coating from us here. This can be a frustrating and consuming process (definitely a benefit of using an experienced property management company to navigate). We have a blog with more details and tips for what to expect when working through the inspection program here.

To Conclude

And that’s how you register a rental property in the city of Grand Rapids! Need further help with registering your rental property or getting your code of compliance? Feel free to call 616-301-9450 or email with questions!