Renting in Aurora: the license, the inspection, and the seminar

Step 1: Register the property

File the city's Rental Property Registration form with the Property Standards Division (77 S. Broadway, 630-256-3770) and pay the annual licensing fee — the amount scales with the property, with reported fees starting around $90 for a single property. All rental licenses renew annually by August 31, and renewals can be done online. Two timing rules with teeth: if you buy a building that's already licensed, the ownership change must be reported within 3 working days; and registration is a prerequisite for the required seminar below.

Step 2: The annual inspection

Every licensed unit gets an exterior and interior inspection each year against the Property Maintenance Code — light, ventilation, heating, sanitation, fire safety. The city mails you a scheduled inspection time; if you can't make it, call 630-256-3770 promptly to reschedule, because missed appointments draw cancellation fees. Inspections run during business hours, Monday through Friday — plan on coordinating tenant access once a year.

Step 3: The Crime Free Multi-Housing seminar

If you (or your agent or property manager) haven't attended before, Aurora requires the police department's Crime Free Multi-Housing seminar. The practical details, from the city's current schedule:

• Free, held in the Community Room at Aurora Police Headquarters (1200 E. Indian Trail Rd.), 5:30–8:30 p.m.
• 2026 English sessions: March 18 · April 15 · May 6 · September 23 · October 21. A Spanish session runs November 4.
• Register by phone (630-256-3770) with your property addresses and registration info; registration closes 5 days before class.
• No-show without 48 hours' email notice: $100 fine.

The curriculum is genuinely useful for a first-time landlord — applicant screening, evictions and court procedure, fair housing, CPTED (designing the property against crime) — and you leave with a reference manual. The program also brings a lease addendum and tenant background-check expectations; the seminar covers how those work.

What noncompliance costs

The city's own materials are direct about the stakes: operating without compliance risks fines and suspension or loss of the license to rent the unit — which converts a paperwork lapse into vacant-unit losses. The cheap path is boring: register, calendar the August 31 renewal, keep the inspection appointment, sit the seminar once.

The rest is state law

Aurora's program governs the building; your deposit and fee obligations come from Illinois law, which since January 1, 2024 covers every residential rental in the state — details in our Illinois deposit guide, with the quick-reference deadline page and late-fee page. Keeping the rent record that an inspection year, a deposit dispute, or a court date will ask for is what the free rent ledger is for — and a RentChime account tracks the lease dates and the August 31 renewal alongside them.