Background
This project was supported by grant funding from the NYS Attorney General’s Office, via the Enterprise Community Partners’ Cities RISE program. The program is intended to support innovative projects to advance equitable code enforcement. The Property Manager/Owner scoring system was envisioned to provide an objective and transparent public scoring system that could be used to drive improvements in code compliance. It could be used by City staff to target enforcement, as well as provide tenants better insight when making decisions on who to rent from.
To make the scoring system a reality, City staff worked in partnership with counterparts at Tolemi. The City has provided Tolemi live feeds of code enforcement and property data for public access in their BuildingBlocks online platform since 2017. Building upon this, Tolemi developed an algorithm that ingests this data and processes the scoring system for viewing in BuildingBlocks.
The scoring system was also workshopped extensively with the Landlord/Tenant Advisory Committee, which is convened by the City to provide input on proposed policies and initiatives. The group is comprised of the leaders of all the known landlord associations, other small landlords, as well as tenant and community advocates. The committee provided valuable feedback which was incorporated into the final design of the scoring system.
Scoring Calculation Overview
- A score is first calculated for each rental property based the following four factors:
- Open Expired Health and Safety Violations Per Unit (30/100 pts)
- Days Since the Oldest Expired Health and Safety Violation was Cited (20/100 pts)
- Days Since the Certificate of Occupancy Expired (30/100 pts)
- Days Since the Structure was Cited as Vacant and Blighted (20/100 pts)
- Next, properties are flagged for being in the grace period if any of the following are true:
- The owner or manager acquired the property within the last 90 days
- The owner or manager has submitted a work schedule for the property and it has been approved by Code Enforcement
- Finally, a weighted average is calculated for each property owner and property manager:
- Grace period properties are not included in the average
- Properties are weighted more heavily if they were inspected more recently, or if they have open code enforcement case. Properties inspected more than 3 years ago are not included in the average.
- Properties are weighted more heavily if they have more units
Detailed Documentation
Download the full user guide with further detail by clicking here.
How to View Scores
- Visit the BuildingBlocks site: https://rochester-ny.tolemi.com/
- In the search bar at the top, search an address (property). Click the address, and then scroll all the way to the bottom of the property detail page for the property score. Scroll back up and click the owner or manager name near the top right to view their identity page with their portfolio score and full property list.
- See PDF user guide for download above for further information
How to Improve Your Score
- Create an account to manage your properties on the City’s new Infor Civics portal: https://infor.cityofrochester.gov/ View more documentation here: www.CityofRochester.gov/CivicsPortal
- Once you have an account, designate all the properties you own or manage in the system. If necessary, contact the property owner to prompt them to create an online account and officially designate you as the property manager.
- Focus on resolving the oldest violations at properties with the most open violations. These factors contribute more heavily to your score.
- If there are barriers to completing the work necessary to clear a violation, submit a work schedule for a property within Infor Civics with the page for that property. If it is approved by City Code Enforcement staff, it will remove the property from your average temporarily.
Linked Identities
An automated algorithm is used to link owner or manager records that appear to be the same individual, or have the same controlling entity based on the use of a common tax bill mailing address, manager contact info, or a very similar name. For example, two properties may have different legal owner names, such as two different LLC’s, but those LLC’s will be linked based on a common tax bill mailing address. If multiple managers work for the same management company, and all use the business address of the company, those managers will be linked together. Owners and managers are separate categories and held separate for linking and scoring. Owners will never be linked to managers, and vice versa. Someone may be both an owner and a manager, and you can toggle between the two types at the top of the identities page in BuildingBlocks.
For the purpose of calculating the code compliance score, all properties connected to any of the linked identities are included in the average. All of those linked identities will have the same score.
Resolving Issues with Out of Date, or Incorrect Property Manager Records
As of 8/25/2023, all legacy property manager records submitted via paper forms before the City implemented its new Infor software system were removed. Only new manager contact records submitted since 5/24/2023 will be included in the scoring and listed publicly in BuildingBlocks.
- If you appear to be missing a property that you currently manage, please contact the property owner and work with them to get both of you signed up for the City’s new Civics online property management portal. Once both are signed up, the owner can submit a Building Owner Registry form to update the property manager contact information for the property, and invite you by email. See full instructions here: www.CityofRochester.gov/CivicsPortal
- If there is an identity that is completely unrelated to you, and appears to be linked in error, email CivicsTechSupport@CityofRochester.gov with a screenshot or list of properties and the City will review to unlink.
- If you are having other technical issues, please email CivicsTechSupport@CityofRochester.gov
Contact Information
If you have questions about open violations, or need to schedule an inspection, please email: CofO@CityofRochester.gov
If you need to speak with your code enforcement inspector you can find their contact info here:
https://maps.cityofrochester.gov/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=b7ccd37b38044e93ae724f4a26f5741b
If you have technical questions about, please email: CivicsTechSupport@CityofRochester.gov