When the Raleigh City Council approved a controversial new registration fee for landlords in June, it was supposed to go into effect in early January 2009. But Robert Spruill, the city's housing inspections administrator, said this week that the city would not begin registering landlords until March at the earliest.

The new fee is related to the city's PROP, or Probationary Rental Occupancy Permit, ordinance. It will require landlords to pay $30 annually for their first registered unit and $10 for each additional unit registered in the same dwelling. The money will be used to create a database of rental properties and to hire a four-person team to deal with landlords who run afoul of the PROP.

The city estimates that about half of Raleigh's 154,000 residential units are rental properties, which means the new fees will generate more than $775,000 annually. The City Council voted 5-3 to adopt the fee in June. Opponents said the fee is excessive and will just be passed on to tenants.

The landlord database is supposed to make it easier for the city to identify problem landlords. A landlord enters the PROP program if he or she accumulates a certain number of housing code violations at a property.

Each landlord in the program is required to get a permit, pay $500 a year for two years and attend rental management classes. Since the ordinance was adopted in 2005, 20 properties have received enough violations to qualify.

Spruill said the city's Public Affairs Department will lead a campaign to let landlords know when the registration period begins. He said landlords will likely have about two months to register their rental properties with the city.

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The Raleigh City Council meets at 1 p.m. today. Among the items on the agenda is proposed changes to the city's PROP ordinance. Here's a quick run down of the changes being considered:

- Require all rental properties, regardless of the number of units, to be registered with the city. Owners would pay $30 annually for the first registered unit and $10 for each additional unit registered in the same dwelling.

- Allow Raleigh police to issue $100 civil penalties for noise and nuisance violations instead of charging the tenant with a misdemeanor.

- Amend the ordinance so that the following crimes are consider violations of the ordinance: prostitution, possession of stolen goods, violations of certain state alcohol and liquor regulations, unlawful weapons, unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, gaming violations and disorderly conduct.

Some landlords are complaining about the mandatory registration fee, saying it amounts to a tax on renters that is not necessary. Half the City Council expressed support for the changes last week, so their complaints may not derail the proposal.

 If approved, the changes will likely go into effect Jan. 5, 2009.