The Wareham Board of Health has adopted a set of rental regulations that will require landlords to obtain a certificate of registration from the board before allowing renters to move in to their properties.

Property owners must register with the Board of Health by October 30. Registration will cost $100 per year, and another $25 for any other units at the same address and owned by the same landlord.

After registering, landlords will be scheduled for a State Sanitary Code Inspection. Under the State Sanitary Code, landlords are required to provide alternative housing immediately for tenants if a property is shut down on the spot for severe violations, such as lack of heat.

According to the new regulations, noncompliance will result in a fine of $100, and each day the property owner remains in violation of the regulations may be counted as a separate offense.

"What we're hoping to do with the housing inspection program is to eliminate the complaints we receive daily in the Board of Health office regarding substandard housing," Wareham Health Agent Bob Ethier explained.

The regulations are intended to protect both landlords and tenants, Ethier says.

"The Wareham board did what a lot of other municipalities have done, and Wareham should have done a long time ago," Ethier noted.

The money generated from the program will be put into a fund that will be capped at $50,000. The money will be used to fund Health Department programs. If the fund exceeds $50,000 in a given year, the additional money will go into the town's general coffers.

The board held a hearing about the regulations last June, and landlords packed the Town Hall cafeteria to voice their opinions and objections to the regulation. The prevailing sentiment among those who attended the hearing was that the regulations penalizelandlords who maintain their properties.

Ethier was at that hearing, and says that he understands that landlords -- and their properties -- are sometimes the victims of unruly tenants.

"In a lot of cases it's not the landlords fault," Ethier said. "In a lot of cases, it's the tenants who cause these issues."

For more information about the regulations, contact the Health Department at 508-291-3100, ext. 3197. Applications for landlords are available on the town's website. Click here.