NORWICH – Landlords may soon have to pay a fee and register with the city in order to rent apartments in downtown Norwich. At Tuesday night’s Common Council meeting, Oct. 17 was set as the date to hold a public hearing on the city’s plan to create a rental dwelling registration.

Code Enforcement Officer Jason Lawrence has been working with the city on the rental registration for over eight months. The registry should make it easier for public officials to contact landlords when a health, safety or property maintenance issue arises, Lawrence said. The rental registration is the second part of the plan, which began earlier this summer when a new garbage ordinance went into effect.

“The city is in rough shape,” Lawrence said. “We just want to make it a cleaner, safer place to live.”