The Boston City Council approved a home rule petition that would raise the maximum fines for “scofflaw” landlords who flout local laws around property upkeep for the first time in 35 years, from $300 to $2,000 for each violation.

The petition, approved Wednesday, is aimed at deterring owners who view the low fine structure as simply a “cost of doing business” in the city, rather than an incentive to avoid future code violations by cleaning up their properties. It would need the mayor’s signature before heading to the state Legislature.

“We heard loud and clear from (city) departments that the $300 maximum fine was just ignored or just accepted as the cost of doing business,” said Councilor Liz Breadon, who co-sponsored the measure.

“We hope that in this process of raising the maximum fine to $2,000, that this will act as a strong deterrent and encourage more compliance.”

Some of the major issues around these problem properties, Breadon said, are improper trash disposal and rodent control. By comparison, the minimum fine for illegal dumping in New York City is $4,000, according to a committee chair report prepared by Councilor Ricardo Arroyo.

According to the petition, the maximum allowable fine imposed by the City of Boston for non-criminal disposition of ordinance violations has remained $300 for 35 years, per the city charter, without adjustment for inflation.

Fines have only been raised twice since 1854, via home rule petitions that were later approved by the state Legislature. The city charter was amended both times through the acts of 1976 and 1989.

The $50 fine enacted in 1854 is equivalent in purchasing power to roughly $1,766 in 2023 dollars. The $200 fine set in 1976 equates to about $1,043 in 2023 dollars, and the current $300 fine, set in 1989, translates to approximately $718 today, the home rule petition states.

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Two prior home rule petition attempts to raise fines to $1,000 did not make it through the Legislature, where these measures often die, in 2005 and 2007. A $1,000 fine, when adjusted for inflation, would equate to $1,419 in 2023 dollars, according to the petition.

The measure would also seek to tie future fine increases to inflation, rather than requiring the City Council to pass a home rule petition each time. Annual reviews would take place on Jan. 1 each year, beginning in 2025.

While the Wu administration expressed support for increasing the maximum fine in prior Council committee hearings, those officials were concerned about a separate part of the petition that sought to “impose a lien on real property located within the city for any local charge, fee or fine that has not been paid by the due date.”

Administration officials stated that technology issues have resulted in accurate storage of data on property owners. No liens have been issued since 2016, Arroyo’s committee report states.

In response, the petition was amended to remove any reference to municipal charges liens. That came to the disappointment of several councilors, including Ruthzee Louijeune, who co-sponsored the measure.

“A lot of our problem properties, there are people who are not deterred, and we need to be serious about placing liens on those properties,” Louijeune said, citing the city’s “overflowing dumpsters” and “out-of-control” pest issues.