Posted on 12/27/2018 9:51:32 AM PST by bgill
With slews of tent encampments in a fast-growing city flush with tech-sector cash, it’s tough questioning Seattle’s serious problem with homelessness and affordable housing. But an unprecedented new city law — forbidding landlords from checking into potential renters’ criminal past — is very much in dispute and setting up a closely-watched court battle. Landlords argue their free speech, property rights and possibly their safety is being jeopardized by a law that forces them to close their eyes to relevant public information about possible tenants. They’re backed by landlord groups and background screeners who call the ordinance a perilous precedent. The “Fair Chance Housing Act” was anything but that, according to landlords’ lawyers. Ethan Blevins, an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, said the law’s premise “is this paternalistic idea that the city gets to decide what information is relevant or important to a landlord’s decision making process.”
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
Can we assume sex offenders can now rent above the local day care center for young children?
Wouldn’t this be a First Amendment issue...telling you that you don’t have the freedom to associate with those of your choosing?
I’m surprised that in Seattle there are still people who don’t understand that the Government controls all the property. Property rights is so 20th century.
They just created an instant housing shortage. Landlords will just quit renting their properties rather than take this risk.
Just check their credit history.
I betcha people who have been in stir actually have better credit scores than some people I know who just can’t put down the Visa Card.
[[A new Seattle housing law forbids landlords from checking tenants’ criminal history]]
Yet when a tenant gets attacked by one of the criminals who live there- the owner will be sued into oblivion for not protecting the tenants-
You own property? no, you only think you own property. The left resents private property and will do all it can to eliminate it. This is one more step on the way to complete takeover of private property.
Whooppee! This will really increase the amount of rentals for the homeless and destitute. Those money grubbing landlords will no doubt be happy to rent to anyone. Problem solved.
What do these leftist use for brains? I have a rental house overseen by a property manager. He checks criminal records and credit scores for any prospective renter. In six years I have not had a problem with any renter misusing or abusing the house. There are always normal maintenance costs, etc., but I don’t want to deal with Section 8 types and felons.
If I were subject to this type of law, I would sell the place in a Seattle second.
Just go online to the State’s criminal offender registry to see their record.
Then deny them because someone else was in line ahead of them.
This is probably due to the fact that credit reports now often include any criminal record
Just a guess
Man I can recall when you didn’t need credit report to rent an apt
Now you may need it just to rent a car or hotel room if you only have a debit card
I detest how credit reports are compiled
I personally have paid six figures thru business my commercial mortgages always on time and never got credit for that
Yet the 35-50 routine credit enquirers annually cost 40-60 points for a time which means I’ll never have super high credit self employed with numerous commercial mortgages which are credit checked annually despite my stellar payoff record since the 80s
And when wifey mistakenly paid home mortgage from an overdraft account which is auto rejected by Chase, they didn’t notify us till the next mortgage statement at which time you’re officially late
My credit which affects substantial business debt was hit from 740-630....630 fair/good.....not good for me
Six months later I’m 690-700
But you get warnings constantly about credit balance and whatnot
There has to be a better way
One way is making the agencies more responsive
I agree.
I was a landlord just one time. We had invested in second mortgages with a pool of other investors. We took a property back in foreclosure and, instead of selling it, we rented it out. The person we put in charge of finding a tenant didn’t do a background check! He got a criminal tenant who made two payments, then quit paying (a cop friend ran his hotsheet for us and he had a record a mile long, fortunately all non-violent).
Being Santa Cruz County, it took SIX MONTHS to evict him. During that time, water and power were cut off, but he continued to use the toilets that couldn’t be flushed. He stole all the fixtures, hot tub pump, appliances, and left garbage knee deep throughout as well as lots of holes in the walls.
I would NEVER be a landlord unless I could run criminal background checks.
This action will greatly reduce the number of apartments for rent in Seattle. What landlord wants to go through what we went through?
That’s rather obvious, isn’t it? Another law on the books that is impossible to enforce.
I own rentals in the area. I’ve told my realtor not to suggest anything close to Seattle city limits. This new law is a disaster for multi family property owners.
Law makers should be sued when they’ve endangered the populace
Drug lords who pay all their bills on time will have excellent credit history. Good way to filter out the stupid element of common criminals, however.
Credit, perhaps. SO much unfairness in credit checks. Criminal? No way. Must be checked.
Yet another reason I would never ever own rental property - the horror stories are already sickening. I don’t see how it’s worth it.
Just buy REITs, collect the dividends, and go play golf in peace.
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