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Apr
10
Another attempt to regulate landlords
April 10, 2006 | 19 Comments
A City Council task force is recommending yet another attempt to regulate rental housing in the city. The proposal would require registration and regular inspections of all rental property. The landlord industry has killed similar attempts in the past, and is already arguing for funding to come from the general fund instead of landlord registration fees.
Meanwhile, KCK has been operating a similar program for several years and the landlords there seem to be managing just fine. Unfortunately the KCMO initiative is being led by Saundra McFadden-Weaver, so it remains to be seen if it will be taken seriously.
Categories: City Council, Real Estate
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I don’t know how serious an initiative this is even without Sandra McFadden-Weaver. An inspection every three years seems inadequate given how quickly a property can deteriorate. A coat of cheap paint can hide problems long enough for a landlord to get another tenant.
It would have to be a thorough inspection. When we were audited by the State last year, only a few apartments were entered at random. That’s not a fair assessment of a complex’s condition.
I agree that every three years won’t cut it.
My take on this is: KCMO could care less about the slumlords and the dirty hovels they rent. What KCMO wants is a way to make money off the deal without pissing off the slumlord coalition.
In my experience doing business as a landlord in cities that require licensing and inspections, costs (and rents) increase without anything actually improving. The section 8 properties are already inspected and most of them are in poorer shape than the non-section 8. Neighbors and neighborhood organizations already have the ability to sue owners of problem properties and if more of them would do so, the time and expense of defending oneself in court would encourage bad landlords to sell out and move on.
Another thought on this… I’ve had properties where the tenant would not report problems to me even though such reporting is a requirement of my leases. Perhaps if we spent a little less time protecting the rights of offending tenants we might encourge landlords to invest in their properties.
Northeast Guy,
I agree. It goes both ways in that regard.
I disagree with Northeast Guy on neighbors and neighborhoods suing landlords over poorly maintained properties. I live in a midtown neighborhood with a fair amount of crappy rental housing, and a neighborhood association that is fairly aggressive in “harassing” landlords over problem properties and tenants. It takes months before there are any signs of progress. And many slumlords just accept fines and judgements as another routine business expense.
I don’t think this proposal is going to solve much. But it is past time for Kansas City to get aggressive with slumlords. It’d be nice if the landlord lobby would police its members instead of just protecting their bottom line.
Thurston, if it is prosecuted correctly, a civil suit brought by an individual has the potential to result in the forfeiture of the offending property.
That’s all well and good. But look at the neighborhoods where a lot of the crappy rental property resides: East of Troost and sections of Midtown where gentrification just hasn’t taken off yet. I’m willing guess there are few residents who have the means and will to hire an attorney to successfully litigate a civil suit. The city needs to bring considerable pressure on slumlords. If that means hounding a few “businesspeople” out of the rental property racket, so be it.
In the real world, using current state law, how many successful lawsuits were executed by area residents against area landlords? How many neighborhood associations successfully and absolutely closed down substandard units? How many landlords accepted the initial ruling if it went against them and vacated ownership? Probably less than a handful. The privately executed lawsuits may have a better chance of surviving the court system because you have very motivated residents with money to spend. In parts of midtown owner occupancy is around 75-80%. In areas east of Troost the numbers reverse. Then we get into absentee landlords who are beyond the current reach of a process server. One of the great things, perhaps the only great thing, about the Magnet school system was that the kids could stay in the same school all year while a huge percentage changed homes 3-5 times in a school year.
I look forward to seeing all those landlords huffing and puffing about the small profit margins, destructive tenants and poor cooperation from City hall, including the KCPD.
Everyone in this city would benefit from regulated rental properties with no exemptions.
Why even bother with city inspections if the city doesn’t take the lead on things like reasonable property maintenance guidelines and inspections? Nobody wants to use up valuable time away from work and family to wade through a morass of codes and court dates. And if the majority of people living in an area are renters they may not be motivated to pursue legal action.
I like the idea of having stronger codes and enforcement on record. The clearer the guidelines, the easier it is to determine when they are being followed. Or not being followed.
Anymore it seems like KCMO is more interested in the concerns of big business while the individual business and property owners are left to fend for themselves. Well maintained homes are a fundamental sign of a healthy urban core. Put laws on the books that help home owners and neighborhoods. And keep the city at the very front of this effort to encourage and enforce landlords to make a reasonable effort at maintaining their properties.
As a property manager of hundreds of Kansas City Properties and an avid polico. All this amounts to is another tax. This administration has never seen a tax they didn’t like. We have a codes department. We have a City Complaint Department, Heck we even have a City department that handles Landlord/Tenant issues. If the home is on the Section-8 program the Housing Authority inspects those units every 9 months.
Lets call it what it is a TAX! Especially knowing that it came from Mcfadden Weaver. Next, Give Me Some Freebies Inc. will be accosting me at the polls to tell me to support this tax.
I agree with you Ben. This is all about revenue generation.
As an investor involved in many communities throughout the US, I am interested in seeing how KC handles this.
The fact is this will cut into all of our bottom lines and probably bring little (if any) improvement to the situation.
The other fact is that we will all try to pass the cost of this TAX on to our tenants. But, I think we all need to realize that the REAL cost of this will exceed the TAX. We need to realize that the added cost of dealing with more bureaucracy will far outweigh the fees involved.
I own two homes at 36th and Tracy but most of the others in that neighborhood are owner occupied. I’ve been called by neighbors because my tenant’s grass is too tall and we immediately take care of the situation. I feel the neighborhood assoc. is strong enough to prosecute me if I did’t keep my houses up and I wouldn’t want to risk the expense of a citation anyway. The city has sent me a warning of tall grass too, but that was incentive enough to get my tenant to cut it. Additionally, these are section 8 houses and they are inspected by HUD every year, so I would think that should give me some sort of excemption. Why do I have to pay for another inspection? The point of my story is that there are already safeguards in place to take care of issues like this only if the city would allocate resources to those areas to deal with them more timely and more strictly. I agree, this is another tax on the small business owner. Instead of focusing on all property owners, why not take action with the bad ones?
As neither a landlord nor a renter, but a one-home owner, the way I see this problem is: 1.) As has been observed by the results of the Welfare Program in the U.S., people get into the “entitlement mentality” when they are given something for free. They become experts in using and abusing the system. 2.) If a tenent is not held to accountability for caring for the property of another person, how can we expect the landlord to make expensive repairs to their property every time a tenent moves out leaving behind all their destruction, indecency and just plain filth! (I am a painting contractor and I see the firsthand results of some disgusting tenents’ way of living!) When I was a child, my mom was ADAMANT about not leaving behind a dirty house even when we lost one to forclosure. THAT’S INTEGRITY! How many people have that kind of respect today? 3.)If we take a look at the results that the Section 8 Department has had in the recent past, we too can expect the same results! Why do we think it will be any different on the municipal level? Finally, 4.) How in the world can Kansas City take on more bureaucracy when they are preoccupied with implementing their pet SUPER PROJECTS to bolster their legacies to get reelected or before they leave office. All in the name of “bringing in millions of dollars in revenues…!” We can see how the gambling casinos have made the KC school district flourish can’t we? Let’s face it; there is little glory in maintaining the integrity of the infrastructure, the roads and bridges, stormsewer maintenance, neighborhood blight, dangerous building demolition etc., etc., ETC!! This “program” is just a finger in the dyke.
Find a person who is not interested in their own glory or other peoples’ money and they’ll get my undivided attention and support.
Sure is easy to tell the liberals from the conservatives. The libs use terms like big business and slumlords. The conservatives see the government as the problem. The liberals always see it as the solution. I could write volumes on that. What seems to be missing in the discussion by those like Thurston who think government is always the solution, is that most of the “Slumlords” I know are not making money. I do not own any investment property. I manage hundreds of rental properties throughout the metro area. Most all of my clients only gain equity over the long term. THERE IS NO CASH FLOW! Vacancies cost money and rents are lower than they have been in a decade.
Some complain that it takes months for a “Slumlord” to do something about a problem tenant… Here’s a newsflash! Your beloved government is the reason. It takes at least 90 days to get an eviction in Jackson County!
If I find I have anyone who is suspected of dealing drugs or will not abide by the rules we file eviction immediately, provided the owner of that property will grant me permission to. That process will exceed three months. In the meantime there is no income and the owner still has to pay mortgage, insurance, taxes, etc.
All the while the neighbors are calling Chanel 5 and whining. There are more rules, laws and regulations pertaining to real estate than most any other profession.
More laws and more bureaucracy only serves to load the pockets of Kansas City’s politicians.
If we did have an inspection process it would be as corrupt as every other institution in KC and the real slumlords would just pay off the inspectors.
Cronies of the elite would get a pass and they would use it as a means of extracting more money out of those who are not connected polically.
[...] It’s not a big surprise that Mayor Barnes has given in to developers and killed the latest proposal to license and regulate landlords of rental housing. Her new proposal is to hire a rental housing coordinator and expand the codes inspection staff. [...]