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GREAT NEWS! Seattle increased the expense of doing business again!

BY David Boze  on October 1, 2012 @ 8:39 pm (Updated: 8:35 am - 10/10/12 )

The Seattle City Council has approved a program (translation: the seeds of a new giant money-sucking, business-killing, life-stealing bureaucracy) in order to solve the problem of rental units that are not up to snuff. They will now add to the expense of EVERYONE in order to require registration and inspection of all rental property begining in 2014. They say the complaint system isn't working because they have too few complaints a year but estimate that the problem is much, much bigger.

My guess? With fines to levy against property owners (you know, those evil people who save and invest in order to give people a place to live, then hope those people actually pay their rent), I'm guessing the new inspectors will have all kinds of reasons to find problems to fix.

PSST... those of you in the comment section--I'm not saying there's never a problem. I am saying this is not how to fix it.

David Boze, KTTH Talk Show Host
David hosts a radio show on Seattle's only conservative talk station, KTTH. He enjoys hunting big game and attending the Seattle Symphony.
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Comments (9)


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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Well, there are only 3 reasons complaints about rental properties don't come in.
    October 1, 2012 7:55 pm
    Either tenants have nowhere else to move, so don't complain for fear of eviction...

    OR rental properties are in great shape, so nothing is wrong...

    OR (most likely)even of there are problems, rents are low enough that tenants put up with the problems regardless. And if the want a better place, they move and pay more. That's the free market at work

    .

    What Seattle wants to do is eliminate option 3. But when costs go up to the landlords, of course rents must be raised. So, who ultimately pays for these inspections ???????

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  • hpygolkyone wrote...
    Only My Opinion..........
    October 1, 2012 8:39 pm
    ....then with all these "qualified" inspectors come's their salaries and benefits and automobiles and cell phones and ipads and expense accounts and blah, blah, blah.

    Things will be bumpy at first and then they will get smoothed out......maybe.

    Then we will be reading stories about inspectors taking bribes from property owners, or drinking or doinking women in their cars or homes while on the job.

    Man.....I hate to be a hater, but this just sounds like this isn't the way to fix the problem and it will create more pitfalls for abuse and illegal activity than we are already seeing.

    I don't always agree with Ron P, but he gets a nod on this one. Not only will this increase costs to landlords (some who are deserving of a swift kick in theass), but it will also ding the good landlords who try to do it right.

    This just stinks tohell of another layer of expense that doesn't need to be there paid for by the taxpayer.....but it will.

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  • circuitfr wrote...
    who cares
    October 2, 2012 6:52 am
    what the conditions are. I've been a landlord multiple times and I always tried to keep a nice, working order place, but let me tell you having tenants that actually treat the house like their own is about 1 out of 100. The other 99 treat the house like crup because it isn't theirs. Maybe they don't tear the place up, but the ruin walls, carpet, throw garbage all outside...Never deep clean anything. Most tenants are slobs.
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  • Paul Kersey wrote...
    This IS great news...
    October 2, 2012 7:21 am
    for landlords in Bellevue and Renton. As Seattle rents go up, so do theirs. Anyone doing business in Seattle deserves what they get. It's not like a secret that Seattle is run by a cabal of Marxists.
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  • FormerMarineSgt wrote...
    Interesting....
    October 2, 2012 9:00 am
    This one is interesting. The slum lord's won't fix up thier uninhabitable housing, the lawsuits and very, very slow legal system penalties haven't stopped them and the response from Boze and all his blindly right wing followers is 'how dare the government try to prevent slum lords from victimizing people who can't afford to do anything about thier living conditions'.... It's amazing how mindless the right has become in thier anti-government hate. What you all are saying is 'screw the health and welfare of the poor just so that government doesn't interfere with the freedom of scum sucking slum lords (oh, wait, you'd probably call them 'honorable landlords making a reasonable profit) to endanger thier tenants... I'm ever so glad that you care so little for the less fortunate. Sometimes, when an industry WON'T police itself, government has to step in. This is one of those cases where the benefit outweighs the negative impact. I'll bet the actual impact in $$$ per rental unit will be minimal to nearly non-existent (as in rents may go up a couple of dollars on average).
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  • Seattle_CPA wrote...
    Good property owners and neighborhoods get advantage
    October 2, 2012 9:47 am
    Neighborhoods get better rental stock. Crappy housing removed from market. Property values rise. Supply decreases. Rents go up. Cost of program past through to tenants. Good property owners get advantage and better return on investment. Affordable housing advocates should have done a better job promoting the responsible use of current Landlord Tenant Act legislation.
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  • cigarfan wrote...
    Question for Boze
    October 2, 2012 12:50 pm
    Boze writes "PSST... those of you in the comment section--I'm not saying there's never a problem. I am saying this is not how to fix it."......and then are silent on a wiser solution!
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