"DISINGENUOUS": Council members call out Realtors over rental law protest

Audiences misinformed by city presentations just now catching up

COLUMBIA, 6/24/13 (Op Ed) -- Questions from Realtors about a new law regulating rental property prompted two Columbia City Councilmen to ask why the group hadn't voiced concerns earlier. 

 

Council members debated the law in January and passed it in February.  Worries over its Constitutionality and other objectionable issues, though voiced during Council debate, surfaced among the wider public this month.   "It's been six months and all of a sudden it's an issue," First Ward Councilman Fred Schmidt said at last Monday's meeting.  "I'm wondering why it wasn't an issue initially."

 

The answer is simple:  City leaders did not discuss the so-called "Occupancy Disclosure" law's most onerous provisions during presentations to local organizations, including Realtors, attendees have told the Heart Beat.   Many people rely on these presentations for accurate information about proposed legislation.

 

After a show of solidarity during which most audience members in the City Council's chambers stood up Monday night to protest the law, Second Ward Councilman Michael Trapp echoed Mr. Schmidt.  "I think it's disingenuous of Realtors," he said.  "The occupancy disclosure law was passed after a very wide public process. Lots of folks heard about it. I can't imagine that they did not."

 

Heard about part of the law, maybe.  But not about all of it. 

 

This writer -- a property manager myself -- arranged and hosted a presentation at the 3rd annual Landlords Against Crime summit.  Office of Neighborhood Services director Leigh Britt explained part one of the law in detail.   It requires landlords to notify tenants, in writing, about "occupancy limitations" required by zoning laws.  The notification must be either in the lease or on a new form available at City Hall, Britt told a crowd of about 35 people.

 

But she never discussed part two of the law, which requires "any owner, operator, agent or property manager of a rental unit to immediately exhibit, upon request by a police officer or city inspector investigating any code violation, all lease, rental payment, tenant information and the zoning occupancy disclosure form pertaining to the unit."

 

During January's Council debate, Columbia attorney Skip Walther called part two "probably un-Constitutional," but by that time it was too late.  Folks who listened to presentations were out of luck, including this writer.

 

Instead, they should have tried to find, as I usually do, the Council's weekly agenda, released on Friday before the Monday meeting (used to be released on Thursday).   A copy of the law is buried inside layer after layer of web pages.

 

Try to find this link -- the Occupancy Disclosure Ordinance as presented in January: http://gocolumbiamo.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=11&clip_id=764&meta_id=42873

 

...from the city's home page:

www.gocolumbiamo.com

-- Mike Martin