David Brauer asked: Keith, I have some sympathy for you here, but why haven't landlords pooled information proactively (or have they)? You don't need government to make information portable between yourselves.
Bill Responds: Landlords want to do this. Every year it is the number one request from the members of the St. Paul Association of Responsible Landlords. However, our legal council always tells us that any database containing information on tenants is a liability nightmare. They believe we WOULD be sued for having a "tenant blacklist." Could we collect and retain "more public" information like criminal, credit, rental and income histories? Distribution of credit information is highly regulated. Further, all of the information would be outdated once it is entered (unless we can get all criminals to stop their behavior once we collect the information!). David Brauer asked: Government often gets involved if there's been a market failure. Have local rental-property owners dropped the ball? Bill Responds: Great question. Overall, the answer is clearly "no, landlords do a great job." According to the US census bureau, Hennepin county is approximately 30% rental property. I suspect Mpls is even higher. I don't think anyone would argue that 30% of Mpls property are problem properties (except maybe in a few neighborhoods). However, a few bad landlords get all the press and a few advocates paint the picture worst than it really is. To exasperate things, many of our leaders hold landlords accountable for the actions of their tenants (rather than HELP the landlords deal with the problem tenants). It is my opinion that the government makes the homeless situation worst with these efforts. What they do is run the landlords out of business that are willing to rent to families with historical behavioral problems, leaving those families with no place to go. It is ironic that these very government actions are usually spurred by advocates for the homeless. Regards, Bill Cullen Whittier Landlord. REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
