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Bellingham Landlord Licensing: The Council Has Met
On Tuesday the Bellingham City Council met behind closed doors to discuss proposed landlord licensing and rental property inspections. The proposal is to introduce a new mandatory license and inspections on tenant-occupied properties in Bellingham — to potentially punish the landlord of a property – as a measure to “have leverage” to crack down on properties considered a nuisance or with safety issues.
Yes, the 95+% of landlords and tenants doing a fine job of keeping their properties clean, quiet and maintained would have to pay the fees and bear the inspections too.
Yes, there are already ordinances and laws on the books to deal with problem properties. Oh my goodness, HERE’s one now! It’s uncannily written to address this EXACT ISSUE!!!
Yes, already-existing government employees are empowered to enforce these ordinances and one would think they’d have quite an important say in this issue.
But No, the Council did not let Police Chief Todd Ramsey speak at the meeting, despite his in-person presence specifically to… speak at the meeting.
Yes, there are owner-occupied properties that are a nuisance and that have safety issues too, but interestingly this proposed legislation doesn’t address those.
Yes, nuisance properties are easy to identify: They have accumulated outdoor trash, excess vehicles, loud music and parties. (Hmm… I wonder if these specific properties could be targeted rather than carpeting the entire rental housing landscape of Bellingham with mandatory licensing? Just a thought.)
Yes, other non-compliance issues in Whatcom County (and the world over) are dealt with by stiffening the enforcement and penalties of actual violators of existing ordinances and laws. In fact, right HERE is an article about the COUNTY Council meeting TODAY to discuss this very approach to zoning non-compliance. Imagine that.)
Yes, tenants should be very, very concerned about this proposal, because who do you think will ultimately bear the cost?
Yes, I find it ridiculous that some of the Council-members’ primary argument is “Other businesses have to be licensed, why shouldn’t landlords?” We’re not talking about simple business licenses here. If the Council wants to develop an entire program for landlord proficiency training, continuing education requirements, mandatory core curriculum and bi-annual testing — the way, say, home inspectors are licensed — then that’s a completely separate issue.
If Council members seriously propose to compare this to a simple business license “just like other businesses have,” why don’t they send the landlords HERE, collect the one-time fee of $40 and call it a day?
According to a story in the Bellingham Herald, when the meeting was over the Council had voted to send their legislative analyst back for more research on creating a license without the property inspection process. The analyst was apparently given no timeline or deadline for delivery of this new research.
To read what the Bellingham Herald reported about the meeting, click HERE.
To read what Whatcom County Assoc. of Realtors Political Action Committee spokesman Perry Eskridge wrote about the meeting, click HERE.
What are your thoughts? Are you a Bellingham landlord or tenant? Do you agree with expanding licensing and legislation into your turf? Can you envision a viable alternative? Is it really THAT hard to target a problem property? Leave your comments below. Stand up and be counted!
