My personal interpretation is that the suggestion is that Bellingham landlords will be required to pay $1500 + $150 per dwelling unit/yr (for inspections?).

Of course, this will be passed on to the tenants.

In an ideal world, it would be wonderful to have everything nice and perfect; however, it’s difficult enough for many people to afford housing without having periodic big brother inspections to find some sort of fault, either because there are neighbors who don’t “approve” of their neighbor tenant for whatever reason.

Also, I resent having the city come in and necessitate that I have something, that I never needed, installed in my home, because they determine that not having it is a safety issue.  This simply puts me, my family, and others closer to living and displaying themselves in areas that would more deeply offend those who are complaining about the neighbors who were living in a residence that is now being deemed uninhabitable.

The people who are making the complaints, are like I once was (and still can be) impervious to the lives of those less fortunate than me, because I feel I worked to get where I am, and those who annoy me, do so because of their lack of education, integrity, ambition, etc. it’s not “my” problem, and don’t make it my problem, I have more important things to do.

Unfortunately, the remedy is not to increase our standards of how other people are to live.  The remedy is to determine what WE CAN DO to help those who would like improvement, to teach those we expect respect from, what it is to be respected.

Sometimes the easiest and best thing to do is to mow your neighbor’s lawn when you mow your own.  Most of the time, it’s all about our inability to perceive ourselves the way others see us.

I want you to know that the Bellingham City Council is strongly considering a license/inspection ordinance for all rental owners in Bellingham at their December 7th meeting at 7 pm at the council. This will cost everyone money. The draft is 28 pages (see attached)

Attached is the proposed Rental Housing Regulation draft written by Mark Gardner (Legislative Policy Analyst, Bellingham City Council Staff) who will make a 15 minute presentation to the City Council on Dec. 7th. at 7pm in the Council chambers. The council will decide and or direct if the ordinance shall be written.

Mark has said that the main problems and need for the ordinance is due to complaints to the council in reference to 3 main problems: nuisance properties, health and maintenance issues, and more than 3 unrelated people in rental properties. He has been reminded that nuisance ordinances are already in the books and that the Washington State Tenant Law provides a process for tenant disputes with property owners. He was also informed NWROA (North West Rental Owners Association) is interested in helping with solutions that would help address these concerns thereby avoiding the need for the proposed ordinance.

The draft contains options for a Rental Housing Licensing and Quality Inspection Program for the City of Bellingham (28 pages). In summary, the draft reviews licensing programs in other cities with universities who are currently licensing rental property owners. The draft talks about previous rental problems and efforts by the city to institute a licensing ordinance. Comparable cities used as a reference have instituted licensing fees, which may be $1500 for initial license with annual inspections of rental units at $150 per unit. Penalties for failure to license may be $1000-$5000 and up to 90 days in jail. Inspection for repairs may require 30 days compliance (inspections based on the International Maintenance Code i.e. egress, regress, venting, railings, habitable space with added city verbiage requirement that a description of permitted bedrooms be posted in each rental unit). Nuisance calls (i.e. loud parties) up to 3 may result in revoking license and condemning the structure as a rental property.

Summary, (pg.20) contains suggestions for implementing the licensing ordinance in Bellingham and holding both tenants and property owners accountable and subject to fine.

I would encourage rental property owners to attend the Dec. 7th meeting and to voice their concerns about the effect this ordinance will have on tenants and rental property owners. Rental property owners have thus far been left out of this process now is the time to voice your opinions on rental owner licensing/inspections and make suggestions about possible solutions to the three main problems listed above.

Make sure that you make your presence known.

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