St. Paul follows Minneapolis lead in limiting landlord rights

[Amber Gonion]

A little heads up from our local realtor association 

“The City Council on June 3 postponed a public hearing and vote on the SAFE Housing Tenant Protections, which would mandate several measures meant to protect tenants from unfair rental practices.
The online public hearing is now set for 10am on Wednesday, June 24. The council is expected to cast its final vote on the ordinance at 3:30pm that day unless there are substantive amendments.

Several amendments to the proposed ordinance have been proposed:
1. Individualized assessments: Like in Minneapolis, this change would allow landlords to screen applicants using an individualized assessment. While this may be legally fraught, landlords will have the advantage of this language being harmonized between both communities.
2. Rehab and renovations: Landlords rehabbing their property for code compliance will not be required to provide tenants financial relocation assistance payment. This is a significant change to the proposed ordinance.
3. Advance notice of sale: Only buildings with five (5) or more units will be required to give the 90-day notice for sale of the property. (This is a change from the previous draft that required notice for any building with three (3) or more units.)
4. Exemptions: Units receiving subsidies from the federal government will be exempt from this ordinance. Landlords accepting housing choice vouchers, or “section 8”, will not be required to comply with a single provision of this chapter.”

[Bruce Runn]

@Amber Gonion

I'm only in MPLS but St Paul is mirroring MPLS's ordinance.  It has already caused me to take a pass on someone who had an eviction since I couldn't charge twice the security deposit to mitigate my risk which the tenant offered so this person did not get the apt. and is having a very tough time finding a place.  Sometimes, the elected  cause unintended consequences but I brought this up and the general feeling is it's better for all if they limit restrictions but in the end it will make it much harder for people on the edge which the elected are willing to trade off.