There has been a great deal of consternation from Western students about how the existing landlord/tenant laws are not working, either because they do no know how to get action from a landlord who is not responsive or the fear of reprisal, both of which I believe are not realistic. The laws on the books favor the tenant; most landlords are very responsive in fixing a problem because the rental is a source of income, increases will by necessity have to be passed along to the tenant.
The certification or inspection of a property only applies to a particular moment in time and cannot be ongoing because the owner, or manager, has no way of knowing whether the tenant will report problems.
Information packet should be distributed to all tenants.
The city should aggressively follow up on any complaints that cannot be solved with providing all of the pertinent information between landlord and tenant. Failure by a landlord to perform could subject the owner to a condemnation.
Opening up the Urban Growth Areas for additional development of single family and multifamily units, the older units that cannot compete will cease to be a problem. Low vacancy rates and accelerating prices is mostly self-inflicted by those of you on the council that are not allowing any annexation and development in the UGA.
Bill Henshaw
Bellingham
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