Twilight Zoning in Bellingham: Rental Home Fire- Possible Bad Wiring

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Rental Home Fire- Possible Bad Wiring - Smoke Detector without Battery

Although this rental house fire took place in Blaine (read the story here) , the message to Bellingham should be clear. The city should create and pass into law a rental licensing and inspection program for the health and safety of the renters in our more than 17,000 rental units. Consider this:

1985 - A rental house on Laurel St. exploded and burned to the ground due to a gas leak. The WWU students renting the place had thought they smelled gas months before but ignored it. Luckily they moved out prior to the incident.

1995 - Six people lost their lives in a Meridian St. rental home that was equipped with smoke detectors that contained no batteries.

2009 - A fire caused by poor wiring destroyed a rental home on Tremont Ave. in the Guide Meridian/Cordata area.

In this latest instance the renter was saved by her dog. We cannot all have dogs, nor can dogs warn renters about mold, bad plumbing, lead paint, deteriorating structure issues or insufficient exits. Yet the landlords say we do not need an inspection program. That there are only a few “bad” eggs. That the city seeks to “punish” the good landlords. The truth is that even the good landlords are not experts in judging the condition of their homes.

Meanwhile in Olympia, your State Senators Brandland and Ranker just voted FOR an unnecessary law that will limit inspections to rental units. This bill, a cousin to one that was not passed last year in a fit of common sense, was initiated and promoted by landlords and their friends in the “rental industry”, as they like to call themselves. This year, Senators Hobbs, Berkey, Marr and Schoesler succeeded in reintroducing a limiting bill which passed the Senate on February 15th, 2010. It is now being considered in the House. (Click here to read the bill) From the latest Bill Analysis: “A local municipality may only require a certificate of inspection on a rental property once every three years. Rental properties are exempt from inspection if, within the last four years, they have received a certificate of occupancy and had no reported code violations. Rental properties that have been inspected by a government agency or other qualified inspector within the previous 24 months may provide proof of that inspection, which the local municipality may accept in lieu of a certificate of inspection.”

These inspection restrictions are entirely arbitrary and impose on all cities in Washington State unjustified restrictions which work only to the advantage of the landlord. I urge you to write to your representative while there is still time to stop this bill in the House. Click on each name to send an email.

40th District

Quall.Dave@leg.wa.gov

Morris.Jeff@leg.wa.gov

42nd District

Linville.Kelli@leg.wa.gov

Ericksen.Doug@leg.wa.gov

2 comments:

Amsterdam Apartments said...: Hello,

Very informative blog And thanks for sharing useful information to all. I have enjoyed reading and I will keep visiting....; November 30, 2010 at 2:26 AM
Zonemaven said...: Hope you have better laws in Amsterdam on rental inspections than we do here in Bellingham. :-); November 30, 2010 at 8:54 AM

The Rationale for Rental Licensing

There is the definitive experience of cities that have already adopted rental licensing and inspections in the face of exactly the same opposition as we saw in Bellingham over the last decade. Ultimately, each of these cities was proven correct in its resolve to move ahead to protect the safety and health of the renters. We already know that the city of Pasco, WA found that 15% of the units inspected under their program had serious life/safety issues. 10% had mold problems. A full 85% had problems of varying degrees. The city of Gresham, OR performed over 1600 inspections in 2009 and issued, as a result, over 4,000 citations. Lexington, KY performed inspections of units near the University of Kentucky and found that 50% had life/safety issues. Sacramento, CA began an inspection program during which one third of the units inspected had serious safety and health issues. The question why does anyone believe that the condition of rental housing here in Bellingham does not mirror that which is found in cities that have the statistics to show that time and time again the condition of rentals in our cities is problematic? All we have had to date from those who oppose licensing are broad statements by the landlords and their paladins that are completely and utterly unsubstantiated. The Zonemaven has searched in vain for the horror stories that these opponents of licensing and inspections have predicted. On the other hand, The Zonemaven did find over 100 cities that have licensing AND inspections without the catastrophic effect for the rental markets that the landlords would have you believe. (See this blog's sidebar at bottom left for list)

One Reason Illegal Rooming Houses Do Not Work

The limit for unrelated persons at a single family home rental is three residents. Leases are signed by three people who then invite additional renters to join them to lower per capita rental rates. The perverse effect is that rental rates tend to rise under these circumstances making it difficult for single families to rent single family homes. Some local rental agencies facilitate this practice.

"To say that a family is so equivalent to a ragtag collection of college roommates as to require identical treatment in zoning decisions defies the reality of the place of the family in American society, despite any changes that institution has undergone in recent years. Only the most cynical among us would say that the American family has devolved to the point of no greater importance or consideration in governmental decision making than a group of college roommates." (Stegeman v. City of Ann Arbor)

That being said, accommodation ought to be made for protected classes, especially non-traditional unions and group houses for the disabled. These classes are laid out in federal and Washington State law.