all massachusetts Landlord should Read this - Landlord Forum thread 341407

all massachusetts Landlord should Read this by altagracia on December 4, 2015 @23:37

Please refer your fellow landlords and landladies to our website for information on this dangerous petition: www.spoa.com. Get them to sign up for Action Alerts by sending their email address to skore@comcast.net.

Just-cause eviction is rent control by intimidation

A proposal is circulating at the Boston City Council to require a "just cause" for every eviction. This proposal means that every eviction must be reviewed by a pro-tenant city bureaucracy to make sure that it is for a "good reason," also called "just-cause eviction."
That's bad enough, but the more serious part is that any rent increase over 5%, even a rent increase from one tenancy to the next tenancy, must go into mandatory "mediation." This fake "mediation" will be a vicious attack on the landlord by a landlord's own tenants led by a free tenant attorney and a tenant advocacy group. It's rent control by intimidation.

Tenant advocates desperately want rent control back.
The Massachusetts Rent Control Prohibition Act stops them. So their proposal says landlords can decide their rents, BUT first they must go through fake "mediation" with their tenants for any rent increase that exceeds 5%. In true mediation, the parties have equal standing and the mediator is neutral. This fake "mediation" will aim to viciously beat landlords into submission: to lower their rent increases.
All a landlord's tenants will be fighting him or her in mediation
All a landlords' tenants will be present. A free tenant lawyer will be present. A tenant advocacy group will be present. Even the city's own attorneys can represent tenants, but not landlords. And the landlord will be alone - because hiring a lawyer is too expensive. All these advocates will attack viciously and turn tenants against their landlords. Landlords do not want to deal with hostile tenants day in and day out, so many will decide not to pursue rent increases over 5%. It's rent control by intimidation.
No capital improvements = continuous housing deterioration
This hostile system will stop most rent increases over 5%. Virtually all capital improvements will stop because owners can never hope to recover their full investment. Without improvements, controlled properties will steadily deteriorate.
Depressed property values = big tax increases on non-controlled properties
Deterioration will push assessed values down. So property taxes on controlled buildings will go steadily down, a threat to the city's tax revenue. To make up for this loss, taxes will continuously go UP on non-controlled housing. All residential taxpaying owners in the city will be harmed.

Harsh regulation = no new housing construction
This proposal would put a halt to all new housing construction in the city when developers realize that just-cause eviction will apply or might someday apply to them. The Walsh administration's goal of 53,000 new housing units in Boston by 2030 would quickly fail.

Eventually, it will become full rent control
Just-cause eviction would generate a strong tenant movement, which would lobby intensively for full rent control, which would be almost impossible to get rid of. Now is the time to say no.

Just-cause eviction would apply to small owners, even condo owners
Proponents say their proposal for just-cause eviction in Boston only applies to "corporate developers." Not so. It applies to owners who do not occupy their rented condo, single-family home, or two-, three-, or four-unit buildings as well as all owners of larger buildings. These are overwhelmingly small owners, including the city's most numerous and smallest owners: condo owners.
Ignoring innovative ways to reduce housing costs, such as downsizing
Today's households are much smaller than they used to be. Downsizing our existing housing could provide abundant new housing units. Large apartments can be subdivided. Basements and attics can be turned into apartments. "In-law" cottages can be built in backyards.
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PLEASE READ and TAKE ACTION

Do you want to live under this control over your property?

This is no joke. The tenant proposal is serious.

Action Alert

Tell the City Councilors how you feel about just-cause eviction.

Call it rent control by intimidation.

The mandatory "mediation" hearing will be one big vicious attack on the landlord wanting a rent increase over 5%. See above.

We must tell Boston City Councilors just how strongly we oppose it. See below the names and contact info for the Councilors. You should contact all four At-Large Councilors, your own District Councilor, and the Mayor. Contact both the outgoing two Councilors (labeled) as well as the newly elected ones. You can use the email address that goes to all the Councilors, but emailing each Councilor has a more powerful impact, and it's easy with the clickable links below. Get fellow landlords to sign up for our free Action Alert emails by sending their email address to: spoa@spoa.com.

Speak your mind. Be polite, but say what you think about the proposed just-cause eviction. Use the ideas presented here, but put them in your own words. Show this newsletter to other landlords you know.

Contact information for Boston City Councilors:

Mayor
Martin Walsh
617-635-4500
martin.walsh@boston.gov

Send just one email to:

City.Council@boston.gov

This one email address goes to ALL City Councilors.
Better yet, use the individual email addresses and phone numbers below to send a personal message to your Councilors.

Present Councilors
Stephen Murphy
At Large
617-635-4376
Steven.Murphy@boston.gov
(LEAVES IN JANUARY)

Michael Flaherty
At-Large
617-635-4205
Michael.Flaherty@boston.gov

Michelle Wu
At-Large
617.635.3115
michelle.Wu@boston.gov

Ayanna Pressley
At Large
617-635-4217
Ayanna.Pressley@boston.gov

Salvatore LaMattina
District 1
617-635-3200
Salvatore.LaMattina@cityofboston.gov

Bill Linehan, President
District 2
617-635-3203
Bill.Linehan@cityofboston.gov

Frank Baker
District 3
617-635-3455
Frank.Baker@boston.gov

Charles Yancey
District 4
617-635-3131
Charles.Yancey@boston.gov
(LEAVES IN JANUARY)

Timothy McCarthy
District 5
617-635-4210
Timothy.McCarthy@boston.gov

Matt O'Malley
District 6
617-635-4220
Matthew.OMalley@boston.gov

Tito Jackson
District 7
617-635-3510
Tito.Jackson@boston.gov

Josh Zakim
District 8
617-209-9316
Josh.Zakim@boston.gov

Mark Ciommo
District 9
617-635-3113
Mark.Ciommo@boston.gov

NEW City Councilors
Annissa Essaibi George
At-Large
No phone yet
Annissa.EssaibiGeorge@boston.gov

Andrea Joy Campbell
District 4
No phone yet
Andrea.Campbell@boston.gov

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