This morning a news channel shows a headline banner at the bottom of the screen:

I have tried to warn about this issue. It may now be too late to reverse. One report states that that action in the form of Executive Orders could come as early as this month. The matter has been under study for quite some time. Measures such as sealing eviction records, standardizing rental leases and promoting a right to counsel for tenants are under consideration.

What is strikingly noticeable is that these discussions have taken place with extensive participation from the tenant community but without ANY enthusiastic leadership from the landlord community. They have simply ignored it.

A letter to the White House from Jamaal Bowman and Elizabeth Warren to the White House, for example, asks Biden to direct the FHFA [Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] to establish a wide range of renter protections for tenants living in properties financed with government-backed mortgages. The letter has proposed a new Federal Interagency Council on Tenants’ Rights.

The fault is, of course, that the landlord community has ignored the problem, instead of making the problem of exorbitant rents their own and proposing more palatable solutions. By declining a seat at the table, the discussions have gone on without them and are ready for action. Excuses are made as though this only happens in CA, but it has now spread to New York and other cities, and is about to become a national policy.

Most of us here on this Board, Moshe, own property in one state, many in just one county or town. A lot of us here are retirement age or headed that way. 50% of the landlords in the US are Mom & Pop shops that own 3 properties.

There is little they could do about any national movement: they don't have the federal knowledge, the money or the resources.

The large housing providers - the apartment owners, the corporations who own thousands and thousands of homes - they are the ones who could possibly affect national outcomes. Realtors, too, are a powerful lobbying group that could be of use.

"By declining a seat at the table, the discussions have gone on without them and are ready for action. "

What makes you think I am obliged to accept anyone's invitation to sit down to a banquet where I am to be served up on a platter?

No, when the wolves invite the sheep over for "lunch", the correct solution is to get rid of the wolves or out wit them. #1 is a little hard these days, but #2 is very workable.

I'll start with the basics: we have a Constitution which protects us from seizure of private property for the public good. Any time Govt diminishes the rights a landlord had to lawfully determine what is best for his or her business, they unconstitutionally strip us of value. The fact that California LLs rolled over and played dead a long time ago is irrelevant. The rest of us will react to whatever shenanigans the Prez and his socialist cronies dream up in ways they can scarcely imagine.

1) They will freeze rents.

LLs will defer maintenance, sell to owner occupants, or only offer rent-to-own where the tenant has more duties and costs shifted to them to account for receiving less rent.

2) They will seal court records.

We will increase requirements for credit scores and past landlord references.

See, that's the whole problem with people who think Govt has the upper hand in these...ahem..."negotiations" (aka cram downs). They think, "If Govt will just do X, then everything will magically get better." So instead of doing something productive like rolling back regulations and encouraging construction of more entry level housing, they implement even more restrictions and make markets less favorable to developers. I ask, "How dumb can people get..." but apparently the answer is, "No limit."

What will happen is Washington DC will attempt to do X, do it ham-fistedly with no knowledge or concept of the unintended consequences, which will make affordable, decent housing even harder to find. The politicians will get their votes, which is all they care about. Meanwhile, I will develop 10 other strategies to compensate, and I will collect higher rents because the amount and quality of rental housing will decrease, increasing demand of my existing stock.

Every time Govt does something to "help", it blows up in their face and I get richer. Hmmm... maybe I should consider not opposing these goofballs. *grins

The only rentals that the feds can really control are the ones under federal control in some way already, either through federal loans or federal subsidies.

Those of us who don’t use federal money should not be effected. The things they are discussing are not going to be law, simply policy when one accepts federal funding.

So, if you own your housing outright, and you don’t accept federal subsidies for rent, you won’t be effected unless your STATE legislators make changes.

My state legislators are highly unlikely to accept such changes, and my loans are all commercial loans through a local bank. I’m trying to get the loans paid off asap as well.

Remember, all real estate is local. My local judges are elected by local people, my state legislator is elected by local people.

Truer words were never spoken;

Reports I heard today are of rent control and screening criteria bans, pretty much already stated above. Agree 100% with Sid. Deferred maintenance will be a part of the game now and LL's will be vilified even more than they already are. Big corporations will become the standard for LL'ing. Lots of people already ask me if I am a property manager or a private owner as the first question out of their mouth. This is very telling because they know they have a mark on their history and won't qualify with a property manager and are looking for a sucker mom and pop LL. That won't be necessary to ask in the future because there won't be any small LL's.

If a tenant cry's wolf, government will stop in its tracks and try to put the blame on the landlord.

If a landlord calls for help, no one in government will lift a finger, and the landlord has to fend for themselves.

don... the mantra of capitalism has always been "Find a need, fill a need."

I'm an IT Professional. There are several others on this board also. Databases are relatively easy to create: the trick is limiting access (data security) and keeping it "clean" (data accuracy). Data is only as good as the people who input it.

All that to say, the more regulations Govt creates, the more incentive there will be for people like me to develop something like what you suggested. We're not there yet. There are still many markets friendly to investment dollars.

Moshe hit on this valid point: LLs in general aren't very active in legislation and lobbying for our interests. Probably because we such a fractured industry: Ma and Pa have their 1-4 rental units and little incentive to do anything. Many of them don't even pull credit checks or background, so the availability of a nationwide database is clearly beyond them.

To our credit and our detriment, we're an independent lot.