Not so many years ago, the Oregon Legislature had a landlord/tenant workgroup, which would negotiate new laws impacting residential rental property. In addition to making life easier for legislators by having pre-negotiated legislation, it had the effect of creating reasonable, sensible legislation that was fair to both sides. Now, it's good enough that the party in power is just an extension of the tenants' lobby, while housing providers look on helplessly. Some say that history shows that government controlled, one-sided markets don't function well.

Just another example of this is HB 2364, a proposal being floated by Representative Julie Fahey (D-Eugene). The bill is summarized as, "Before its sale to third party, requires owner of residential dwelling facility to give tenants 20 days to form tenants committee and to give any tenants committee right of first refusal."

The "right of first refusal" in the bill is detailed in the bill:

If an owner has received timely notice from a tenants committee, the owner may not make or accept a purchase offer for the facility unless the owner first makes a binding offer in writing to sell the facility to the tenants committee at an equal or lower price and on substantially similar terms and:
a. The tenants committee rejects the offer; or
b. Sixty days have passed and the tenants committee has not accepted the offer.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

At its worst, it gives tenants a way to squeeze another 60 days out of the housing provider. It's not hard to see that opportunistic non-profits or government entities will prop up tenant organizations in order to get first in line to execute these transactions. It will have the effect of keeping properties out of the free market, which will be bad for tenants in the long run.

This proposal, like many of the recent changes in landlord/tenant law takes control, liquidity, and flexibility away from housing providers. There is always a cost to these sorts of actions, and the cost ultimately shows up in increased rent, in a state that is ranked 15th among states in median rental apartment rates.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2021-02-18 14:51:33

Last Update: 2021-02-18 15:23:19