Comment by pnw | Hacker News Reader

Comment by pnw | Hacker News Reader

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You are incorrect about this law being "simple". For a start it requires three years of mandatory recordkeeping with an automatic presumption of violation for inadequate records. Forget to save a copy of that ad you ran on Facebook three years ago for your rental? Tough luck, you owe the tenant $4000 plus their attorney fees.

The city also added a private right of action so this law will be weaponized by attorneys with a profit motive, the same way the ADA has been.

Seattle is free to pass whatever laws they wish but they can't do so and then complain about a lack of homes for rent in the city. This hits families who want to rent a home much harder than single people or couples who tend to rent apartments.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/data/where-seattle...

From your article:

"In Highland Park, the data suggests most homes taken off the rental market were sold directly to owner-occupants. While rentals dropped by 252, owner-occupied single-family homes increased by 266, and owner-occupied townhomes grew by 25 units — a mix of houses shifting from renters to homeowners, plus some redevelopment."

This is likely just landlords cashing out in a hot market and people living in the house they bought instead of renting. There is precious little evidence that regulation was invlved. The dynamic that makes it economically lucrative for a landlord to cash out, also makes it illogical for a different landlord to buy. What onerous regulations can you cite enacted between 2019 and 2024 would explain a mass exodus of landlords better than a booming housing market.

I won't even address the first part of your comment since it distorts the actual letter of the law so much as to not be good faith.

I get what you are saying. I think that some forms of regulation are too onerous. Requiring people to keep copies of business paperwork for three years (most of the examples they ask for are things the IRS already wants you to keep for 7 years) isn't onerous. You do a disservice to your argument by acting like a modification to an existing law is going to ruin small landlords.

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