Bell Leasing is suing the city of Laramie, seeking to halt the recently passed health and safety standards for rentals. Bell Leasing argues Laramie cannot lawfully enforce its new rental housing code.
It’s truly sad how the rental community in Laramie is striking back on the city for this very needed regulation. Unfortunately Laramie renters are also suffering retaliation from the landlords of this town because they have raised the rent on apartments right after the legislation was passed increasing rent to Ridiculous highs such as $1000 per month on Studio apartments and $1500 per month on two bedroom units. In a community where the majority of jobs are minimum wage this is causing a undue burden for renters in the community. Laramie city council needs to Pursue more legislation in the rental market in this town not less!
Chris, even if you believe - as you obviously do - that renters need more protection than they currently have under state law from malfeasance by Laramie's few bad landlords, I think you'll agree that the City should be fair and obey the law. The motivation for this suit, which was 100% expected, is that the City egregiously violated state law by passing it. What's more, some City Council members openly expressed a desire to harm rental property managers and owners via the ordinance.
I know for a fact that you've rented from some of Laramie's more troublesome landlords, so I'm not surprised that you're eager to have a better experience; however, there are also many good landlords in Laramie who should not be penalized, driven to leave the business, or forced to raise rents, which is what this ordinance would do. It was copied from an ordinance in Eugene, Oregon, where rents are double what they are in Laramie, even though the cost of building materials is lower - there's no sales tax - and energy costs are much lower due to the milder climate. Laramie's city staff then edited it to make it even more bureaucratic and expensive for tenants.
Onerous regulations increase the cost of doing business, and on top of these expenses the City is attempting to burden tenants with a quarter of a million dollars in illegal taxes which would be used to bloat its bureaucracy. So, it's no surprise that rents have already jumped; landlords are pricing in the additional expense. The market will hopefully correct itself when the ordinance is voided by the courts, after which it will be possible to pursue improvements to state law (though better enforcement may well be sufficient) if any are needed.
No. Just no. As a landlord in Laramie myself, I am fully supportive of these measures. The only people who have to fear legislation protecting tenants against slumlord landlords, are the slumlords. For people like me who take pride in our rentals and in providing an important service to a community predominated by renting tenants, ordinances like this just help protect our business. And the landlords and realtors protesting it doth protest too much, and they give the rest of us - the ones who actually care about our tenants - a bad name.
No, just no. Laramie's relatively few "slumlords" might be making money via bad practices (most of which the city ordinance does not even address!). But our good landlords are not profiteering. They're making at best a small, fair profit for their hard work and many are losing money due to the increased costs, supply chain problems, and lower occupancy rates that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.
My family entered the business specifically because we wanted the community to have better choices and ethically managed, quality rentals. We take great pride in our product and care deeply about our tenants. We obey state law, which already protects tenants, lays out fair guidelines and standards for rental properties, and addresses issues that Laramie's illegal ordinance neglects. We've seen the harm bureaucracy (and Laramie's city bureaucracy in particular) can do, and neither we nor our tenants need or deserve the illegal interference in our business or our relationships with tenants that it would cause. As a matter of principle, we also object when the city's already bloated bureaucracy flouts the law and attempts to engage in harmful or illegal practices affecting businesses in which we are NOT involved. That's just good citizenship.
The very few inexperienced landlords who say, "I don't need to care about this ordinance" are at best naïve and at worst betraying their tenants and the entire community by exposing them to unaffordable rents, slower repairs, and illegal government intrusion and taxation. As President Ronald Reagan famously said, "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Laramie's bureaucrats are not here to help; they're in it for their pound of flesh. It's good that this ordinance is being challenged, and everyone in the community - tenants and landlords alike - should hope that the challenge is successful.
You should sell if you’re losing money - we’d all prefer that. The fact that Laramie is largely centralized into a few slumlords’ portfolios (real estate 1, prism, ect) is proof that profit outweighs “work” for these companies
I do agree that they need to obey the law definitely. How ever I also disagree that they are braking the law with this ordinance. The fact that you believe that you’re being Penalized is shocking especially when the ordinance just states that has the landlord you need to follow the laws are in place and provide a habitable rental how is that penalizing you unless you are not maintaining your Property? Most businesses are required to license in the city and rental agencies are businesses as well so I don’t see anything unfair especially with how inexpensive the fees are. You do have Wyoming legislation covering rental covering rental property backing you and the city is not taking that away from you as a landlord so you’re not being deprived of anything except for the ability to rent Uninhabitable property’s this does Beg the question why you were against this ordinance. The facts that you are stating about the cost to Tenants I find no parallel information on and would love to know where you getting your figures from as it baffles me and would love to know your sources so it can be verified. Truthfully the reason that rent has jumped is really in the greedy hands of the landlords who have raised their prices Not the city as they have not even started collecting anything from this ordinance yet.
I follow the laws, I provide good rentals, I take care of issues as they arise. All of my tenants have re-leased from me and are happy to refer me to others when they move away due to career, graduation etc. However since I happen to live just over 60 miles away across the state border now it appears I will be required to pay a Local Property Manager to take care of my properties as my "agent"? No thanks. I do a great job, my tenants agree, and I have seen what some of these "professional" companies do, often they are the slumlords. If I now have to hire someone that that charges on average 10% of the rental rate I will of course need to be reflected in the rental rate. Being a landlord is a business, a business needs to show a profit to survive. I'm all for slumlords going down, but this won't fix it, instead it will drive some good landlords away and prices will go up even more.
By no means do you need or are you forced into hiring a rental management company! As you must have lived in Laramie you know people here that you can trust and you can use them and work out a payment situation that works for the both of you as you say your a good landlord and take care of your property then they most likely will never be needed but they are available if the need does arise. This bill does help the community and is needed! And it’s so sad to see all the landlords whining about something that is fair and needed in the city!
The letter I received from a large property management company in Laramie today seems to suggest otherwise, but okay, I suppose they are trying to drum up business even though they are usually the problem not the solution.
I do know a few random people, but have never lived in Laramie; I invested in your community and turned a slumlord house (managed by a local "professional management company") into a rental that shows pride in the neighborhood. I doubt I'm the only one. I now have two rentals and was in the process of converting a vacant third into a new rental which due to this is now on hold. I also know being an agent for someone is not something I would do without being compensated for having my name out there and attached to a property I don't own. Whatever that amount is would need to be recovered, obviously from a tenant. Costs need to get covered, i.e. passed on, that is Business 101. To be blunt this will raise the rent. I understand the issue that Laramie faces, which likely has more to do with an unwillingness of the city and its elected officials to actually go after slumlords that likely know those in charge or contribute to their campaigns, which is apparently failing the city's other residents, those that rent.
There needs to be a variance process for those of us that DO take care of their properties, perhaps with letters of attestation from prior tenants that have nothing to lose or gain, rather than just suggesting I find someone to pay money to. The last thing I want it anyone but me touching my property. Nobody cares as much about my investment as I do, I am the ONLY one with skin in the game. If I can't fix something myself I call a local trade professional and communicate proactively with my tenant until the issue is 100% resolved to their satisfaction.
No, I do not have a close friend or relative within 60 miles of Laramie but inside the state that would be willing to do it for free. Or might you be that guy, Mr. Stratton? How much would you charge me to be my "agent"? I'm an excellent landlord, you very likely wouldn't have to do a thing. Or perhaps I could pay you an hourly fee should you need to get involved? I would need to see your references of course if I'm going to trust you. I'm surprised that to be an agent for a property for someone unrelated that you or any other person would not have to be licensed or insured, after all, those "agents" would now be taking on some legal liability in relation to the city vs the property vs the tenant.
I'm all in favor of licensing, (here, City of Laramie, take my money, I want #license 001, next year's rent is going up commensurately though, it's a cost, right?) and setting up a process to get rid of the slumlord problem in Laramie, but to capriciously decide I can't do it myself and need to pay someone any amount because I happen to live across your closest state border is ridiculous. There needs to be a stated variance process.
Truthfully they’re the scum of Laramie and are trying to take advantage of the situation. Even city council addressed this concern before passing the bill. Unfortunately it’s is not Laramie city council that is the problem it is the state of wyoming who is to blame for the lack of renters rights and laws that give landlords and land management company’s the power that they have whilst leaving the tenants with no Recourse to their actions or lack there of. The city has taken action to try and fix this problem unfortunately it does hurt those who are out of town owners but the intent is a very good one making definitely possible that there is a contact and that repairs can be done in a timely manner. Many slumlords use out of state Residence as a means to avoid litigation in the state of Wyoming. Unfortunately right now we are seeing a rise in rental rates by local landlords and rental management companies just to try to fight this new bill. I do understand that a representative would need compensation but at the same time the amount that you would have to raise rent Would probably be less than the increases we have seen by the slumlords and land management companies that are currently inflating rent costs because of their egos. Like most businesses in Laramie registration and licensure are a common place requirement this bill does the same thing for the rental market.
I'm a landlord with properties in Laramie but live (slightly more than 60 miles) out of state. Every single one of my tenants has re-leased from me. Every one of my tenants has been extremely pleased with my attention to issues that arise. This is in MARKED CONTRAST to many of Laramie's own "professional rental agencies", several of which seem to be true slumlords based on the properties I have seen for sale over the last few years, that now apparently are empowered to charge good landlords a property management fee to run their properties into the ground. This is not an acceptable solution, there are good landlords and bad landlords but by placing a blanket requirement on out of state owners, some of which are only an hour away and DO take pride in their properties and are able to retain tenants and improve their properties, this will just make me either raise the rents more or just sell them, ideally to owner occupants, which will only raise rents even higher as rental stock diminishes. It's already the case that property values have increased so much that to purchase a property and actually make money renting (cashflow) it would generally require significantly higher rent than the current norm so it is unlikely that many rentals that are now sold would remain rentals with the rent anywhere near what it was.
It’s truly sad how the rental community in Laramie is striking back on the city for this very needed regulation. Unfortunately Laramie renters are also suffering retaliation from the landlords of this town because they have raised the rent on apartments right after the legislation was passed increasing rent to Ridiculous highs such as $1000 per month on Studio apartments and $1500 per month on two bedroom units. In a community where the majority of jobs are minimum wage this is causing a undue burden for renters in the community. Laramie city council needs to Pursue more legislation in the rental market in this town not less!
Chris, even if you believe - as you obviously do - that renters need more protection than they currently have under state law from malfeasance by Laramie's few bad landlords, I think you'll agree that the City should be fair and obey the law. The motivation for this suit, which was 100% expected, is that the City egregiously violated state law by passing it. What's more, some City Council members openly expressed a desire to harm rental property managers and owners via the ordinance.
I know for a fact that you've rented from some of Laramie's more troublesome landlords, so I'm not surprised that you're eager to have a better experience; however, there are also many good landlords in Laramie who should not be penalized, driven to leave the business, or forced to raise rents, which is what this ordinance would do. It was copied from an ordinance in Eugene, Oregon, where rents are double what they are in Laramie, even though the cost of building materials is lower - there's no sales tax - and energy costs are much lower due to the milder climate. Laramie's city staff then edited it to make it even more bureaucratic and expensive for tenants.
Onerous regulations increase the cost of doing business, and on top of these expenses the City is attempting to burden tenants with a quarter of a million dollars in illegal taxes which would be used to bloat its bureaucracy. So, it's no surprise that rents have already jumped; landlords are pricing in the additional expense. The market will hopefully correct itself when the ordinance is voided by the courts, after which it will be possible to pursue improvements to state law (though better enforcement may well be sufficient) if any are needed.
No. Just no. As a landlord in Laramie myself, I am fully supportive of these measures. The only people who have to fear legislation protecting tenants against slumlord landlords, are the slumlords. For people like me who take pride in our rentals and in providing an important service to a community predominated by renting tenants, ordinances like this just help protect our business. And the landlords and realtors protesting it doth protest too much, and they give the rest of us - the ones who actually care about our tenants - a bad name.
No, just no. Laramie's relatively few "slumlords" might be making money via bad practices (most of which the city ordinance does not even address!). But our good landlords are not profiteering. They're making at best a small, fair profit for their hard work and many are losing money due to the increased costs, supply chain problems, and lower occupancy rates that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.
My family entered the business specifically because we wanted the community to have better choices and ethically managed, quality rentals. We take great pride in our product and care deeply about our tenants. We obey state law, which already protects tenants, lays out fair guidelines and standards for rental properties, and addresses issues that Laramie's illegal ordinance neglects. We've seen the harm bureaucracy (and Laramie's city bureaucracy in particular) can do, and neither we nor our tenants need or deserve the illegal interference in our business or our relationships with tenants that it would cause. As a matter of principle, we also object when the city's already bloated bureaucracy flouts the law and attempts to engage in harmful or illegal practices affecting businesses in which we are NOT involved. That's just good citizenship.
The very few inexperienced landlords who say, "I don't need to care about this ordinance" are at best naïve and at worst betraying their tenants and the entire community by exposing them to unaffordable rents, slower repairs, and illegal government intrusion and taxation. As President Ronald Reagan famously said, "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Laramie's bureaucrats are not here to help; they're in it for their pound of flesh. It's good that this ordinance is being challenged, and everyone in the community - tenants and landlords alike - should hope that the challenge is successful.
Nah.
You should sell if you’re losing money - we’d all prefer that. The fact that Laramie is largely centralized into a few slumlords’ portfolios (real estate 1, prism, ect) is proof that profit outweighs “work” for these companies
I do agree that they need to obey the law definitely. How ever I also disagree that they are braking the law with this ordinance. The fact that you believe that you’re being Penalized is shocking especially when the ordinance just states that has the landlord you need to follow the laws are in place and provide a habitable rental how is that penalizing you unless you are not maintaining your Property? Most businesses are required to license in the city and rental agencies are businesses as well so I don’t see anything unfair especially with how inexpensive the fees are. You do have Wyoming legislation covering rental covering rental property backing you and the city is not taking that away from you as a landlord so you’re not being deprived of anything except for the ability to rent Uninhabitable property’s this does Beg the question why you were against this ordinance. The facts that you are stating about the cost to Tenants I find no parallel information on and would love to know where you getting your figures from as it baffles me and would love to know your sources so it can be verified. Truthfully the reason that rent has jumped is really in the greedy hands of the landlords who have raised their prices Not the city as they have not even started collecting anything from this ordinance yet.
I follow the laws, I provide good rentals, I take care of issues as they arise. All of my tenants have re-leased from me and are happy to refer me to others when they move away due to career, graduation etc. However since I happen to live just over 60 miles away across the state border now it appears I will be required to pay a Local Property Manager to take care of my properties as my "agent"? No thanks. I do a great job, my tenants agree, and I have seen what some of these "professional" companies do, often they are the slumlords. If I now have to hire someone that that charges on average 10% of the rental rate I will of course need to be reflected in the rental rate. Being a landlord is a business, a business needs to show a profit to survive. I'm all for slumlords going down, but this won't fix it, instead it will drive some good landlords away and prices will go up even more.
By no means do you need or are you forced into hiring a rental management company! As you must have lived in Laramie you know people here that you can trust and you can use them and work out a payment situation that works for the both of you as you say your a good landlord and take care of your property then they most likely will never be needed but they are available if the need does arise. This bill does help the community and is needed! And it’s so sad to see all the landlords whining about something that is fair and needed in the city!
The letter I received from a large property management company in Laramie today seems to suggest otherwise, but okay, I suppose they are trying to drum up business even though they are usually the problem not the solution.
I do know a few random people, but have never lived in Laramie; I invested in your community and turned a slumlord house (managed by a local "professional management company") into a rental that shows pride in the neighborhood. I doubt I'm the only one. I now have two rentals and was in the process of converting a vacant third into a new rental which due to this is now on hold. I also know being an agent for someone is not something I would do without being compensated for having my name out there and attached to a property I don't own. Whatever that amount is would need to be recovered, obviously from a tenant. Costs need to get covered, i.e. passed on, that is Business 101. To be blunt this will raise the rent. I understand the issue that Laramie faces, which likely has more to do with an unwillingness of the city and its elected officials to actually go after slumlords that likely know those in charge or contribute to their campaigns, which is apparently failing the city's other residents, those that rent.
There needs to be a variance process for those of us that DO take care of their properties, perhaps with letters of attestation from prior tenants that have nothing to lose or gain, rather than just suggesting I find someone to pay money to. The last thing I want it anyone but me touching my property. Nobody cares as much about my investment as I do, I am the ONLY one with skin in the game. If I can't fix something myself I call a local trade professional and communicate proactively with my tenant until the issue is 100% resolved to their satisfaction.
No, I do not have a close friend or relative within 60 miles of Laramie but inside the state that would be willing to do it for free. Or might you be that guy, Mr. Stratton? How much would you charge me to be my "agent"? I'm an excellent landlord, you very likely wouldn't have to do a thing. Or perhaps I could pay you an hourly fee should you need to get involved? I would need to see your references of course if I'm going to trust you. I'm surprised that to be an agent for a property for someone unrelated that you or any other person would not have to be licensed or insured, after all, those "agents" would now be taking on some legal liability in relation to the city vs the property vs the tenant.
I'm all in favor of licensing, (here, City of Laramie, take my money, I want #license 001, next year's rent is going up commensurately though, it's a cost, right?) and setting up a process to get rid of the slumlord problem in Laramie, but to capriciously decide I can't do it myself and need to pay someone any amount because I happen to live across your closest state border is ridiculous. There needs to be a stated variance process.
Truthfully they’re the scum of Laramie and are trying to take advantage of the situation. Even city council addressed this concern before passing the bill. Unfortunately it’s is not Laramie city council that is the problem it is the state of wyoming who is to blame for the lack of renters rights and laws that give landlords and land management company’s the power that they have whilst leaving the tenants with no Recourse to their actions or lack there of. The city has taken action to try and fix this problem unfortunately it does hurt those who are out of town owners but the intent is a very good one making definitely possible that there is a contact and that repairs can be done in a timely manner. Many slumlords use out of state Residence as a means to avoid litigation in the state of Wyoming. Unfortunately right now we are seeing a rise in rental rates by local landlords and rental management companies just to try to fight this new bill. I do understand that a representative would need compensation but at the same time the amount that you would have to raise rent Would probably be less than the increases we have seen by the slumlords and land management companies that are currently inflating rent costs because of their egos. Like most businesses in Laramie registration and licensure are a common place requirement this bill does the same thing for the rental market.
I'm a landlord with properties in Laramie but live (slightly more than 60 miles) out of state. Every single one of my tenants has re-leased from me. Every one of my tenants has been extremely pleased with my attention to issues that arise. This is in MARKED CONTRAST to many of Laramie's own "professional rental agencies", several of which seem to be true slumlords based on the properties I have seen for sale over the last few years, that now apparently are empowered to charge good landlords a property management fee to run their properties into the ground. This is not an acceptable solution, there are good landlords and bad landlords but by placing a blanket requirement on out of state owners, some of which are only an hour away and DO take pride in their properties and are able to retain tenants and improve their properties, this will just make me either raise the rents more or just sell them, ideally to owner occupants, which will only raise rents even higher as rental stock diminishes. It's already the case that property values have increased so much that to purchase a property and actually make money renting (cashflow) it would generally require significantly higher rent than the current norm so it is unlikely that many rentals that are now sold would remain rentals with the rent anywhere near what it was.