I urge you to demand of the committees so informed (ChaCha and CDNR) that they revisit the Charter Change and, if not without any changes, forward this language to the city council for a clear and empowering mandate to address the needs of tenants and landlords for a clear and just regulatory framework.
Commentary:
To call for a charter change requires good cause and clear language, and it must be empowering to the City Council, providing the broadest possible discretion within the limits of its purpose.
That good cause is to give the City Council the power to regulate the terms under which tenants may be evicted or their leases discontinued. Although phrased as a requirement for “just cause” at the juncture of a tenant losing their housing, in fact it may provide protections for landlords, and thus ought not describe itself as a charter change to provide protections for tenants. This charter change empowers the City Council to do work that needs to be done, to bring out from a hidden marketplace into the visible light of public scrutiny the rights and responsibilities of landlords and tenants alike.
The language provided is biased and skews consideration toward the question of whether tenants deserve to be protected. The proper language would be more neutral, providing to the City Council that power to set the conditions of rental, eviction and non-continuation, for a more transparent and just process.
A charter change is effected to empower the City Council, not to put on a show of empowerment which exemptions to it take away. To place an exemption in the charter change bodes ill for the success of the effort to promote justice. That charter change must be made with the fewest words (and ideas) necessary to effect its purpose, so that the City Council can perform its duty of deliberation in matters of concern to the public and the stakeholders, unconstrained by rigidity in the charter clause that it enables that law writing.
Further, exemptions provide loopholes which would be plied against the interests of justice without recourse to the political process. An exemption built into the charter change forfeits for the body that considers these matters the ability to adjust or correct them. Exemptions are obstacles to the sound deliberations of the City Council.
Its purpose is to allow the City of Burlington to bring into public scrutiny the relationship between landlords and their tenants. By having this charter change, the City is able to describe what behavior is deemed acceptable, and what is deemed not acceptable. As the agency of community self-governance, it is logical and appropriate that the City would have the power to deliberate upon and set the laws which govern a relationship of such great and lasting consequence to such a large fraction of the city’s population.
Finally, the charter change should not speak of “an ordinance” to provide all of the remedies and corrections envisioned by this debate. I have proposed changes to accommodate multiple ordinances.
Therefore I submit to you a revision of the charter change motion which accomplishes the above stated goals for it. Herewith a cleaned up version, below a version showing all changes.
In the first place, let me say that all that is necessary to achieve the above goals is this proposed change:
That the City Council shall have the power to provide by ordinance the conditions under which evictions, and non-renewal of leases, may occur, and prohibit such without “just cause”.
That this may seem insufficient to some, the following is proposed:
"Shall the Charter of the City of Burlington, Acts of 1949, No. 298 as amended, be further amended by adopting and adding a new section 48(66) to read as follows:
I. That the City Council shall have the power to provide by ordinance the conditions under which evictions, and non-renewal of leases, may occur, and prohibit such without “just cause”. Such ''just cause" for eviction or non-renewal, shall include, but is not limited to
(a) a material breach of a written rental agreement,
(b) violation of state statutes regulating tenant obligations in residential rental agreements,
(c) non-payment of rent;
while “just cause” shall exclude
(a) expiration of rental agreements
(b) personal disagreements and conflicts of personality.
(c) Any effort of either party to have enforced the terms of the lease
(d) Other matters convincing to the City Council
II. That the City Council shall have the power to set by ordinance such limits on the increases of rent to prevent de facto evictions or non-renewal of leases, as it deems serves the public good. This power shall not be construed to limit rents beyond the purpose of preventing de facto eviction or non-renewal.
III. That the City Council shall have the power to require landlords: (a) to communicate with tenants in matters of tenant rights and duties, and (b) to enroll in such media devices as are deemed helpful to promoting communication between tenants and landlords.
IV. That the City Council shall have the power to allow exemptions to the above tenant protections as are reasonable, shall serve the public good and conserve the viability of owner-occupants having three or fewer units.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED the Charter Change Committee, with approval of the Community Development and Neighborhood Revitalization Committee (CDNR), recommends that the City Council consider the following amendment to the Burlington City Charter be placed on the March 2021 Annual City Meeting Ballot:
"Shall the Charter of the City of Burlington, Acts of 1949, No. 298 as amended, be further amended by adopting and adding a new section 48(66) to read as follows:
I. 'That the City Council shall have the power T to provide by ordinance the conditions under which evictions, and non-renewal of leases, may occur, and prohibit such without “just cause”. Such
protections for residential rental tenants from eviction without
''just cause," for eviction or non-renewal where just cause may shall include, but is not limited to
(a) a material breach of a written rental agreement,
(b) violation of state statutes regulating tenant obligations in residential rental agreements,
(c) non-payment of rent;
while “just cause” shall may exclude
(a) expiration of rental agreements
(b) personal disagreements and conflicts of personality.
(c) Any effort of either party to have enforced the terms of the lease
(d) Other matters convincing to the City Council
II. The ordinance may also set a maximum rent increase provision with the purpose of preventing de facto evictions.
That the City Council shall have the power to set by ordinance such limits on the increases of rent to prevent de facto evictions or non-renewal of leases, as it deems serves the public good. This power shall not be construed to limit rents beyond the purpose of preventing de facto eviction or non-renewal.
III. That the City Council shall have the power to require landlords (a) to communicate with tenants in matters of tenant rights and duties, and (b) to enroll in such media devices as are deemed helpful to promoting communication between tenants and landlords.
The ordinance may require that landlords provide notice of just cause and other legal as part of the rental agreement:” and
IV. That the City Council shall have the power to allow exemptions to the above tenant protections as are reasonable, shall serve the public good and conserve the viability of owner-occupants having three or fewer units.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if the City Council chooses to enact ordinances under the
new section 48(66) of the City Charter, the ordinances shall:
• Exclude specialty and transient housing, licensed facilities, hospitals, school dorms, properties
rented to seasonal guests.
• Provide for exemptions from the ordinances, including:
o Owner occupied properties
o Properties being withdrawn from the rental market
o Properties where the owner or close family member is intending to move in
o Properties in need of substantial repair or renovation
o In unit rentals and sublets
• Provide for an “unreasonable” or “unconscionable” rent increase provision. This rent increase
provision is intended to prevent the de facto eviction of a current tenant. Factors to be considered
could include how the existing and proposed rent compare to rents charged at similar rental
properties, landlord expenses and the amount of the rent increase. This provision is not intended
to control rents or rent increases for the broader residential rental market.
• Not become effective until after one year of occupancy
Additional exclusions and exemptions may be added
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