Agenda - Planning Commission - 10/06/2016

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Tim Gladhill From: Ramsey Planning <planning@ci.ramsey.mn.us> Sent: Sunday, February 07, 2016 11:54 AM To: Tim Gladhill Subject: New Incident#983 New Incident 4983 Title: Rental Licensing Program Description: Hi, I received a notification of a public workshop with regard to a rental licensing program. I will not be able to attend the meeting due to my work schedule, but I do own a rental property in the city of Ramsey, and would like to give my input. First, a short background on how I ended up being a landlord. It was not by choice. My family moved in with a sick family member to help care for them. My choices at that time were to either rent the property out, or go thru a foreclosure. I was significantly upside down, and a sale was not an option. I have been a landlord for 3 years now, and am still upside down. The fair rent value of the property leaves me almost $300 short of what it costs for me to own the property, and I have to cover that out of my family budget. I use Renter's Warehouse to manage the property. In talking with them, they said that about 60% of their clients are in the same situation as I am. It has cost me about$3500 per year for the last 3 years just to avoid a foreclosure. By the time I am able to sell the place, I will have paid$1400-$1500 per month for 13 or 14 years, and I won't put a single penny in my pocket. Adding another layer of bureaucracy will only add to my burden in cost, time, and effort, and truthfully, the plan presented looks like nothing more than a city fundraiser. All townhouses that I am aware of are managed by an association. For those of you that have never lived under an association, they are completely rigid in their rules enforcement. I would have a hard time believing that there are code compliance issues in an association managed property. The association that my townhouse is in goes so far as to dictate what kind of curtains can be in your windows. It is my opinion that by discouraging people in my position from becoming a landlord until they can sell, you will increase foreclosures in the city and drive the property values down. I watch the for sale listings in my development and almost every single one that comes up for sale is a rental. I do not support an expanded rental licensing program that will negatively impact landlords renting at a loss in order to avoid foreclosure, and hope that you will let this bad idea fall into the trash bin. Thanks, Andy Dallmann Category: Community Developement Sub Category: Planning i