Oregon Senate Bill 611 that would restrict landlords’ ability to raise rents has plenty of opposition from landlords.
Senate Bill 611 would adjust the current rent cap from 7 percent plus consumer price (CPI) index to 5 percent plus CPI. Because CPI changes with inflation the bill would cap the max increase at 10 percent regardless of CPI.
“It sends a signal to investors that Oregon is not open for business,” Molly McGrew, a lobbyist for the landlord association Multifamily Northwest told kcby.com. “Washington State did not pass their rent control law that they had up, and instead went full speed on addressing the supply issues. And I think that is something that Oregonians need us to do as well.”
Oregon’s rent cap laws exempt buildings with a first certificate of occupancy issued within the last 15 years. The original bill would have changed that number to three, but that protection was gutted in the amendment.
Also eliminated from Senate Bill 611 was a requirement that called on landlords to provide three months’ worth of rent when serving a tenant with a no cause eviction. The current standard is one month’s worth of rent to help with relocation
Landlords say the increase in cost of labor, homeowners’ insurance, maintenance and utilities are what’s driving the spike.
“Everything that someone who owns their own home has to take care of, a housing provider has to take care of, for their renter,” said Deborah Imse, executive director of Multifamily NW, an association of landlords.
She feels that more regulations will cause landlords to sell their property and relocate and will drive developers to build elsewhere.
“In our view you don’t do things that will cause investors to go to Idaho or across the river to Clark County and build there,” she said.
She suggests that giving renters more rental assistance while building more homes is the solution to the problem.
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