Rental safety?

The rental registration ordinance ONLY applies to rentals in RS-1 and RS-2 zoning. That means that all apartment complexes, four-plexes, duplexes and many houses divided into apartments, and houses or apartments with commercial zonings are all exempt. Out of the more than 16,000 rental units in Lawrence, rentals in RS zoning are the smallest percentage. Thus, to the overall rental market these inspections will have little impact.

The real issue here is not the increased safety for renters, as city officials try to make us believe. If that were the case, logic suggests that the ordinance would have first applied to the biggest sector of the rental market: apartments. Rental inspections are a legal excuse to enter a targeted group of homes to snoop around.

In the United States a homeowner or renter have the basic right to determine who enters or does not enter their home. The Fourth Amendment protects Americans from unreasonable searches and seizures; this differentiates the United States from totalitarian governments. In our city, if a tenant refuses to allow inspectors into his/her home, the city will obtain an administrative search warrant  and they will enter the house. In one stroke, this ordinance has swept away the right of privacy of tenants who rent houses in Lawrence.

Furthermore, people should be aware that the city of Lawrence has already in place mechanisms that tenants can easily access if they feel their rental unit is unsafe. All it takes is a phone call to city inspections and an inspector will go and inspect the rental unit, free of charge, and immediately contact the owner of the property for repairs. The obvious question then is: Why do city commissioners feel we need FORCED inspections? What is really the driving force behind this ordinance?

Sofiana Olivera,

Lawrence