Put out of business or ran out of town, how? I've been a landlord. The deposit and last month's rent are supposed to be put in a trust and you're not legally allowed to touch it unless they default, leave, or damage your property in the first place. If you are relying on deposits and last month's rent to keep places, you are renting wrong (and illegally).

@2 Seattle Tenants Union, if you decide to have them investigate for you. Or you can always do it yourself and potentially sue if you suspect it yourself.

But regardless of how legally they run their rentals, they still don't have a valid argument as far as law is concerned. If you are depending on deposits and last month's rent when you rent out your units, you are already hurting and making poor life decisions. Its not the city's fault.

I rent out a four bedroom, three bath single family home in Ballard. It's the house I lived in for sixteen years, where all my children were born. It's a modest house - cute and comfortable, but it's far from fancy. It's on a nice big lot in a desirable area, but it was built in the early forties, has no particular historical or aesthetic value, and the interior finishes are all, well, let's call them "owner installed." I have rented this house out for the past eight years, since I moved out of it. The first tenant was there for six years, and unfortunately took advantage of the fact that we lived far far away and couldn't keep a close eye on things. He destroyed the place - I'm talking broken windows, holes in the walls, blocked drains that he
Never told us about leading to flooding and water damage. By the time I got him out of there (which involved going to court) he had racked up some fifteen thousand dollars in damages, including three thousand in water bills for which I was legally responsible. I never recovered a penny of any of that. It took us six months to put together the money to repair the damage and get the house
in condition to rent again. For the past four years it's been rented to a great family who pay their rent on time and tell us immediately about any issues that need to be addressed. This year, I had to replace the entire sewer line
Out to the street - the main broke and the basement filled up
With shit. Nobody's fault - it just happens to seventy year old houses sometimes. I gave my tenants two
Months free rent to compensate for their belongings that were stored in the basement; I paid for them to stay in a hotel while repairs were made, and I paid for professional cleaning when the work was finished. All in all, this event cost me
More than the entire years rent. The rent is very minimal - I know that I could be charging at least $600 more per
Month based on rents of similar
Houses in my
Neighborhood. But I don't do that, because a) I don't feel it's right to charge an exorbitant rent just because I can, and b) we have a bit of an understanding with the tenants. They recognize that we live far away and won't be able
To address every issue within 24 hours. We ask them to undertake what repairs they feel comfortable with (always reimbursing them for materials) and in exchange they get well below market rent.
Right now I don't feel that regulation is burdensome. When the new laws came
Into effect a couple
Years ago I had to certify that my
Home was up to code and up to housing standards. I believe it is - but i don't know for certain that it would pass inspection of that were to ever come to pass. Every old house has a couple of stubborn issues that are resistant to
Multiple attempts at repair, and
My House is No exception. I would have a problem with the city requiring, say, annual inspections, unless
It were paired with some sort of program that provides funds for necessary repairs to meet standards. Landlords like me who own a single unit usually do not have the means to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on small
Repairs. A low-interest loan program would go a long way to helping us maintain safe and secure rental homes.

Thank god for Kshama devoting her life to protecting working people and fuck off Dan Savage and rest of pathetic Stranger political hacks the progressive movement dies with you losers.

I know the man Dannni Askini is talking about and she is a liar. She was the abusive one, not him. There is hard proof here: http://realdanniaskini.wordpress.com

Stop her from spreading her lies!!!!