Are landlord-tenant laws creating SLUMS?
Housing inspectors tell their experiences We did not go to the inner city. We visited small towns in the countryside. We interviewed local housing inspectors. Every day they go into many homes. Usually it’s the worst housing around. What turns buildings into slums? Do the laws help or hurt? They all agreed: rent withholding, a state law, is actually creating worse housing conditions in their towns. Tenants live rent-free as long as bad housing conditions remain. So cash-starved housing gets run rapidly into the ground literally in many cases. All these inspectors support mandatory rent escrowing, which preserves a tenant’s right to withhold rent but doesn’t let the tenant pocket the money, so that ultimately the landlord will have the money to save the housing. Here is what these inspectors told us. Quotes from the Inspectors: The code is being manipulated not for public welfare but as a tool for litigation between tenant and landlord. The lead law has killed many mom-and-pop landlords
