Author: Atul Goel

click here for a copy of the proposed Rental Cap Amendment Draft

I have a few questions about the Rental Cap Amendment:

1. Have you ever heard the refrain “_______________ [Blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Gays, … (take Your pick)] are BAD for our neighborhood and if we get too many of THEM, there goes our neighborhood and property values DOWN THE DRAIN”?  In our case, have we chosen to fill in that blank with “Renters”?  Will you look into the eyes of your mother, father, child, grandchild, childhood friend who wants to rent in our neighborhood to be close to you after the rental cap is met, and tell them that our neighborhood has determined that they are “undesireable” and will ruin your property values if they rented in our neighborhood?
2. Shouldn’t we rather focus on the BEHAVIOR of the residents (be they homeowner or renter)?  As long as the yard is mowed, the shutters are fixed, they don’t bring glass bottles to the pool, and don’t block your driveway, do you really care who they are, if they are related, how much money they have, and who owns the house?  And while there are stories of bad renters, there are also many stories of bad homeowners (as I am sure the HOA will attest).  So since we are willing to punish the whole group of “Renters” because of a few bad apples, shall we go ahead and limit the number of “Homeowners that can live in their houses in our subdivision too because of a few bad apple homeowners?  If we have people in our neighborhood that are not good neighbors, do we want to try to come up with better enforcement Covenants, or do we instead prefer to ban that entire group of people that fit their stereotype?  Do we really want to demonizing a whole class of people because they “aren’t as financially well off as we are” and whose only sin is being a “renter”?
3. Do we really want our neighbors poking inside the walls of our house and start asking – Who lives in this house?  How are you related?  Are we ready to have neighbors spy upon each other, and question what we are doing and who is living INSIDE OUR OWN HOUSE?
4. Do you really want to have to grovel before another group of people to get “permission” to rent your own house?  Are you ready to turn over your tax returns, and income statements, and expenses, to “prove” to strangers that you have a financial hardship and then beg to be allowed to rent to get income to pay your bills or make some money?
5. Do you really want anyone to limit who you sell your house to and make the most profit?  This house is YOUR investment.  If you can get the best price from a corporation, or if corporation will bail you out instead of you going broke, do you really want anyone to interfere in your property rights?.  I myself have lived in our house for 33 years!  This house is part of my retirement plan and for income when I retire.  Would you feel it was fair if some newcomers to the neighborhood that have lived here less than half as long as you have can just come in and pass an Amendment to effectively deprive you of your 3 decades of financial planning, equity and property rights? And for those of you that support this Amendment today, what if you need to rent the home to make ends meet 5 years from now? Or you have a financial downturn and have to sell the house quickly – and your only choice is to go bankrupt or sell to a Corporation? (I am told this has happened already – where a quick sale to a corporation saved a family)? Do you really want your future options limited based on a fear-mongering campaign against “bad renters”?
6. The Board has been working on this for a year.  And only a few close-knit group of individuals were privy to the details.  Sure, the Board minutes make some  scant mention of this, but no details were given and it is only now we are getting a first look.  Do you feel this Amendment of such severe magnitude has been developed with adequate open-ness and homeowner participation?  What is the rush?  Would it be better if a Committee of homeowners were appointed who held OPEN and FULLY TRANSPARENT meetings and got feedback from ALL the homeowners before drafting a document?  Or do you like the current process where only a handful of people met behind closed doors to draft such a far-reaching document?
7. Does anyone know what will be the cost to enforce this will be?  The Board can barely keep up with people not mowing their lawns and not paying their HOA dues and staying within budget.  Is the Board really prepared to look inside the walls of EVERY HOME to make sure the people inside are properly related?  Is the Board really going to be able to have the hardship hearings in addition to their due process hearings?  They have a hard time finding volunteers for the Board now, who will want to serve with all this extra responsibility?  And how much will our dues be need to be raised to pay the Property Management company to take on this herculean task of investigating the relationships inside EVERY home and investigate ALL hardship exceptions?  Do you feel that extra efforts and costs related to monitoring and enforcing this Amendment should be investigated and revealed to you BEFORE a vote?
8. At the end of the day, is this how we want Amendments to our Neighborhood to be passed – where a very small group of individuals appointed by the Board get an idea, meet essentially in secret, then give you a document that now MUST be passed with only 2 months notice and without in depth exploration of all issues and costs?