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Ensure Tenants Do Not Suffer

Government’s attempts to make life better for people too often backfire. It will require care to ensure that does not occur with a plan some members of Wheeling City Council have for rental housing.

Councilman Dave Palmer, chair of the Public Safety Committee, previewed the proposal last week. It would set certain standards for rental housing and provide for inspections to ensure they are being met.

Among proposed guidelines are that roofs must not leak, smoke alarms must be placed in all bedrooms and paint must not be chipping. No doubt the final list, should the plan go forward, will be much longer.

Landlords would have to register every rental unit they own. They could be fined $100 for failing to do so.

News of the plan circulated quickly. During a meeting Tuesday of Palmer’s committee, some landlords were present, clearly to express concern. Though time would not permit that Tuesday, Palmer pledged a meeting will be held soon to hear the landlords’ comments.

Their concern is understandable. Someone will have to pay for inspectors and other costs of the program. If that burden falls on landlords, they will pass it on to tenants in the form of rent increases.

And every time a city inspector orders something about a rental unit be repaired or improved, the cost of that housing will go up. Money does not grow on trees in landlords’ backyards.

Of course, ensuring tenants are not victimized by living in unsafe and/or unhealthy apartments is important. No reasonable person would argue about that.

But Palmer and other city officials should hear the property owners out. Some of their concerns are valid. Any action on the proposed rental inspection program should be based on the knowledge that every dollar it costs landlords will, in the end, come out of tenants’ pockets.

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