At City Hall this afternoon, councilmembers voted unanimously to pass an ordinance that “prohibits rent increases on properties with unsafe housing-code violations,” as described by the announcement from the bill’s sponsor, Councilmember Kshama Sawant, who proposed it last year with then-Councilmember Nick Licata. All the documents related to the ordinance are here. From the slide deck, here’s how it works:
• Landlord provides written notice of a rent increase
• Tenant must respond in writing within ten days and describe defective conditions
• Landlord can cure the problem any time before rent increase is set to take effect.
• Tenant or Landlord may call SDCI to request inspection any time before effective date of rent increase
• If SDCI inspects and finds RRIO checklist failures, then rent increase delayed until defective condition is remedied
It will take effect 30 days after Mayor Murray signs it.
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