Rentals and Property Management - Tacoma, Puyallup, Pierce County, Washington

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CITY OF TACOMA - RENTAL BUSINESS LICENSE REQUIRED OF OWNERS

This is an email I sent to an owner to explain my take on the new business license required by the City of Tacoma, which all property owners must obtain if they rent their property. The information below is deemed good and reliable as of 1/09/2012, however this is not legal advice nor intended for use by anyone without legal council. I am not an Attorney and do not give legal advice. All readers are recommended to obtain their own legal council as needed.

Hello Richard,                   cc/copy; all staff at BCI

Because this is still a fairly new requirement by the City of Tacoma, it can be a bit confusing. I want my employees to all read this email also and I will attempt to clarify it here, but be aware that I am not an Attorney and am not giving you legal advice as such.

1.   City of Tacoma now requires all residential property owners who rent their properties to others, to apply for a Rental Business License, even if they have a Property Management company who is licensed. I personally do not agree with their stand and demands herein because we are actually professional rental property managers licensed by the State of Washington for this specific purpose. Furthermore if would seem to me that the City would hold us as more liable than the owner since very few owners have the expertise, knowledge or ability to understand and apply this law. – This is now a moot point, as it has become law and we simply have no choice but to comply. For more information regarding the Provisional Rental Property License visit www.cityoftacoma.org/businesslicense or call Tax & License at 253-591-5252.

2.   The Certificate of Compliance is built within the Application and can be signed by you as the owner. A copy is attached with this email. This certificate of compliance means that …whoever signs it, has gone to the property and made sure that it is suitable for rental purposes in terms of health, safety and having no code violations…

3.   VIOLATIONS; If subsequently the property is later found to be in violation of City building codes, Health Department regulations or any other thing that they may consider a hazard to tenant health and safety, then owners may be required to obtain an ADDITIONAL license, called a Provisional Rental Property License. I hope this never happens to any of the properties I manage. I have also attached this new Law or Ordinance which just became effective. – Example below:

Example of what can cause an owner to be required to obtain the additional Provisional License; let’s say that you have a plumbing leak in the bathroom, which has gone unrepaired to the point that black mold has formed or been found. Only as an example…, let’s also say that the tenant has informed the Landlord or Property Manager and this person has informed the owner …who failed to approve or pay for the repairs. The tenant could file a complaint with the City of Tacoma Housing Authority or others, who would then send an inspector out most likely….we guess at this because it has never happened and we do not know for sure how this will play out. The City Inspector can then, if he found mold, require the owner to take immediate action to mitigate the issue and also require the Provisional License. The Provisional License puts your property on the top of a list to watch.., like a “Red Flag” on your property…even if you have remedied the issues. – You should never have this problem if your property is in good repair and if tenants report issues quickly to your property manager, who will then communicate this to you, so such issues are remedied quickly.

4.   What the City is trying to do.., is two things. One is to eradicate or remediate all unsuitable housing in the City, so that all low income housing is in good repair and suitable for basic living standards. Of course that will drive up the cost of low income housing. / The second reason in my humble opinion.., is financial gain for a strapped city who is much like the State and Government in that they are looking for more ways to get cash into the treasury.

We do not want to guess or assume how this will all work out naturally, but we will cooperate and comply of course. My recommendation is that we should perhaps have your rental inspected on our own once a year and the person who does the inspection can sign the Compliance Form as an “Owner representative” ….as the form allows either the owner or his representative to sign it. At this point they do not seem to require a professional home inspector to do this…., which average costs seem to be about $450, but just anyone whom the owner hires to do the inspection is ok.., if not the owner himself.

As your Property Manager I will always do all I can to help you and protect your interests naturally. At this time, we do not personally do home inspections of this nature for free. We must hire people to do this when required. We inspect for similar things yearly but not specific in nature like this. If you cannot.., or wish not to do your own inspection for this purpose…, we can hire a vendor who is a Maintenance repairman for you who does various jobs for us…., who would inspect everything required by the City and put it in a report for perhaps $150 a year. They would then sign the Compliance Form on your behalf, which can then be turned in.

I will await your thoughts and your input is appreciated.

Regards,

Donald J. Leske II
Broker / Property Manager