Here’s a follow-up to yesterday’s condo re-version story. Just in time for the condo conversion mania to switch directions, while supply and demand do that thing they do so well, here comes the State Legislature to “fix the problem.”
Renters forced from their apartments to make way for condominiums would get more time to find a new home and extra money to pay for it under a new law expected to pass the Legislature.
House and Senate bills being considered could require developers to pay many tenants up to three months rent in relocation assistance, provide at least 120 days’ notice for a condo conversion, and ban construction work during the notice period.
Presently, renters get 90 days’ notice and, in some cases, $500 in relocation assistance from developers.
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The House already has passed a measure, House Bill 2014. The Senate is considering a more expansive version, Senate Bill 6411, that would give renters 180 days’ notice and also give local governments the ability to cap the number of apartments being converted to condominiums.
Way to go guys. Maybe next you can “do something” about dot-coms with no cash flow that pay their employees in stock options. I hear that’s a big problem.
(Andrew Garber, Seattle Times, 02.05.2008)