I’m a little torn about this story in the Charlotte Observer today.
N.C. lawmakers to Charlotte: You can’t make all landlords register with city
On the one hand, I like giving local governments as much control as possible over their own communities rather than dictating to them from Raleigh. On the other hand, I think N.C. lawmakers are right on the substance of this legislation.
I had no idea that there was a regulation on the books in Charlotte that required all landlords — whether renting a single property or multiple apartment complexes — to register with the city. The local police said it was necessary because they sometimes had trouble finding absentee landlords when there were problems at their properties, though that seems like a stretch to me. There are property records for tax purposes, so surely the city can find out fairly easily who owns the properties should a problem arise.
There’s the larger question here of government overreach. Requiring all landlords to register because a small minority are problematic seems like a pretty blunt instrument. This legislation will remove that, so that only owners of properties with high crime rates will have to register with the police. That certainly seems more proportionate, more like the sort of policy I’d like to see. I wish Charlotte had come up with this on their own.
