We have had several posts on REI2Day about important legal issues brought to the public’s attention by the Pacific Legal Foundation – including warrantless searches of apartments, 4th amendment rights and property takings. In a recent opinion article on FoxNews.com, Ethan Blevins, an attorney with PLF, says that a “smug” city of Seattle is telling mom & pop landlords that criminals are welcome but your rights not so much. In essence, Seattle recently passed an ordinance called the The Fair Chance Housing Ordinance that forbids landlords from checking criminal backgrounds or considering prior criminal convictions when selecting tenants. In other words, legitimate concerns about
“…[these laws]curtails landlords’ rights to their own property and raises serious safety and financial risks…..[and]…make the risks of renting out property utterly intolerable for the average mom-and-pop landlord.”