Daly submits proposed ordinances for June ballot
It’s only March, but here we go with the Daly/Gullickson/Tenant’s Union ballot measures for the June election. And we get started with one that has really been misrepresented by the press and the authors of the legislation (hence Newsom’s veto).
From today’s Chronicle, “Meeting a deadline for the June ballot, Supervisor Chris Daly submitted proposed ordinances Wednesday that would require landlords to disclose when tenants have been evicted from certain properties.”
“…Daly wants voters to decide whether owners of a property with two or more units should have to notify prospective buyers if an elderly or disabled tenant has been evicted. The Board of Supervisors approved similar legislation, but Mayor Gavin Newsom vetoed it.”
This is nothing more than a way for Daly to attempt to resurrect his flailing campaign for re-election and is useless legislation intended to draw attention to himself.
As a Realtor® who works with disclosures every single day, I want to set the record straight on what we currently are required by law to provide…
Notification to buyers when someone has been evicted is something that belongs in the disclosure process and during escrow (when buyers have every right to extract themselves from a transaction) and not at open houses where it serves only to impede the search process for potential buyers (many of whom are long-time tenants themselves).
I do not believe that it’s been made clear enough that we as agents are required to provide a vacancy disclosure during the offer writing/disclosure process (for any vacant unit we are selling), when buyers still have the opportunity to cancel any sort of contract if they are not comfortable with the situation. Daly, BeyondChron, Gullickson, et al. have been advertising that this disclosure is not provided until final papers are signed at closing, and that’s a load of crap.
I am all in favor of full disclosure, and not in favor of evictions, but this will artificially burden the already brutal home-buying process. Chris Daly needs to understand (since he obviously doesn’t) that we currently provide the disclosures to interested parties, per the current law. If he wants to advertise that this information is available to those interested parties, let him have at it. But, as usual, his legislation only serves to burden the process and attempt to make him look good to his tenant constituency. It does not help tenants, buyers, or sellers any more than the current law does.
Do we really want Daly to stay in office where he has done little more than throw tantrums and embarrass this city? Don’t be fooled by this or any other ballot measure that he proposes. This is a waste of taxpayer money, and a last-ditch effort by Daly to get above his pathetic 30% approval rating.
