Deliberations on the fate of a city ordinance passed a year ago attempting to stop landlords from showing apartments to prospective tenants continue. The ordinance, passed by the common council and co-sponsored by Ald. Brenda Konkel, District 2, and Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, aimed to protect both prospective renters as well as current residents.

The apartment ordinance intends to protect prospective renters from feeling the need to commit to an apartment in early fall by barring the showing of occupied apartments prior to Dec. 15. It also prohibits re-rental ultimatums by landlords prior to that date.

“Our objective was to prevent people from having to rent apartments in October and November,” Konkel said.

While the original objective was to slow down renting, giving both prospective renters and current residents ample time to figure out their arrangements for the following rental year, the absence of a restriction on the time frame of lease signings has allowed rental companies to get around the ordinance’s objectives.

“They rent early anyway, forcing others to have to decide early,” Konkel said.

Not only did the ordinance fail to stop early lease signing, it initiated a series of unintended side effects with harmful results for both residents and landlords.

Meghan Hicks, assistant program director of the Madison Tenant Resource Center, said residents cannot legally be shown an occupied apartment prior to Dec. 15, leaving many in the dark as to what the apartment they are considering renting actually looks like.

“A lot of apartments are rented to people who have never even see them,” she said.

Since the ordinance was passed, landlords have used photographs, floor plans, videotaped tours, and other means to show apartments to renters.

Strangers often end up knocking on residents’ doors in an effort to see an apartment.

Another complaint of the ordinance is the lack of communication between landlords and current residents. According to the ordinance, a deadline for renewal cannot be issued to the resident prior to Dec. 15, while the landlord can rent the apartment out anytime he or she wishes.

“People’s apartments can be rented without the [current residents] knowing anything about it,” Hicks said.

Jim Wadlington, supervisor of Steve Brown apartments, stresses that the increase in early renting in the aftermath of an ordinance is the result of increased demand by renters, and not the behavior of the landlords.

“I would like to start renting later, but when people begin calling us in October, we are just responding to demand,” he said.

Yet while Wadlington is one property manager who claims to be in favor of a later renting season, his company, Steve Brown Apartments, and many other landlords have been uncooperative with requests from city officials to limit early renting, continuing to use loopholes to rent out apartments in early fall.
Despite complaints about the ordinance’s side effects, Ald. Mike Verveer said he believes it is a step in the right direction.
“Although the ordinance is not perfect or nearly as strong as I want it to be, it still provides some relief to the early rental season. We just need to give it more time to take effect,” he said.