What a time to be a landlord.

While the seemingly endless power struggle between tenants and landlords wages on, the Wisconsin Assembly passed a bill recently giving landlords a boost in the contest.

Among other things, like preventing local authorities from conducting those pesky inspections to make sure properties are up to health and safety codes, the bill would restrict the landlord registration requirements of local municipalities, which keeps track of information on who actually owns the property, who manages it and who can be contacted in emergencies.

I don’t understand why the state Assembly would ever pass a bill making it easier for landlords to skimp out on health and safety codes, but it is even more egregious to not even require them to leave their name and number. This removes their responsibility for the property tenants are paying hefty sums of money to use as a living space.

As a tenant who dishes out a lot of money each month to have a decent place to sleep at night, the idea of my landlord being held less accountable for the upkeep of my current abode is concerning.

The bill also allows individual landlords to play land-Lord and evict anyone who they judge guilty of criminal activity on their property well before any arrest, let alone a true conviction, can take place. This includes criminal activities that threaten the peace on or near the premises.

In other words, a solid number of University of Wisconsin students under the age of 21 could be evicted on any given Friday or Saturday night.

The underlying hope of preventing real criminal activity in this bill is understandable, but the idea of placing enough power in the hands of landlords to evict tenants on the basis of a small amount of evidence, before an actual investigator can review the case, is rather unsettling. Any evidence implying the tenant is probably at fault would be sufficient enough to allow the landlord to evict them. Seems a little extreme.

The bill specifies drug-related criminal activity as a valid reason for eviction, but if a landlord has solid evidence that a tenant is involved in drug-related crimes, kicking them out on the street definitely is not going to solve anything.

Now, I’m no expert, but if a potential suspect is found, wouldn’t it be best to keep track of their location? Knowing where they live would be pretty helpful in arresting a possible criminal.

Ultimately, this bill really doesn’t make much sense. To be honest, I can’t even rationalize the good in limiting requirements of landlords that ensure their properties are safe. But if reducing crime rates in such an important endeavor, evicting the potential crooks before authorities can even investigate the situation is kind of like giving them a head start in escaping prosecution. It’s definitely not the best game plan I’ve ever heard in the pursuit of crime.

But hey, at least that hardly up-to-code apartment complex has one less possible criminal living in it. What a time to be a landlord.

Phil Michaelson ([email protected]) is a sophomore majoring in biomedical engineering.