Classical Values :: Coming soon to a city near you?

November 15, 2009

Coming soon to a city near you?

In what I think is a blatant restriction of private property rights (as well as grotesque government micromanagement of people's lives), the City of San Francisco is considering requiring landlords to accept pets:

Right now, it's up to property owners to decide if they'll allow pets. But a city commission is looking at forcing landlords to accept them with one member even calling it, essentially, a civil rights issue.

Stop right there. Private property is also a civil rights issue, and if I don't want a tenant with a pet (for whatever reason), that's my business and not the government's business.

Apparently not in San Francisco:

San Francisco is a city where dogs are said to outnumber children, where those who have pets are officially called guardians not owners.

It is also a city where Charlene Premyodhin found it incredibly hard to find a landlord who was OK with her Rottweiler-German Shepherd mix.

"The place we're living at now, the only reason we're allowed to have a dog is because our cousin is the landlord. But at every other place, we haven't been able to have a dog," she said.

Noni Richen is listing some of the damage from pets that even a hefty security deposit doesn't necessarily cover. She's the president of the Small Property Owners of San Francisco, whose members are going nuts over a proposal that could force landlords to accept tenants with pets.

"We've had more responses on this than to any other question. It's the loss of control over our property that seems to have people up in arms," said Richen.

The proposal being debated is designed to reduce the number of animals turned over to shelters or even euthanized because those who want them can't find housing.

If people are turning in unwanted animals, that is not the problem of landlords. That's like requiring landlords to provide housing for the homeless because otherwise they'd be in homeless shelters.

Besides, who will compensate landlords for the damage the pet might do to the premises? Who will compensate the landlord if he is sued when a tenant's pet bites someone, or annoys other tenants or neighbors? What if the landlord lives in the building, and is allergic? What about allergic tenants?

This is typical left-wing insanity. It's easy to laugh it off because it's in San Francisco, but these ideas spread.

AFTERTHOUGHT: FWIW, if I had a litter of puppies for sale, I'm not at all sure I would sell one to a person who lived in an apartment building. Large active dogs are not designed for apartment life, and I don't think it is appropriate to make landlords accept them.

posted by Eric on 11.15.09 at 06:09 PM

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Comments

You must allow dogs. Except pit bulls. Still full speed ahead on the dogs-that-resemble-pit-bulls genocide.

Phelps · November 15, 2009 11:44 PM

SF is also one of the left coast cities considering a declawing ban. Violators of the ban, such as any one who declaws or a pet owner who approves of the declawing, could face up to six months in jail or a fine of up to $1,000.

wright · November 16, 2009 07:54 AM

My dad & his partner owned quite a few rental properties when I was growing up, and I frequently did light maintenance and clean-up for extra cash.

At one of the properties, the manager violated the "no pet" policy, and allowed a tenant to keep a small dog.

The dog never went outside. Ever. Whenever the animal relieved itself, the tenant simply threw a piece of newspaper over it. There were layers upon layers of newspaper and excrement. Urine had soaked through to the studs, and the floor had to be torn up.

Too bad that "Dirty Jobs" guy wasn't around back then.

Sep · November 16, 2009 10:49 AM

I remember in the lead up to (probably) the 2003 election there was graffiti on the sidewalks of S.F. decrying Newsom as an evil right winger who eats babies or some such nonsense (I was walking to Munroe Motors from Scuderia West, I can't remember the name of the street).

Silly really, but you get the government you vote for, and when someone like Newsome is the "right winger" in the race you're f'd.

They threw me out of the city a few years later when they banned handguns.

That worked out well for them.

This will too. Be real funny if these small landlords all decided at once that they didn't want to be landlords any more and put their homes on the market.

William O. B'Livion. · November 17, 2009 08:37 AM