Bert Caldwell: Group gives landlords their due
Joy Peck has all the skills you would expect in the executive director of a landlord group.
She has an undergraduate degree in biology and chemistry. A master’s in chemistry. Two years in ethics study at Gonzaga University.
Heady stuff for a director of the Landlord Association of the Inland Northwest, but Peck says education and communication are critical to the organization’s mission.
“Being a landlord is a fairly complex process,” she says.
The association has almost 700 members, but she estimates there may be 5,000 rental property owners in Spokane County. Many bought homes, duplexes, of apartment buildings with the simple notion they need do little more than collect the rent.
In reality, Peck says, the problems can be endless. The list starts with finding and keeping good tenants, and evicting the bad.
Although she says 90 percent of tenants are the former, Pecks adds that “Ozzie and Harriet are not in the rental market.”
The fraction that is bad can be very bad. Of late, some landlords are finding units stripped of all the copper wiring and plumbing.
Smoke detectors must be checked (tenants sometimes have other uses for the batteries), mold removed, and the intricacies of the Fair Credit Reporting Act explained.
Landlords who have tenant credit information in their possession, for example, must keep it behind a locked door. If it is on a computer, it must have a secure password. And there must be a document shredder.
“It’s an ongoing educational process to keep the landlord out of trouble,” Peck says. “Sometimes, it’s like a 12-step program.”
Most association members have fewer than 10 units, some just one. For annual dues of $115.50 to $364 — less for renewing members — they can attend classes, access the association’s attorney, representation in Olympia, and the benefits of networking with more experienced property owners.
“Most landlords feel like their out there on their own.” says Peck.
Peck herself is often on her own in the association’s office at 3 S. Washington, which had attracted many downtown tenants searching for housing. The organization’s old name, the Inland Empire Rental Association, was confusing many people desperate for a place to stay, she says.
The name was changed in February to better reflect the organization’s constituency.
Still, Peck says she is working with her members to find new homes for displaced tenants. There may be opportunities as leases expire, she says, but vacancies are scare.
But placement is not the association’s role, education is. Peck can refer members to attorneys, accountants, collectors and others for help.
She may be the director, but Peck credits the nine-member board for pulling all the resources together.
“This is a combination of a lot of great people,” she says.
The association will hold an information fair Saturday. Peck says the organization hopes to take the efforts further, perhaps training members to become property managers.
Peck wants landlords to take a strong ethical approach to their business, one beyond the merely financial.
She reminds members they are providing one of the necessities of life, shelter, and that their responsibilities go beyond collecting rent and touching up the paint.
“It’s a different way of looking at it,” Peck says.
“It can only help the community to have better landlords. It can only help the community to have better tenants.”