Last week Landlords Inc., The Resource for Landlords in the city of Kansas City Missouri focused on the New Source of Income Ordinance that goes into effect in Kansas City Missouri on August 1st.
They opened the meeting with a broad overview of what is going on in across the country with tenant advocacy from the Homes Guarantee Manifesto, to our local group, to the Biden White House, these “advocates” are working very hard to decrease inventory and raise the prices on affordable rental housing from coast to coast. (Do a search on Biden’s Housing Policy, the latest is a recommendation in July 2024 is a step toward federal rent control.
Kansas City Missouri’s Source of Income Ordinance
Attorney Dan Kelly went through the ordinance of what you can and cannot do as follows.
- Takes Effect August 1st, 2024
- You can’t put your criteria in Advertising or State “No Section 8” or “No Housing Vouchers”
- No PreScreening or Self Screening – all are “Welcome to Apply”
- Cannot Use a Rent to Income Ratio, Instead, Calculate Actual Numbers
- Credit Report, You Can No Longer Refuse to Rent “SOLELY” on the basis of Credit History without Looking Further
- Eviction History, You Can No Longer Refuse to Rent “SOLELY” on the basis of Eviction History without Looking Further
- Criminal History, You Can No Longer Refuse to Rent “SOLELY” on the basis of Criminal History without Looking Further
- You can however deny if they fail on 2 or more of these last 4 factors.
- Can’t Make the Tenants Pay for the Cost of the Ordinance
- Looking Further – asking questions and allowing them to give you more information in order to explain or mitigate the bad information.
Then he followed up with how to decline an applicant and provided “Practical Advice”, that we suggest you watch the replay of the video and read the powerpoint slides to educate yourself. The replay and the slides are posted on the MAREI Member Replay Page (you must be a MAREI Member to Access) or if you are a member of Landlords Inc, contact them and ask for access to the replay.
CYA for Navigating the SOI Ordinance
Next Up Myeisha Wright shared her tips for navigating the ordinance to include
- A Quick look at the frightening Homes Guarantee that we have already mentioned and how to counter it.
- BE CONSISTENT – DOCUMENT DOCUMENT DOCUMENT
- The Phrase “All Are Welcome to Apply” Needs to be your Standard Answer for almost every application question
- Have Very Specific Written Policies that you have for every applicant and apply them equally
- Have Very Specific Written Procedure for how you handle everything
Again you need to watch the replays and read the power points that are on our password protected page.
Click Here for the MAREI Member Replay Page
