Legislative Support-One of the most important reasons to join the Association of Rental Housing Professionals is to be part of a group that is an advocate for the interest of housing providers in the legislative process. Our goal is to ensure that the regulation of rental property is fair in the treatment of our members and effective in ensuring quality rental housing for our residents. A portion of the dues paid for membership is used to support our lobbying effort on behalf of our members.
Through our lobbying efforts and by our members working together on outreach to lawmakers we educate government officials of the realities of our business. In doing so, we can protect our investments and build a better working environment for all of our members. We understand that regulation should set a standard of conduct for individuals who provide rental housing but regulation must also provide rental housing owners and managers the tools they need to effectively operate their business. Often the expectations imposed on housing providers are not cost effective to implement, in conflict with other laws or just beyond what should be expected of people who provide housing. It takes a group effort to communicate those facts to lawmakers.
Laws to Follow- The rental housing business is heavily regulated at the local, state and federal level. Almost every activity of operating rental housing has a law that governs it. How you screen tenants, how you advertise your units, how you preform the maintenance of your property and how you enforce your lease are all controlled by law. Some laws, such as occupancy limits under Fair Housing regulations, are not specific in how to comply but can expose you to liability if your interpretation is questioned.
The Rental Housing Professionals provides our member with a reference library of the laws we identify as being relevant to the rental housing business. Through our lobbying activity and by communication among members we find new laws all the time and continue to build our reference library. In addition our discussion forums give our members an opportunity to ask questions about the law and learn from each other the proper way to be compliant.
Information on Proposed Legislation- The best way to influence how the rental housing business is regulated is to be involved in the development of the laws. When a proposal for legislation comes to our attention we inform our members of the issue and gather input from members on the impact the proposal will have on our members. We accomplish this through our lobbying efforts at the state level and by communication from our chapters at the local level. By growing the network of housing providers who are members of the Rental Housing Professionals we build the channels of communication necessary to be effective in ensuring we are regulated fairly.