Rental Housing Journal Utah February 2016

Advertise inRental Housing Journal Utah

Circulated to over 6,000 apartment owners, on-site and maintenance

personnel monthly.

Call 503-221-1260for more information

2. President’s Message – PAC Money is Needed to Accomplish Our Work

3. Director’s Message – 2016 UAA Fair Housing Conference and Trade Show

Offi cial Publication of The Utah Apartment Association Utah’s Leading Advocate for the Rental Housing Industry – 888-244-0401 – WWW.UAAHQ.ORG

www.rentalhousingjournal.com • Professional Publishing, Inc

Rental Housing Journal Utah February 2016 - Vol. 8 Issue 2Pr

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EVENTSTrade ShowSouthtown Expo Center .................... Apr 27th

www.uaahq.org/uaa-education-conference-trade-show

UPCOMING EVENTSGeneral Membership MeetingsOgden ..................................... Mar 22nd 7PM

Salt Lake ................................ Mar 24th 7PM

St. George ............................. Mar 30th 7PM

www.uaaGeneralMembershipMeetings.com

continued on page 5

continued on page 6

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4. Ask the Attorney – Breaching the Lease

7. 2015 UAA Tribute Award Winners

Kerry Bate2015 Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

The Utah Apartment Asso-ciation presented the 2015 Lifetime Achievement

Award to Kerry Bate, former Exec-utive Director of the Housing Au-thority of Salt Lake County.

Th e award was presented at the UAA’s annual Tribute Awards din-ner which was held on February 12th. Kerry’s successor and cur-rent Executive Director of the Salt Lake County Housing Authority Janice Kimball and UAA Board member Gloria Froerer presented the award.

“I just want to say that I am so touched by and proud of the things Kerry has done in 40 years in his

career to serve Utah households”, said Gloria. “ Kerry has been one of the key players in addressing the homeless issue in Utah with tre-mendous results.

“I can’t think of anyone more de-serving”, added Janice. “Kerry has been a tremendous leader and ex-ample and I am so grateful to have been able to work with him over the years,” she said.

Kerry Bate’s work spans more than 40 years in the community development and aff ordable hous-ing arena within the state of Utah. His vision, leadership and tire-less eff orts have inspired others and have resulted in tangible im-

Utah State Health Department

Exceeding State Authority on

Methamphetamine Testing Standards

Utah Landlords Want Section 8 Opt Out

Housing aff ordability is a very important issue in Utah. Th e federal Section

8 voucher program is a valuable tool. Years ago, the legislature, in good faith, made Utah one of only 9 states that require landlords to ac-

cept Section 8 housing and make it a discriminatory practice for land-lords to deny tenants solely on the basis that they received Section 8 vouchers. Th is led to unintentional consequences and made aff ordable housing stock less available. A new

bill before the legislature, SB175, attempts to add market forces to help open up more aff ordable housing options.

Landlords love Section 8 tenants. However, they loathe working with some housing authorities, the local agencies that administer Section 8. Th ey also hate the extra cost and burden that accompany the pro-gram. Examples include:

y Th e government used to guar-antee rent and condition of unit. Because it was so costly to re-

Meth Testing:In Utah, there are two kinds of

tests for methamphetamine con-tamination, as defi ned by the EPA.

y In discrete sampling, also known as “individual” sam-pling, single samples are taken at spatially discrete locations. Th is sampling technique should be used in areas that are “hot spots” highly suggestive of con-tamination. Utah Regulation Code R392-600-5 says areas highly suggestive of [metham-phetamine] contamination”

y In composite sampling, multiple discrete samples are combined and treated as a single sample for analytical purposes. Th e State and County Health de-partments allow this sampling technique because they say it is less costly for consumers.

However, the State Health De-partments is exceeding its author-ity by allowing testers to use the “compiling” instead of “averaging”

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Utah Apartment Association

448 E Winchester St Ste. 460Salt Lake City, UT 84107

Ph: (801) 487-5619Fax: (801) 484-8649

www.uaahq.orgPresident’s Message

Peter HarradineBoard ChairUtah Apartment Association

PAC Money is Needed to Accomplish Our Work

Th is year the UAA has set a goal to raise $100,000 for our PAC.

As the 2016 President, I want you to know that I am proud to say that I am a personal supporter of the PAC and have personally con-tributed to the PAC. Th e money we raise is leveraged very eff ectively to accomplish our goals and pro-tect our industry. Let me share a little with you about how we spend PAC funds.

NAA and Federal IssuesTh is year UAA members will

contribute about $10,000 to the National Apartment Association’s federal PAC. Th is money is donated directly to federal elected offi cials who have a direct infl uence on our issues. Th e NAA PAC cuts checks to our Utah senators and represen-tatives which UAA members then deliver personally. Th is helps us build personal relationships with elected offi cials from both parties, and help them understand how federal laws aff ect rental housing.

State and Local ElectionsMost of the funds we raise for the

UAA PAC are contributed to state and local elected leaders and can-didates who care about property rights and rental housing. We are privileged to have a Governor, a Senate President and a Speaker of the House who all own rental prop-

erties and care about how laws af-fect property rights and our ability to conduct professional operations. We need to keep the good leaders we have and assure there are others who support entail housing issues.

Eff ective LobbyistsNow I understand some people

cringe at the word lobbyist, but ev-ery industry needs people who can articulate their positions on issues and eff ectively explain how laws aff ect property rights and our busi-ness. Our lobbyists are the very best in Utah and help protect our industry. Th ey know how to nav-igate our political system and ed-ucate leaders who make decisions that aff ect us.

Please help us out this yearIn the next four months we will

have many opportunities and you will be asked several times to sup-

port our PAC. We ask everyone to support individually according to your ability. Giving just $10 or $20 goes a long way. Th ose who have the means we ask for even more. Each year many individuals who have done exceptionally well in rental property give $1000. Since property management companies and apartment properties benefi t enormously from the lobbying ef-forts that the PAC supports, we ask them to give as well. For apartment communities we ask $500 a prop-erty. For property management companies, we ask $500.

I can assure you that the UAA is a good steward of this money and leverages it eff ectively for the ben-efi t of our industry. Th anks in ad-vance for your contribution.

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448 E Winchester St Ste. 460Salt Lake City, UT 84107Ph: (801) 487-5619Fax: (801) 484-8649www.uaahq.org

Utah Apartment Association

Director’s Message

L. Paul Smith, CAEExecutive DirectorUtah Apartment Association

2016 UAA Fair Housing Conference and Tradeshow

The 2016 UAA Fair Hous-ing Conference and Trade show on April 27th at the

South Towne Expo Center will be one of the biggest and most ex-citing events we have ever had as an association. Th ere are literally

hundreds of reasons to come to the event – but in the interest of space I just want to list some of the most signifi cant:

Keynote SpeakerAmanda Dickson is the Co-

host for Utah’s number one rated morning show, Utah’s Morning news on KSL News Radio. Aman-da is a renaissance woman who is at much at home at Chucky Cheese as she is in front of an audience of thousands or sequestered working on a book. She is beloved by her Utah radio audience for her open-ness and irresistible laugh, but there is a depth to her that comes not only from her legal training, but from her personal suff ering, and that depth connects her to the

readers of her newspaper columns and books. Amanda thinks of her life as a path, one she walks hold-ing her husband’s and children’s’ hands, always learning, forever curious, eternally grateful for the souls she encounters along the way.

Education ClassesWe have more than 20 diff erent

classes available this year, designed to fi t the interests of everybody who is attending the Trade Show – from management and leasing staff to independent owners and main-tenance personnel, there is some-thing for everybody. And many of the classes come with Real Estate Continuing Education Credit!

We are particularly excited to welcome nationally renowned

speakers Barbara Savona and Mark Kohler who will be presenting some of our classes. Th eir energetic presentations and solutions-based training have helped landlords like you from coast to coast and we are lucky to have them join us.

Vendor BoothsTh is year’s Trade Show will fea-

ture more than a hundred vendors who have gathered together to showcase their products and ser-vices, and to provide you with the contacts and solutions you need to succeed as a landlord.

I hope to see you there! Register online at www.uaatradeshow.com or by phone now.

PublisherWill Johnson – [email protected]

Designer/EditorKristin Flores – [email protected]

Advertising SalesWill Johnson – [email protected]

Terry Hokenson – [email protected] Surratt – [email protected]

Rental Housing Journal Colorado is a monthly publication published by Professional Publishing Inc., publishers of Real Estate Opportunities in

Investing & Real Estate Investor Quarterly

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The statements and representations made in advertising and news articles contained in this publication are those of the advertiser and authors and as such do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Professional Publishing, Inc. The inclusion of advertising in this publications does not, in any way, comport an endorsement of or support for the products or services offered. To request a reprint or reprint rights contact Professional Publishing Inc. PO Box 6244 Beaverton, OR 97007. (503) 221-1260 - (800) 398-6751 © 2015 All rights reserved.

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Rental Housing Journal Utah

Rental Housing Journal Utah · February 2016

Ask the Attorney

By Kirk A. CullimoreLaw Offi ces of Kirk A. Cullimore

Breaching the Lease

Your resident has now ei-ther skipped before the lease term expired or va-

cated at the expiration of the lease term without giving written no-tice. Whether the unit is a mess or completely empty, what are your obligations in regards to re-renting the unit? Is the resident responsi-ble for future rent once the unit is re-rented?

When your resident signed the lease, the resident is obligated to pay rent for the entire lease term. Although the resident may pay monthly rental installments, it doesn’t change the fact that the resi-dent owes the entire amount. How-

ever, if your resident split early or without giving written notice at the end of the lease term, you can-not simply sit back and wait for the term to end, then sue the resident for the months he/she/they weren’t there. In Utah, you have a duty to mitigate your damages. But what does that mean? Will your resident be responsible for future rent?

In Utah, to minimize the eff ects and losses resulting from your resi-dent breaching the lease, a landlord must mitigate its damages. Gener-ally, that means you have a duty “to take such steps as would be expect-ed of a reasonable landlord letting out a similar property in the same market conditions.” Basically, you must take reasonable steps to re-rent the unit.

Reasonable steps would include quickly preparing the unit so it’s re-rentable, followed by adver-tising and showing the unit for rent. More oft en than not though, the diffi culty is quickly getting the unit rent ready, especially when the resident leaves property (i.e. aban-

dons property) in the unit. Th at diffi culty is increased when you might not be in the position to move the property somewhere else to store on-site while you prepare the unit to re-rent. Regardless the duty to mitigate, making sure the property is properly handled and securely stored is a higher priority.

However, the sooner you’re able to get the unit rent ready in the process of mitigating your damag-es the better. Th at’s because there’s an additional incentive to mitigate quickly: you do not know wheth-er you will be able to collect dam-ages from your former resident, so you will want to do everything you reasonably can to reduce your damages by fi nding a replacement resident. It’s always better to have a paying resident than an empty unit with the hopes of collecting from the former resident.

Your former resident is going to be responsible for future rent until you mitigate your damages and re-rent the unit or the lease term ex-pires, whichever occurs fi rst. In the situation where the resident failed to given the appropriate written notice to terminate the lease at the expiration of the lease term, the maximum future rent you would be able to seek from the former res-ident would be 30 days of rent, re-gardless whether the lease required more than 30 days written notice.

Within the lease term, whether the resident gave any written no-tice is irrelevant, unless your lease allows a resident to terminate the lease within the term with proper written notice (which hopefully is not the case – talk to our offi ce if that is what your lease provides). If your resident gives written notice within the lease term to terminate the lease prior to the expiration of the term, you still have a duty to mitigate and the resident is going to be on the hook for future rent until the unit it re-rented or the lease term expires, even if that’s more than 30-60 days.

Utah judges typically don’t have any issues with assessing future rent up to 30 days. Once it goes beyond thirty days, most judges want to see some proof of the ef-forts taken to mitigate your dam-ages. An affi davit is usually suffi -cient setting forth the eff orts taken to mitigate and re-rent the unit. Fortunately, that does not mean you as the landlord have the bur-den of showing that the steps taken to mitigate were reasonable. Case law in Utah provides that the bur-den of proving the landlord has not mitigated its damages and that its award should be correspondingly reduced is on the tenant.

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5



Methamphetamine Testing ...continued from page 1

method. Th is results in more properties failing and more work for de-contamination specialists.

Here is a description of each of type of testing:Contamination Limit - Less than or equal to 1.0 microgram (μg) Meth-

amphetamine per 100 square centimeters.

Discrete Testing:One sample of 100 cm-2must contain less than 1.0 μg of Methamphetamine.

Th is 100 cm2area con-tains 0.3 μg of Metham-phetamine and is not considered contaminat-ed under Utah law.

Composite Testing (averaged)Combined samples of more than 100 cm2 must contain less than 1.0 μg of Metham-phetamine per 100 cm2.

Th ese four separate 100 cm2 area contain an av-erage of 0.3 μg of Meth-amphetamine and is not considered contaminat-ed under Utah law.

Composite Testing (compiled)Combined samples of more than 100 cm2 must contain less than 1.0 μg of Metham-phetamine total (meaning they treat 400 cm2 like 100 cm2, eff ectively reducing the amount allowed by 75%, exceeding state authority).

Th ese four separate 100 cm2 area contain a total of 1.2 μg of Methamphet-amine and would fail the compiled composite test allowed by the Health Department, despite not being truly contaminat-ed under Utah law.

Despite bringing to their attention multiple properties that failed under compiled composite testing that would not have failed if averaging (the scientifi c standard) was used, the County and State health Departments still refuse to back down. We have made several attempts to get them to operate within their authority and have failed.

Whether allowing compiled composite sampling is crony capitalism to generate more business for decontamination specialists or just sloppy science, it exceeds the Health Department’s authority and the real estate and property management industry ask the Administrative Rules Over-sight Committee to intervene.

Utah R392-600 requires: y Samples collected from areas highly suggestive of contamination shall be by grab samples that are not combined with other samples.ii

y “Grab Sample” means one sample collected from a single, defi ned area or media at a given time and location.iii

y Confi rmation sampling from areas not highly suggestive of contam-ination… shall be collected in a manner consistent with the confi r-mation sampling [procedure laid out in the rule]. Th e samples may be combined together to form one sample per room or sampling area.iv

i EAP Voluntary Guides for Methamphetamine Laboratory Cleanup, 2013; p 25ii R392-600-6(5)(a)iii R392-600-2(21)iv R392-600-6(6)

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Kerry Bate ...continued from page 1 Section 8 Opt Out ...continued from page 1

pacts in the lives of thousands of local citizens.

During his time as Executive Director of the Salt Lake County Housing Authority, Kerry focused on special communities with great need by providing affordable hous-ing for low-income households, housing for veterans, refugees, the disabled, the chronically mentally ill, homeless youth and homeless families, as well as provided tenant services to promote self-sufficien-cy. He was instrumental in work-ing with federal, state and private foundations to fund major “Hous-ing First” and other affordable projects. His passionate emphasis on housing made Salt Lake Coun-ty a national model for low-income and homeless housing and Utah a national leader in homeless hous-ing projects.

Under Kerry’s leadership, the Housing Authority:

y Increased 1,037 units, reaching a total of 4,038 families served throughout Salt Lake County

y Developed/obtained five new properties: Frontier Apart-ments, Covewood Apartments, Grace Mary Manor, Kelly Ben-son Apartments and Bud Bailey Apartments for a total of 391 physical units added

y Increased 316 vouchers within the Section 8 program reach-ing a total of over 2,400 housing choice vouchers

y Saw an increase of 200 house-holds served through the Vet-eran’s Supportive Housing program

y Increased Non-HUD funding to $9,082,609

y Increased Continuum of Care- Shelter Plus Care program fund-ing to $1,621,422

y Increased Homeless Assistance Rental Program funding to $1,233,000

The Utah Apartment Association is proud to place Kerry among the previous winers of this prestigious award. For more information go to www.uaatributeawards.com

pair damage done by Section 8 tenants, this burden has been transferred to landlords to pay for any damages done

y Landlords who participate are told how long their lease must be and cannot sign leases short-er than a year

y Initial inspections take as long as ten days, making landlords who work with Section 8 lose rental income

y Section 8 rules supersede rental agreements. Landlords are pro-hibited from evicting Section 8 tenants for criminal behavior of guests or if a housing authority is late or doesn’t pay rent. They must give longer notice of in-spections, rent increases and end of term notices. It is harder to remove Section 8 than regu-lar tenants

y Some local housing authori-ties are difficult to work with and take up to 60 days to make payments

y The program increases land-lord’s costs, time and alters busi-ness practices by giving Section 8 tenants a different (preferen-tial) set of rules. This is not fair to other tenants and adds bur-den to landlords

Because of these and other costs, risks and burdens, there currently are incentives for landlords to le-gally and legitimately avoid renting to Section 8 tenants. They can set higher rental criteria or deposits to avoid renting to those on Section 8. They can make sure their places won’t pass housing inspections.

SB 175 removes the incentive to make renting to Section 8 re-cipients hard by putting market pressure on housing authorities to make their programs more user friendly and attractive to land-lords. Allowing landlords to volun-tarily participate will improve the Section 8 program and increase the number of units available for voucher recipients.

This is not discriminationLaws will still prohibit discrim-

ination against tenants because of race, color, sex, religion, country of origin, disability, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identi-ty and source of income. The only things SB 175 does is eliminate the requirement that landlords work with the federal Section 8 vouch-er program, and clarifies it will not be a discriminatory practice to deny tenants who are on Section 8. Last year both Texas and Indi-ana passed similar laws as this and there has not been a crisis there. Allegations that minority and low income tenants will be discrimi-nated against are unfounded and false, as 41 other states have the law being proposed and voucher recip-ients still find quality housing.

Doctors can opt out of the bu-reaucracy and strict rules of Medi-care. Landlords should be able to opt out of a similar federal subsidy program and run their business the way they wish, not the way the feds require them to in order to qualify for Section 8 vouchers. Forced participation in a volun-tary federal program is bad public policy, harms both landlords and tenants, and both groups will be better off if this law is passed and housing authorities and the feder-al government have to earn land-lord’s participation.

By the numbers: y Utah has just over 11,000 Sec-tion 8 vouchers, less than 4% of renter households

y Even if half of Utah’s 300,000 rental units opted out of Sec-tion 8 there would still be over ten times as many units available as are needed

y 41 states, including Califor-nia, allow landlords to opt out of Section 8 and the pro-gram still works

Advertise in Rental Housing Journal Utah

Circulated to over 6,000 apartment owners, on-site and maintenance

personnel monthly.

Call 503-221-1260 for more information

Leasing Agent of the YearAmanda Williamson Thorn Berry

Service Provider of the YearFor Rent Media Solutions

Property Manager 150-250 UnitsBraxton West Seasons on the Boulevard

Property Manager under 150 UnitsHanah Gilman Oakridge Student Housing

Customer Service of the YearKevin Stitt, Nine Lives Media, Peter Harradine 2016 Board Chair

Property of Excellence Central/Southern UtahDrycreek at East Village

Development of the YearDrycreek at East Village

Best Overall RenovationFoothill Place Apartments

Property of Excellence Northern UtahEastgate at Grey Hawk

Outstanding Senior PropertySagewood at Daybreak

Best LandscapeThe Falls at Hunters Pointe

Best Leasing Office/ClubhouseResidences at the District

Property Supervisor of the YearTravis Baker Alliance Residential

Outstanding On-Site TeamOakridge Student Housing

Supplier of the YearRich Wilcox PPG Paint, Peter Harradine 2016 Board Chair

Best ModelMidtwon 360

Assistant Manager of the YearShanelle Martindale Carrington Square

Property Manager over 250 UnitsMichael Holm Carrington Square

Maintenance Supervisor of the YearTim Meyers Residences at the District

Best Mixed Section 42 PropertyLiberty Commons

Property of Excellence Salt Lake CountySan Martiz

7



UAA’s 2015 Tribute Award Winners

LOWER MAINTENANCE COSTS AND LESS TENANT TURNOVER. GO SMOKE-FREE.

www.tobaccofreeutah.org/muh-intro.html

8



Rental Housing Journal Utah February 2016

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