Colorado RHJ January 2017

Rental Housing Journal Colorado

January 2018 - Vol. 10 Issue 01

4. Landlords Missing Rent Payments Online After Company Bankruptcy 5. HUD Charges Landlord With Discrimination Over Veteran's Emotional Support Dog

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The Scoop On How Pet DNA Testing Fixes Your Apartment Poop Problem

By John Triplett

P

ets are a way of life in rental housing and if you want your rentals fully leased, pet owners are a key tenant demographic you want to keep.

Look just at Millennials: 76 percent are pet owners and a majority are renters.

You might have laughed at first at this headline on how pet DNA testing could fix your apartment property’s pet poop problem.

But here is the reality.

Your tenants may be leaving pet poop lying around for you and your maintenance crew to pick up, creating extra work and cost.

The pet poop problem can affect your whole apartment community and pit tenant neighbor against tenant neighbor.

Your city government may decide your pet waste is polluting the local watershed - which the Environmental Protection Agency will confirm - and decide to fine the landlord, not the tenant.

Unreasonable burden on landlords?

In Chicago, the city had been reviewing an ordinance that would

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...continued on page 2

8 Ways the Rental Housing Market Changed In 2017

W

hat were the 8 ways the rental housing market changed in 2017, and what can we learn heading into 2018?

The folks at RentCafe have put together a report that looks at the rental housing trends in 2017 and analyzed rents from the 250 largest cities The national average rent increased by 2.5% reaching $1,359, about 24% higher than 10 years ago.

This means the average American renter paid approx. $400 additional rent over 2017 compared to 2016.

The average price for one-bedroom and two-bedroom units increased the most, 3.1% and 3.0% respectively.

Rent growth slowed down in the hottest markets.

With a 1.7% rent decrease, Manhattan and Brooklyn were among the cities with the most significant drops in 2017.

Viva Las Vegas? The City of Lights posted the fastest growth rate of all large cities (6.3%).

Facing a housing shortage and pressure coming from big cities, midsized markets saw rents soaring.

Sacramento struggled with an 8.8% increase.

Small-size cities took the main stage in 2017 with spectacular growth rates.

Renters in Odessa and Midland ended up paying approx. $3,400 in extra rent for the year. continued on page 7

How Apartment Rules to Protect Children Could Be Discrimination

By Ellen Clark

N

ormally, when you think of familial status discrimination, you likely think of things like refusing to rent to families with children, charging families with young children higher deposits, or steering them to certain buildings.

But what about rules or policies that are intended to protect children?

Could these be discriminatory?

A story from a condominium complex in Fremont, California brings to light the issue around policies or rules that are intended to protect children, but actually could subject the property management to discrimination charges.

A condominium complex had a longstanding rule that tenants’ children could not run and play outside within the complex gates. The rule was set up

by the homeowners’ association, citing safety concerns, and threatened to fine residents for violations.

One of the residents claimed that she and her children were subjected to threats, intimidation, and harassment.

A housing nonprofit called Project Sentinel brought a class action lawsuit pro bono and recovered $800,000 from the condo managers. Additionally, board members of the homeowners’ association must undergo fair housing training and post signs indicating that children are allowed to play outside.

Excluding children from areas other residents can use could be discrimination This news item reminds us that excluding children from areas that other residents can use could be considered discrimination—even if the intent of continued on page 4

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Rental Housing Journal Colorado

Are Your Social Media Posts Compliant With Fair Housing Laws?

By Ellen Clark ocial media is a great tool for marketing in the multifamily industry to help build strong connections and community with your customers, but did you know Fair Housing laws apply?

When you share information in print or in person you may be aware of the Fair Housing issues, but are you watching all of your social media posts as closely?

The same rules apply. You are responsible for complying with antidiscrimination and anti-harassment laws, no matter what form of communication you are using.

Do you display the equal housing opportunity logo on your social media posts?

Last year, ProPublica revealed that Facebook advertisers could target housing ads to whites only.

After that report, Facebook said it had built a system to spot and reject discriminatory ads. However, ProPublica recently retested and found lapses in the company’s monitoring of the rental market.

Here is what ProPublica said late last year, “Last week, ProPublica bought dozens of rental housing ads on Facebook, but asked that they not

S

be shown to certain categories of users, such as African Americans, mothers of high school kids, people interested in wheelchair ramps, Jews, expats from Argentina and Spanish speakers.

“All of these groups are protected under the federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to publish any advertisement “with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.” Violators can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

Every single ad was approved within minutes.

How is this relevant to property management companies?

Discrimination in advertising is prohibited by the Fair Housing Act. It is illegal to create, publish or distribute housing ads that discriminate, limit or deny equal access to housing because of membership in any federally protected class. But “advertising” doesn’t just apply to traditional advertising, such as newspaper and Internet ads, banners and signs, and commercials.

Social media communications are often considered advertisements.

5 ways to comply with Fair Housing on social media Here are some tips to help ensure your employees use social media in a way that complies with fair housing law.

No. 1 - Train everyone in Fair Housing Before being given access to your social media accounts, each person should complete fair housing training and acknowledge your company’s policies and procedures. Do the same for any agency or service that has access to your social media. When sharing images, show males and females, people of different races, people with disabilities, a variety of ages, and families with and without children in order to comply with fair housing laws.

No. 2 – Show diversity in images Consider all federal, state, and locally protected classes. For example, show males and females, people of different races, people with disabilities, a variety of ages, and families with and without children. Show diversity when using avatars, animated characters, and illustrations, too.

No. 3 - Use welcoming language Social media messages must not position your community as more or less suitable for someone based on membership in a protected class.

Avoid things like racial or ethnic terms, references to religion, exclusions based on disability, and limitations based on familial status. A good rule of thumb is to describe the community, not the people.

No. 4 - Designate a point person to regularly review all social media posts Reviews should look for words or images that discriminate, limit or deny equal access to your community based on membership in any federally, state or locally protected class. Also look for posts in which prospective or current residents indicate they feel they’ve been treated unfairly, don’t feel welcome in your community, or feel they are being discouraged from living in your community.

Make sure employees understand that it is important to be just as mindful of fair housing laws when sharing information and interacting with customers online as it is when sharing information and interacting in print and in person.

The same rules apply. They are responsible for complying with antidiscrimination and anti-harassment laws, no matter what form of communication they are using.

For more information Grace Hill has a mini-training course on this issue that covers: How to apply the FHA’s rules about discrimination in advertising to social media posts.

How to develop policies and procedures to help social media posts comply with the FHA. Guidance for using information customers post on social media without violating the FHA. Strategies to avoid and handle problematic social media posts in ways that comply with the FHA. Resources:

Facebook (Still) Letting Housing Advertisers Exclude Users by Race Fair Housing Advertising About the author: Ellen Clark is the Director of Assessment at Grace Hill. Her work has spanned the entire learner lifecycle, from elementary school through professional education. She spent over 10 years working with K12 Inc.’s network of online charter schools - measuring learning, developing learning improvement plans using evidence-based strategies, and conducting learning studies. Later, at Kaplan Inc., she worked in the vocational education and job training divisions, improving online, blended and face-to-face training programs, and working directly with business leadership and trainers to improve learner outcomes and job performance. Ellen lives and works in Maryland, where she was born and raised.

About Grace Hill For nearly two decades, Grace Hill has been developing best-in-class online training courseware and administration solely for the Property Management Industry, designed to help people, teams and companies improve performance and reduce risk.

No. 5 - Display the Equal Housing Opportunity Logo Always show the Equal Housing Opportunity slogan, logo or statement on your social media pages and on your website.

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Rental Housing Journal Colorado · January 2018

Rental Housing Journal Colorado

Rents Unchanged in December But Still Up 2.5% Year-Over-Year

T

he average multifamily rent in the U.S. stood at $1,359 in December, unchanged from November but a 2.5% year-over-year increase for rents, according to a survey of 121 markets by Yardi Matrix.

Strong demand, the economy’s solid footing and a robust job market offer encouraging signs that growth will continue in 2018.

Rents were down 0.3% in the fourth quarter, which is only the second negative quarter of growth nationally since the second quarter of 2010 (rents also fell 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2016).

“Although the results are somewhat negative compared to recent history, what’s notable is how consistently strong the market has performed during the entire recovery,” Yardi Matrix writes in the report.

Outlook for 2018 rents still good especially secondary markets The question for 2018 is how much more steam is left in the market, whether the deceleration will continue or if it will level off or turn negative, the report says “Our view is that growth will continue at roughly the same rate nationally, led by strong demand. The economy

Seattle (-0.8%), Portland (-0.5%) and San Jose (-0.5%) saw rents decline due to a combination of oversupply and historically expensive rent levels About Yardi Matrix:

shows no signs of slowing down, as GDP comes off two strong quarters and should get at least a boost from lower corporate and personal tax rates, while job growth continues to impress.

“Combined with the growth of the young adult population, household formation should remain robust. The consistent national numbers mask a great deal of movement on the metro and submarket level.

Secondary markets such as Sacramento, Orlando, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs with affordable rents and growing

Rental Housing Journal Colorado · January 2018

populations should see above-trend increases.

Business-friendly markets such as Dallas and Atlanta should see a slowdown in rent increases, but see moderate gains nonetheless, while expensive coastal markets such as New York City and markets with excessive supply growth are likely to see little or no gains.

West Coast markets saw weak fourth quarter West Coast markets, specifically those in the Pacific Northwest, were the weakest on a T-3 basis.

Yardi Matrix, formerly known as Pierce-Eislen, Inc.®, was founded in March, 2000, and acquired in July 2013 by Yardi Systems, Inc., a Santa Barbara, California software company focused on commercial real estate industry applications.The Yardi Matrix apartment information service is a high-performance system with the sole function of supporting the commercial apartment industry’s dominant participants. The company's services monitor the 50+ unit apartment universe from the property level to the submarket/market level in a form unique within the commercial apartment information industry.

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Rental Housing Journal Colorado

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Landlords Missing Rent Payments Online After Company Bankruptcy

ozens of landlords around the country are missing rent payments online and still trying to collect funds tied up in an online ecommerce dispute that had led to a Kentucky-based online company bankruptcy last month.

CC Operations LLC dba eCHECKit, filed a bankruptcy petition in October in Kentucky. eCHECKit is the payment processor for the 13-yearold Fort Collins, Colorado, company eRentPayment, which offers landlords and property managers the convenience of collecting rent payments online.

According to eRentPayment’s website, tenants pay rent on the company's secure website and it is processed in the automatic clearinghouse, or ACH, network and then deposited in the landlords' accounts.

It is still unclear how many landlords may have received some payments and how many are still missing rent payments online and seeking payments from reports.

The Ft. Collins, Colorado newspaper reported, as an example, landlord Wes Kalter's tenants paid their $3,200 rent on Oct. 5, the same as always. The money paid to eRentPayment.com should have made it to Kalter's account within three to five days. It never showed up, according to the newspaper.

Kalter says he has talked to 91 other landlords who are owed about $250,000 in rent payments, and to Fort Collins police.

Kalter told the newspaper he is not holding his tenants responsible and blames eRentPayment for "not giving us a route to fix this. ERentPayment is blaming eCHECKit ... all they are telling us is eCHECKit is declaring bankruptcy, and we're out $250,000.

They're just blowing us off."

But eRentPayment emailed customers, claiming that recent payments weren't made because of issues with its payment processor, eCHECKit, which filed for bankruptcy protection.

The BBB of Colorado and Wyoming said it started getting complaints about eRentPayment Oct. 12 and had received 41 complaints last month

and has suspended eRentPayments' accreditation.

Missing rent payments online “In my husband’s and my case, it’s about $4,000 that we’re missing,” Sherrie Mills, a Denver Realtor who owns investment property, told the Business Den. Mills said she has used eRentPayment for three years.

Mills told the newspaper she’s disappointed by what she sees as a lack of communication by the rent management company. Next month, she’s avoiding rent payments online and asking tenants to cut her a check. “I think it’s turned me off permanently,” she said. “At no point did we think our funds were at risk.”

Multiple posts by various landlords around the country on Bigger Pockets discuss what has been happening with the payments.

Rick Sands, president of eRentPayment, wrote on his company Facebook page, payments made through the site now are being processing by New York-based Esquire Bank, and those made after Oct. 12 are being processed without issue.

The latest Facebook posts from the company, however, indicate that some payments from early October still had not reached landlords’ bank accounts.

The posts have attracted dozens of comments from frustrated customers, according to Business Den. The issues faced by Kentucky-based payment processor eCHECKit, have put Tempe, Arizona’s Check Commerce in the middle of the dispute, according to a report by the East Valley Tribune.

The newspaper reported the Tempebased company, rent payment online processor for eCHECKit, froze over $4 million of eCHECKit’s funds in a reserve account due to irregularities it noticed in debit and credit instructions that eCHECKit submitted on behalf of its merchants.

In a notice to consumers, Check Commerce stated, “At that time, Check Commerce believed that eCHECKit lacked sufficient available funds to cover the corresponding credit transactions for the debits it had submitted on behalf of its merchants,” according to

the newspaper.

The issue began when property owners using the eRentPayment online platform realized they had not received automated clearing house payments submitted by tenants in early October, the newspaper reported. It became clear that issue stemmed from financial problems faced by eRentPayment’s payment processor, eCHECKit, the newspaper reported. eRentpayment said on their website last month, “We regret to inform you that our payment processor, eCHECKit, has informed us that it expects to file for bankruptcy protection. We are told that it suffered losses due to a fraud and that its processor, Check Commerce, has held over $4 million of its funds and will not release the funds to the intended recipients at this time. Please note that eRentPayment had nothing to do with the fraud eCHECKit suffered. It was apparently caused by another client of eCHECKit, according to a statement on erentpayment.com.

“The transactions potentially affected were submitted after approximately 7:31:00 PM (Pacific time) on 10/03/2017 through approximately 7:01:33 PM (Pacific time) on 10/12/2017. Any transactions submitted after this time period should not be affected as they are being processed through eRentPayment’s new direct bank relationship. Similarly, any future transactions should not be affected as they will be run through the new direct processing relationship.

“We do not know if or when Check Commerce will send the pending transactions to the recipients.

Accordingly, you should consider your options including having the tenant contact his or her bank to request the transaction be reversed. Specifically, the tenant may initiate a return for an “Incomplete Transaction.” We understand that the return code for this is “R10” and the bank will require a written statement from the tenant.

Also, the tenant will have a limited time period to request the return from his bank, usually within 60 days from the date of the transaction,” the company said on its website last month.

“We are contacting the Attorney General of Arizona, the National Automated Clearing House Association, and reviewing legal action against the relevant parties,” according to eRentPayment.

Resources for rent payments online Ft. Collins Company At Center of Rent Payment Dispute Disappearing rent payments frustrate customers of Fort Collins firm Tempe firm’s $4M dispute sticks landlords nationwide Kentucky Western Bankruptcy Court Case 3:17-bk-33389 Online rent payments to Virginia. Beach landlord held up by bankruptcy

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Rental Housing Journal Colorado · January 2018

Rental Housing Journal Colorado

HUD Charges Landlord With Discrimination Over Veteran's Emotional Support Dog

A

n Army veteran, who served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, was told he could not keep his emotional support dog in an apartment complex and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has charged the owner and manager of the complex with discrimination, according to a release.

"Assistance animals play a vital role in helping our veterans cope with servicerelated disabilities," Anna Maria Farías, HUD Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, said in the release.

"Housing providers have an obligation to permit these animals, and HUD ensures that they meet this obligation," she said.

The veteran, who served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, receives disability benefits from the Veterans Benefits Administration for his major depressive disorder and also suffers from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to HUD.

Apartment owner suggested veteran get a cat instead of emotional support dog HUD filed the charge against a West St. Paul, Minn., apartment complex which ordered the veteran to remove

the dog and suggested he get a cat instead as it was under the complex’s rule of 12 pounds for an animal.

The veteran was told he was keeping a dog in violation of the lease. The letter stated that the dog should be removed immediately and warned that three lease violations could lead to eviction, according to the complaint. The veteran asked for reasonable accommodation for his emotional support animal and was denied.

The veteran then filed a complaint alleging that the owner and manager of Westview Park Apartments denied his request to keep an assistance animal, despite the veteran explaining in detail his right to have the animal.

In a letter responding to the veteran's request, the owner suggested the cat, citing the property's policy of allowing cats but not allowing assistance animals weighing more than 12 pounds. The owner also stated that, even for an animal under 12 pounds, the veteran would need to provide proof that the animal was licensed.

Veteran provided proof and certificate of training of emotional support dog The veteran responded by providing a copy of his license for the animal, a

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certificate of training, and additional information about the animal, but the owner still refused his request, stating the dog had to be removed from the property.

He provided a letter from Sutherland Counseling supporting his need for the animal, along with his own written statement describing his symptoms and need for the animal, according to the complaint. He adopted the emotional support dog, a great Dane-golden retriever mix.

In a subsequent letter, the manager notified the veteran that he was in violation of his lease by having the dog and that he had two weeks to vacate the unit. The eviction action was later withdrawn, but the veteran, still not being allowed to keep the animal, moved out of the apartment at the end of his lease.

The complaint was amended to include apartment complex owner James Tilsen and rental manager Deborah Brookins, according to the Pioneer Press at twincities.com.

Tilsen denied the discrimination charge and said he plans to fight the accusation. He questions the validity of the paperwork from the counseling firm. “Pretty much anybody can say that,” Tilsen told the newspaper about the veteran needing an emotionalsupport dog. “If he had presented something from the V.A. that said that he needed it, we would’ve treated it differently. We didn’t have that. All we had was an online (document) from an online psychologist that said he needed a dog. I went online and got the same thing.”

The Fair Housing Act prohibits housing providers from denying or limiting housing to people with

disabilities, or from refusing to make reasonable accommodations in policies or practices for people with disabilities.

Allowing people with disabilities to have assistance animals that perform work or tasks, or that provide disabilityrelated emotional support, is considered a reasonable accommodation under the Act. Disability is the most common basis of complaint filed with HUD and its partner agencies. Last year alone, HUD and its partners considered more than 4,500 disability-related complaints, nearly 55 percent of all fair housing complaints.

HUD's charge will be heard by a United States Administrative Law Judge unless any party elects for the case to be heard in federal court. If the administrative law judge finds after a hearing that discrimination has occurred, he may award damages to the complainant for his loss as a result of the discrimination. The judge may also order injunctive relief and other equitable relief, as well as payment of attorney fees. In addition, the judge may impose civil penalties in order to vindicate the public interest.

Resources: West St. Paul apartment owner sued over bias against Army vet, his support dog HUD charges Minnesota landlord with housing discrimination after deying veteran the right to keep his assistance dog Secretary, United States Department ) of Housing and Urban Development, ) on behalf of Complainant vs. Westview Park Apartments, LP; Tilsenbilt Homes, LLC; ) James Tilsen & Deborah Brookins

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The Scoop on Pet DNA ...continued from front page 1 allow city inspectors to fine landlords and property owners who didn't pick up dog poop on their property up to $500. Cherie Travis, former director of Animal Care and Control and the owner of a pair of two-flats in Chicago where she allows pets, told the Chicago Tribune, "I have multiple units — I can't check every day. That's an unreasonable burden to place on landlords.

"The result of this ordinance, admittedly unintentional, is that landlords will not rent to people with dogs. If a tenant cannot find an apartment with a dog, they will either move out of the city or they'll surrender their dog. Those are the two choices," Travis told the newspaper. She suggested the ordinance be retooled to "keep the responsibility on the dog owner, which may or may not be the property owner."

So a growing number of apartment complexes are finding a solution in a company that handles the pet DNA testing necessary to fix the poop pickup problem.

How can you make the tenant responsible for the pet poop?

Here is how it works: Your tenants swab the inside of their dogs’ mouth and provide you that sample DNA for you to send to a company in Knoxville, Tennessee called Poo Prints. When you find poop in the yard that a tenant failed to pick up, you can send a sample to the company and they will identify the offending dog so you can then take it up with the tenant.

“The number one thing for apartment complexes is, ‘How they can clean up the property and make people responsible?’ for their dogs,” said Ernie Jones, sales manager for BioPet Laboratories, which manages the Poo Prints program. He said some have tried cameras, but that is a huge ongoing expense that requires employees to monitor. And sometimes the video is grainy and hard to see.

“One of the biggest advantages is, it takes away the denial from the tenant about whose dog left the poop on the property,” Jones said. “And it helps avoid the neighbor vs. neighbor accusations about whose dog was responsible for the poop.”

Poo Prints has more than 1,750 apartment properties in the program across the country. “We are growing steadily, adding three to six properties a day. We will be at 2,000 properties by the end of the year,” Jones said.

Who bears the cost of the pet poop program?

So how does the business model work for the company and the apartment properties?

“The business model is a startup fee – the dog registration – and the poop 6

processing is profitable at the start,” for us, Jones says. His profitability declines as the residents and the complex keep things cleaned up, but it is never 100% and there are still cases of poop violations his company will handle.

“The main objection for apartments is the start-up costs. If a complex has 100 dogs at $40 per dog to get started, then that is $4,000 that has to come from somewhere that is usually not in the property’s budget,” Jones said.

However, “once a program is in place, it creates increased occupancy,” he said. “It is just in the beginning and the immediate rollout that is sometimes an issue. In terms of rollout when people want it, it takes about a year in an existing complex to get the program in place.”

“Typically the pet owner bears all the cost,” Jones said, and “not the apartment complex itself. Typical startup cost is $40 to $60 per resident dog.

Some apartments have to ‘grandfather’ in existing pet owners and gradually start the program with new residents

and when leases come up for renewal.”

Tenant fines are typically the way apartments handle the violations when poop is found. One Chicago complex fines tenants $250 for the first violation, and $350 after that that, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Depending on different state regulations, apartment managers may not be able to use the word “fine” when they discover the offenders and want to assess a penalty. Apartment owners will need to check their state regulations on wording for how they can assess a monetary penalty. For instance, “Oregon is tight on how they let the apartments charge tenants for violations,” Jones said.

The environmental issue around pet poop In addition to keeping apartment grounds clean, there are issues with the Environmental Protection Agency from a water pollution and safety concern. “Dog waste is thousands of times” more polluting than you may think, Jones said.

“The average person today thinks of dog waste as simply a nuisance when they step in it. They are also under the assumption that it simply turns into fertilizer, as other waste,” the company said in a release. “In fact, dog waste is not fertilizer and does not simply deteriorate; instead, dog waste is the most contaminated waste of any animal. Their bodies have adapted over the years to digest any type of foods; as such, they produce huge quantities of bacteria, including E-coli. “ Other pet facts from BioPet Laboratories:

Dog waste has been ranked as the #6 consumer complaint.

The EPA ranks dog waste as an environmental problem equal to toxic chemicals and oil spills.

According to one study, which has its critics, an average dog has twice the carbon footprint of an SUV. One dog dropping contains 3 billion bacteria. Because it does not evaporate, the poop goes into the air and ground water, creating major contamination.

Studies have shown that waste from 100 dogs, in one day on a river bank, can contaminate the water for 1 mile downstream.

The EPA classified pet waste as a dangerous pollutant. And this doesn’t come from folks jumping on the “green” bandwagon; this classification was made nearly 20 years ago, according to Animal Wellness Magazine.

In 1991, the Environmental Protection Agency classified dog waste as a "non-point source of pollution," which puts it in a category with oil and toxic chemicals. According to the EPA, a single gram of dog waste can contain up to 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, which is capable of causing cramps, diarrhea, intestinal illness and kidney disorders in people, according to a story in the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

As for its effect on the watershed, waste from 100 dogs could add enough bacteria to temporarily close a bay and watershed areas within 20 miles to swimming and shell fishing, the EPA estimates.

Seattle watersheds example of dog poop problem All solutions begin with excrement pickup. If you are among the 38% of dog owners who scoff at this duty, according to a story in the Los Angeles Times, consider what DNA tests revealed about the bacteria in Seattle watersheds: Although 90% or more of it comes from

they can pass on. Many major cities have reported a large increase in rat numbers in parallel with the growth of their dog population. This is not about whether someone doesn’t like to pick up their dog’s dropping. This is a social responsibility and about protecting the environment.”

Current compliance systems not working Dog waste can be disposed of properly, the company says, but not by the present system of compliance.

“Every community has tried signs and public information programs.

Some have even spray-painted the waste to show its prevalence. None of these methods have worked,” the company said in the release. “Dog owners must be accountable. And the only proven way to make that happen is with DNA detection.”

Do tenants try to beat the system?

Jones said apartment complexes have issues with tenants who try various means to avoid the DNA fee, such as hiding dogs to avoid registering their pet during a rollout.

One tenant with a white bulldog came up with another plan to beat the system.

Jones tells the story of one property in the program that kept picking up poop and getting “no matches” and could not figure out what was going on.

The mystery was solved when they found out that a tenant who had registered his white bulldog bought a second, almost identical, white bulldog he did not register. He walked them one at a time so most people could not tell which dog was which. Eventually it was discovered that the second white bulldog turned out to be the source of the “mystery poop.”

If a property finds poop what happens next?

All the poop samples come into the company headquarters in Knoxville from across the country.

Jones estimates they get 700 to 1,000 poop samples a month from around the country.

The U.S. Postal Service delivers all the samples in special-leak proof bottles with a special solution that protects and preserves the DNA. Apartment property managers say the DNA testing works to solve the problem Arizona Republic.

Violators are assessed a $250 fine.

Tomlinson said the program has proven an effective deterrent, as only one person has been assessed the fine in the past year.

"We told them it was their dog, charged the $250 fine. They weren't happy, but then they tell their friends because they're (upset)'' he told the newspaper.

animals in general, some of them wild, fully 20% of it is traced back to the guts of dogs, according to the newspaper.

The EPA’s Clean Water Campaign puts it, "If you think picking up dog poop is unpleasant, try swimming in it.”

Cities are going to start leaning on Related story: the big apartment complexes from an Apartment Pet DNA Testing Expands To environmental standpoint to clean “Travel Dog” Concept up their grounds to stop the runoff Resources: contamination. Dense urban areas are Dogs and the environment a particular problem.

“Dog waste draws rodents, rodents Pollution fact sheet on animal waste Poo Prints draw feral cats,” Jones said.

His company said in a release, “One Dog owners beware other major issue seldom understood Dog waste etiquette is that rats eat dog waste: the more Tempe apartments getting the scoop left on the ground, the greater the rat population and also the diseases Did you step in doggie doo? Nab the culprit.

Rental Housing Journal Colorado · January 2018

Rental Housing Journal Colorado

Rules to Protect Children ...continued from front page 1 the exclusion is to protect them.

Here are some tips for working with families with children in a way that complies with fair housing law.

When working with prospective residents, it is ok to ask about the number of people who will live in the apartment home, but do not ask questions specifically relating to children.

Three questions to avoid asking: How many adults and children will be residing in your apartment home?

How many children are in your family?

How old are your children?

Instead, ask: “How many people will be residing in your apartment home?”

Do not discriminate against families with children by stopping or restricting children’s use of community facilities or services. Safety and liability are still important, but you must create your community policies carefully.

Avoid statements like: “Children may not skateboard on community property.”

Instead say: “Skateboarding is prohibited on community property.”

You may require direct adult supervision during children’s use of community provided services and facilities. However, the rules must not unreasonably restrict a child from using the amenities.

Don’t prohibit children from using amenities Avoid rules such as: “Children under the age of 14 are prohibited.”

Instead, say: “Persons under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult.”

Familial status was added as a protected class in 1988 with the signing of the Fair Housing Amendments Act. This act made housing discrimination against families with children illegal and protects not only married couples with children, but also those who are single parents, legal guardians, mothers who are expecting, and people in the process of obtaining legal custody of a child.

Take time to review this important area of the law with employees so that families with children feel both safe and welcome in your community.

About the author:

Ellen Clark is the Director of Assessment at Grace Hill. Her work has spanned the entire learner lifecycle, from elementary school through professional education. She spent over 10 years working with K12 Inc.’s network of online charter schools - measuring learning, developing learning improvement plans using evidence-based strategies, and conducting learning studies. Later, at Kaplan Inc., she worked in the vocational education and job training divisions, improving online, blended and face-to-face training programs, and working directly with business leadership and trainers to improve learner outcomes and job performance. Ellen lives and works in Maryland, where she was born and raised.

About Grace Hill For nearly two decades, Grace Hill has been developing best-in-class online training courseware and administration solely for the Property Management Industry, designed to help people, teams and companies improve performance and reduce risk.

Rental Housing Market ...continued from front page 1

8 ways the rental housing market changed The U.S. apartment rent was $1,359 per month at the end of 2017, according to Yardi Matrix, about 24% higher than 10 years prior when the national average rent was $1,093 per month.

The cost to rent an apartment in the U.S. has been rising steadily over the decade, with the lowest price of $1,052 in May/June/July 2010, and the highest point, $1,363, in August/ September 2017, Nadia Balint writes in the RentCafe report.

Across the country, many large cities started to see price decelerations in 2017, while small-size cities were the most vulnerable to rent increases.

Renting in 2017 was defined by a much-anticipated price slowdown in the nation’s largest and most expensive rental markets. Several large-size U.S. cities have seen rates either decrease, stagnate or grow slower than the national average in 2017.

Renting in small-size cities took the main stage in 2017. The most

spectacular rent increases took place in the nation’s smaller markets, with 63% of the cities analyzed experiencing rent growth above the national average.

Resources: 2017 Year End Rent Report – Las Vegas Was 2017’s Hottest Large Rental Market About the report methodology: RENTCafe is a nationwide apartment search website that enables renters to easily find apartments and houses for rent throughout the United States. To compile this report, RENTCafe’s research team analyzed rent data across the 250 cities in the US. The report is exclusively based on apartment data related to buildings containing 50 or more units. Our report includes cities with populations over 100,000 and a rental stock of at least 2,900 apartments in 50+ unit buildings.

Rent data was provided by Yardi Matrix, a business development and asset management tool for brokers, sponsors, banks and equity sources underwriting investments in the multifamily, office, industrial and self-storage sectors.

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