Suit asserts it is illegal to mandate landlords to provide more notice before raising rent by more than 5% or executing a no-cause eviction.
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
A Portland landlord is not taking renter protections recently passed by the city lying down.
A recently-filed lawsuit on behalf of Melcliff Associates asserts it is illegal to mandate landlords to provide more notice before raising rent by more than 5% or executing a no-cause eviction.
“The City Council has already stated its preference in legislative hearings to enact local rent control ordinances and would likely do more if it could overcome statutory pre-emption,” he said in an email.
Melcliff also argues that it “faces a real and immediate threat and irreparable injury by virtue of the chilling effect” of the rules.
Melcliff is registered to Portland resident Tim Gray, according to state records. The company hired DiLorenzo, an attorney who since 2011 has represented a small group of ratepayers suing the city on allegations of improper use of utility dollars. Melcliff Associates owns 52 apartments, DiLorenzo said.
(SOURCE: OregonLive.com)
Melcliff is being represented by John DiLorenzo of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
“We believe the notice provision is an attempt by the city council to push the envelope to challenge the current statewide prohibition on local rent control legislation,” DiLorenzo said in an email. “Rent control is a slippery slope. It is horrible public policy … We see this ordinance as the first step by the Portland City Council to attempt to pursue that slippery slope.”
(SOURCE: Portland Business Journal)
The Portland Tribune posted the lawsuit in its entirety here.
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