Vetoed Rental Rights Removal Act

[EmeraldGuuy]

CONGRESS OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF REDMONT
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A BILL TO

IMPROVE ENFORCEMENT OF PROPERTY REGULATIONS



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The people of the Commonwealth of Redmont, through their elected Representatives in the Congress and the force of law ordained to that Congress by the people through the constitution, do hereby enact the following provisions into law:
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PART I - PRELIMINARIES

1 - Short Title and Enactment

(1) This Act may be cited as the 'Rental Rights Removal Act'.

(2) This Act shall be enacted immediately upon its signage.

(3)This Act has been authored by EmeraldGuuy LemonRollz, and reviewed by Secretary of Construction & Transportation Vennefly (Meow).

(4)This Act has been co-sponsored by Speaker HatManMC.

(5) This Act amends the following Acts:

(a) Redmont Civil Code Act
(b) Property Standards Act
(c) Executive Standards Act

2 - Reasons and Intent

(1) Selling rental rights, a practice in which richer players would sell the rights to rent a leasehold regions, was a method of making money that is unethical and unjust.

(2) The practice mostly affected new players, who see listings on #realestate for rental rights, blindly buying them not knowing they are encouraging an unethical market that continuously grew.

(3) The intent of this Act is simple: completely outlaw the sale rental rights, in accordance with new DCT policy, and grant the DCT the sole authority to enact their policy, while also clearing ambiguity around “eviction reports” not being named “compliance report”, introducing a fine on being over plot limits, and clarifying the increased realtor limits.

3 - Definitions

(1) The following definitions shall apply for all Acts of Congress and department regulations:

(a) Eviction Report - A report, sometimes referred to as a Compliance Report, evicting a person from a region if the region is not compliant with DCT policy.

(b) Rental Rights - The right or ability to rent a leasehold region.

PART II - AMENDMENTS

(1) Section 8 of Part VII of the Redmont Civil Code Act is amended as follows:

8. Plot Limitations
Violation Type: Administrative
Remedy: Eviction; Administrative action
(a) First violation: 20 civil penalty units; Eviction
(b) Second violation: 40 civil penalty units; Eviction
(c) Subsequent violations: 80 civil penalty units; Eviction
(d) Civil penalty units shall not be incurred where the violation arose when another person transferred ownership or tenancy to a new owner or tenant without their consent.
A person commits a violation if the person:
(a) owns or rents more properties than allowed under Section 17 of the Property Standards Act; and
(b) fails to divest themselves of or unrent excess plots within the applicable resolve time, as determined by DCT policy, from the moment an eviction report is filed against the excess plots, and may be immediate. 7 days of:
(i) exceeding the applicable plot limitation; or
(ii) losing eligibility for a Realtor exemption, including by failing to resell excess plots within the time limit required by the law.
Relevant Law: Act of Congress - Property Standards Act


(2) The following Section is appended to Part VII of the Redmont Civil Code Act:

19 - Sale of Rental Rights
Violation Type: Administrative
Remedy:
(a) First violation: 40 civil penalty units; Eviction
(b) Second violation: 80 civil penalty units; Eviction
(c) Subsequent violations: 120 civil penalty units; Eviction
A person commits a violation if the person:
(a) attempts or offers to sell the right or ability to rent a government-owned leasehold plot through any form of communication.
(b) successfully sells the right or ability to rent a government-owned leasehold plot.
Relevant Law:


(3) Section 17 of Part III of the Property Standards Act is amended as follows:

17. Plot Limitations

(1) C Plots. A citizen may not own more than 20 commercial properties.

(2) R Plots. A citizen may not own more than 2 residential properties.

(3) I Plots. A citizen may not own more than 2 industrial properties.

(4) S Plots. A citizen may not own more than 6 skyscraper properties.

(5) BM Plots. A citizen may not own nor rent more than 1 black market property.

(6) Ranch Plots. A citizen may not own more than 1 ranch property.

(7) Farmland Plots. A citizen may not own nor rent more than 1 farmland property.

(8) Government Subsidized Commercial Spaces. A citizen may not own rent more than 2 of each type of Government Subsidized Commercial Space.

(9) Realtors. Any citizen with a Realtor job may exceed these limitations by 5 plots each:

(a) excluding BM plots, FR plots, and Government Subsidized Commercial Spaces all types of leasehold plots and Ranch Plots; and
(b) provided the plots exceeding these limitations are for the purpose of reselling the plot within 30 days of purchasing the plot.

(10) Plots located within towns are not subject to the above plot limits. Each town shall retain jurisdiction to create their own plot limits for plots located within their town.


(4) Section 22(2) of Part IV of the Property Standards Act is amended as follows:

(2) Eviction Notice. The Government must provide a tenant with at least 48 hours written notice before evicting them from a rented region.

(a) This requirement does not apply where a building inspector has filed a compliance report an eviction report against the region.


(5) Section 11 of the Executive Standards Act is amended as follows:

11 - Department of Construction & Transportation

(1) The Department of Construction and Transport is charged with the following primary responsibilities:

(a) Creation of Government infrastructure

(b) Maintenance of building regulation compliance.

(c) Management of Public Transport networks.

(d) Evicting people from regions which are in violation of legal or DCT regulations.

(3) Leadership:

(a) Secretary of the Department of Construction and Transport.

(b) Deputy Secretary of the Department of Construction and Transport.

(4) Seal:

 

[EmeraldGuuy]

- i hate rental rights

 

[unalign]

because of (not because of the ban):

• I think towns should be able to make it exempt explicitly (or maybe for some rentals but not all, at their discretion), as long as there's disclosure of the rent price in the post.
• Too high punishment, I get its to look good PR-wise but punishment imo should be just a bit over max(harm caused / chance of enforcement, enforcement cost)
• The chance of being caught over plot limitations is very high as DCT now has automation so no excessive fines are needed.
• The chance of being caught over sale of rental rights is very high if done on #marketplace or #realestate so no excessive fines are needed in that case.
• It's still worth it to sell high value rental rights such as CBDs
• Buyer could say "hey i wanna buy" and seller gets fined without knowing

 

[greymc]

I trust

 

[unalign]

Oh also I just thought having the buyer be able to ask for their money back would be way more effective

 

[antonfr]

Veto

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The Rental Rights Removal Act amends the Redmont Civil Code Act, the Property Standards Act and the Executive Standards Act to ban the sale of rental rights to government leasehold plots. It also adds fines for being over plot limits, renames compliance reports to eviction reports, and changes which plots Realtors can exceed their limits on.

I want to be clear that I support a rental rights ban. Too many new players come to #realestate, see a listing, and pay a richer player for the right to rent a space the government already offers them directly. That is unfair, and it should end. But a law meant to protect new players has to actually protect them, and as written, this bill risks hurting the very people it is meant to help.

The new §19 only gives "Eviction" as its remedy, without saying whose region is evicted. After a sale it is the buyer who holds the tenancy, so the new player who was taken advantage of could be the one evicted while the seller keeps the money. The bill also adds a fixed fine of 20 to 80 civil penalty units, up to $9,600, for any plot-limit breach, and allows the time to fix it to be zero. A new player who goes one plot over by mistake could be evicted and fined thousands of dollars without any chance to correct it. When I asked the authors whether this was intended, they could not say.

The bill also has drafting problems. It was written against an outdated copy of the Civil Code, so it removes "without a valid Realtor exemption" from §8(a) without marking it as removed, and the authors could not explain why. Its eviction report definition only covers non-compliance with DCT policy, which leaves plot-limit reports, which are breaches of law, in doubt. The Realtor exemption also relies on "leasehold plots", a term not defined anywhere in law.

Overall, I believe this bill tackles a real problem, but in its current form it could punish the new players it sets out to protect. I have sent EmeraldGuuy LemonRollz a revised version that keeps the rental rights ban, puts the penalty on the seller rather than the buyer, gives people fair time to fix an honest mistake, and is drafted against current law. That is the version we would like to see passed, and I warmly welcome Congress to bring it forward.

Thank you to EmeraldGuuy LemonRollz for authoring this bill, to Speaker HatManMC for cosponsoring it, to Secretary of Construction and Transportation Vennefly for reviewing it, and to Congress for its work on it.

This bill has been vetoed.