(No caption)
A longtime owner of rental properties is fighting Warren officials over what she sees as unwarranted, intrusive insistence on personal data from her and tenants.
Catherine Bott's resistance is admired by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which is no fan of government overreach and needless regulation. Jarrett Skorup freports on the showdown at its Michigan Capitol Connection news site:
Bott is the president of Service Specialties II Property Management, which manages rental properties in Metro Detroit. She's been in the business for 40 years and refuses to provide her personal driver's license information or that of her tenants. . . . After she didn’t comply with a recent request for this information, [Warren] officials rejected her registration applications.
Bott is worried about her privacy and personal information becoming part of the public record, and she doesn't want to give up unnecessarily any personal information.
"I have a business address and a real estate license to manage properties. Why does Warren need extra personal information as well?" Bott asked. . . .
"Rental real estate is a business. I wonder if Warren requires the driver's license number of the owner of National Coney Island or Target stores."
Warren leaders didn't respond to a comment request from the Midland policy center.
The Macomb suburb's attorney told Bott by mail that it wants driver's license numbers and birth dates "to assist the city in enforcement proceedings if they should become necessary."
That claim doesn't sway the Michigan Association of Realtors, which sides with the Mt. Clemens-based landlord. Skorup, the Mackinac Center's head of marketing and communications, quotes a policy statement from the trade group:
"A property manager's name, address and phone number provide a municipality with enough information to contact the property owner and property manager or reach one or the other as resident agent for service of process.
"By contrast, a property manager's date of birth and driver's license number does not aid in these objections. Moreover, misuse or disclosure could expose the property manager to harm, including identity theft and a variety of cybercrimes."
-- Alan Stamm
