One of Arlington’s advisory panels is considering a push to require local landlords to make their rent increases public annually.
The legislative subcommittee of the county government’s Housing Commission has included the proposal on a list of potential 2027 legislative priorities.
“It shouldn’t be secret information,” Kellen MacBeth, who chairs the Housing Commission and serves on the legislative subcommittee, said at a May 26 meeting. “From a consumer and tenant perspective, you should be able to see the history of rent increases at a building before you choose to live there or not.”
“Right now, it’s shrouded in mystery,” MacBeth said.
State law currently does not allow localities to demand that type of financial information from landlords. A 2020 bill to set up a Virginia Residential Rental Property Registry overseen by the state government died in committee and has not been brought back up.
Jason Schwartz, a subcommittee member, said Virginia may not have embraced the effort, but “there are some cities that do.”
The concept floated at the May meeting revolved around General Assembly action giving localities the option of setting up registries, if they choose.
“The first step probably would not be publishing the rents,” Schwartz said.
MacBeth said it was too early to determine whether the subcommittee would recommend the proposal to the full Housing Commission. The panel needs to “do some more research and come back and see if we really want to move forward,” he said.
In 2020, Del. Delores McQuinn (D-81) proposed creating a statewide rental registry, with financial penalties for landlords that did not comply.
The provision, which would have applied to complexes of three or more units, did not specifically mandate release of rental information, but would have allowed the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development to require any information it deemed necessary for “maintaining transparency and protection of tenants’ rights.”
Consideration of the measure was initially kicked back to the 2021 legislative session, then the bill was quietly killed off.
Among those with reservations about moving to a rental registry is the Apartment & Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA).
Lisa Mallory, the trade organization’s president/CEO, said publishing such a registry would only provide “limited context.”
“Rents change over time based on market conditions and the costs of operating and maintaining housing,” she told ARLnow. “Prospective renters can already ask housing providers about a unit’s rental history, and that history will reflect past market conditions but not current or future pricing.”
The county’s advisory commissions do not have independent authority to lobby the General Assembly. Any proposal would need to be reviewed by the County Board, which could opt to put it on the government’s package of 2027 legislative priorities — or not.
Nikki Blake, who chairs the subcommittee, said the body would work over coming months to “vet some of these ideas [and] think of any additional ideas we might want to add.” Future meetings are slated for mid-June and late July.
Alice Hogan, who is not on the subcommittee but represented the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance at the May 26 meeting, suggested the House Commission compare notes with the Tenant-Landlord Commission and work toward common legislative goals.
“If both commissions brought the same priorities, it might give a little more weight when it’s received by the County Board,” she said.
At AOBA, Mallory told ARLnow she was pleased local discussions on next year’s legislative session already have begun.
“We are glad to know that Arlington County has started its legislative agenda process early,” she said. “AOBA and our members stand ready and are eager to lend our expertise to creating good policy recommendations that will help expand Arlington’s housing supply.”
The 2027 General Assembly session opens Jan. 13 for what is expected to be a 46-day session.
