Change the Student Rental Timeline? Landlords Say No, Students Say Yes, Council Says Maybe

A proposed ordinance discussed by East Lansing City Council last Tuesday — which would prohibit landlords from showing or renting a unit for at least 150 days after a leasing period begins — faced steady opposition from landlords calling in, but solid support from MSU students. Council members appeared divided on the matter.

The idea would stop landlords from renting properties out for the next school year soon after a current lease begins.

A draft of Ordinance 1500 was brought forward by Mayor Aaron Stephens, who explained that the impetus for this ordinance is the nearly year-ahead nature of student rentals in the City. Many students, he said, are signing leases for houses or apartments eight or nine months before the leasing commences, and they are putting down big deposits, all amounting to big risks. 

His goal is to change how the market is working here, to force the rental rush to happen later in the academic year, giving students more time to get to know their friends, the rental properties, and the landlords before committing for the next year.

Ordinance 1500 is modeled after a housing law already in place in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that sets a 70-day embargo on landlords. Stephens said that Ann Arbor is now looking to extend that number to 240 days. 

He also added that the Associated Students of Michigan State University (ASMSU) — MSU’s undergraduate student government — passed a bill supporting this ordinance in an effort to encourage the City to adopt this type of measure. ASMSU reached out to Stephens and discussed this with him, he said. 

Stephens noted he was just looking for discussion on Tuesday, not seeking a vote to approve the ordinance — and in fact, it looked like he might not have had the votes to pass it that night. With Stephens and Council Member Dana Watson generally being in favor, the trio of Mayor Pro Tem Jessy Gregg, Council Member Ron Bacon, and Council Member Lisa Babcock remained undecided. 

“The determination was really made that if we were going to make a big impact on this, we wouldn’t just have to pass something in East Lansing, but we would have to pass something in our neighboring community, Meridian Township,” Stephens said. (He did not say who made that determination.)

In response, Babcock pointed out that Lansing, and perhaps also Lansing Township, would also need to pass a similar ordinance for this to work, not just Meridian Township. Otherwise the ordinance would simply create a market advantage for landlords just outside East Lansing’s city limits. 

Stephens said that Lansing will be taking up a similar ordinance soon, information that was not included in the memo attached to the agenda item, which indicated only that Meridian Township is considering a similar ordinance.

In general, the five members of Council were sympathetic to students effectively caught in a gold-rush scenario to try and secure housing for the following academic year as early as September of the current year. 

But the desire to avoid interfering with the market and taking an action landlords so vehemently opposed also could be heard in the comments of several members. 

The matter will likely come back before City Council on May 25. 

Local landlords and MSU students came to public comment to argue their side of things.

Mark Fisk, a local landlord and partner at Byrum and Fisk Communications, called to oppose the ordinance, and to say he particularly didn’t appreciate that the process had excluded landlords. 

He said that he took “great exception” to the City introducing this ordinance without consulting rental property owners in the City.

“Would you craft healthcare policy without consulting medical experts? Or make changes to the fire code without consulting firefighters?”

He said the City should be partnering with local rental property owners, and not treating them like “punching bags.” 

Fisk also brought up a point several other landlords made: the City should not be making housing policy until they’ve fully gone through the housing study. 

Council got the first main presentation on the housing study Tuesday evening following discussion of Ordinance 1500. The study shows that the boom in new construction of student housing is greatly outpacing MSU enrollment, a finding that suggests the market may soon naturally reduce the rental rush.

Fisk also argued that the City shouldn’t take this action unless it’s certain that Meridian Township, Lansing, and other nearby municipalities do the same, or it will just hurt East Lansing landlords. He also added MSU should play by similar rules and not require early commitments to the dorms if landlords are restricted.

Finally, he offered a warning: “If you think an early marketing season causes stress, just wait until we see the impact of under-rented houses, vacant houses, houses that can’t be maintained, blight, neighborhood decay. It is prudent to wait until we have a proper housing study before adding additional pressure and uncertainty to the East Lansing market.” 

His final point was that compressing the timeline of renting might lead to an even more frenzied rush. His suggested solution was education and awareness.

“I kindly request you scrap this ill-conceived ordinance,” Fisk said.

After Fisk, Doug Cron of Cron Management, another local landlord, called to also oppose the ordinance. Cron noted that MSU holds their housing fair in the fall, around a year ahead of when students would move in, and by the time students are sophomores or juniors looking for a rental, they know what they’re doing. And, with MSU moving to have sophomores live on-campus, Cron thinks the prospective tenants will be even more informed about their options.

Cron also said he gets students coming to their offices early, trying to get ahead, and worries this ordinance could punish those students who are well-organized in their housing plans.

Another local landlord, Matt Hagan of Hagan Realty, also called in to oppose Ordinance 1500.

His argument centered on the idea that the students are adults, capable of voting and serving in the military, capable of making mature housing decisions. He said they can be empowered to handle their housing with education.

Hagan also asked that Council vote it down and consider other options, as well as working with landlords.

Following a string of landlords calling in opposition, a series of MSU students, all tied to ASMSU, called to support the ordinance.

Aaron Iturralde, the incoming Vice President for Academic Affairs for ASMSU and a sophomore at MSU, supported the ordinance.

Iturralde argued that the 150-day embargo would effectively let students get a semester of college under their belts at their respective rentals and better understand the situations they are in before potentially signing up for another year.

Ellie Bennett, another MSU sophomore and ASMSU Community Liaison, also supported the ordinance. She talked about how Covid-19 trapped countless students into leases for a year where they ended up living at home, and only some were able to get someone to take over their lease, getting some or all of their money back.

“Covid is just one example of how students’ lives are constantly changing,” Bennett said. “Having students sign back onto a lease only a month into it is dangerous. Situations change. Roommate situations change, especially. Whether it’s no longer being friendly with roommates, or not being in a safe environment anymore, students’ lives are constantly changing. Pushing this back to after the first semester can help tremendously in students’ lives.”

Matt Apostle, a junior at MSU and ASMSU Vice President for Governmental Affairs, also called to support the ordinance. 

Apostle’s argument fell along similar lines to the two previous students, as he noted that students’ lives are particularly “turbulent,” adding that transfers and leaves of absence are other reasons students might find that they need to get out of leases signed too soon.

Jordan Kovach was the final student caller. She originally submitted the resolution to ASMSU after lawyers from student legal services told ASMSU that a larger number of students than usual were trying to get out of their leases. 

She said that within eight weeks of living in a new place, students are basically expected to know whether they want to live there for the next two years (the current one and next.)

Kovach told Council she relies on Pell Grants to pay for her housing, and doesn’t know how much she’ll receive in the next year until the second semester. With the current pressures to sign a lease so early, she said, she could easily be put in an impossible situation.

She asked Council to remember when they were students and made mistakes all people that age make.

“We truly don’t need legally-binding financial contracts that we’re pressured to sign way too far in advance to be one of these many mistakes we’re going to make,” Kovach said.

The final caller, Owen Irvine, a retired MSU economics professor whose wife is an owner of local rental properties, did not support the ordinance. 

He said it’s not landlords pressing the students, but the market for houses. With the glut of apartments, there will be less rush, he said. He also argued that, if this ordinance passes, smaller landlords might be incentivized to just not follow the rules.

He doesn’t think students need this guardrail. And he, like other landlords, argued the situation would just create a one-week housing rush in February, when the 150 days lapsed.

“I’ve been in that situation,” Irvine said. “It’s like a panic.”