Front Page  »  

San Luis Obispo landlords question proposed rental registry

February 23, 2026

By KAREN VELIE

San Luis Obispo landlords and city hall administrators continue to clash over a proposed rental registry and the eventual outcome. During Tuesday’s SLO City Council meeting, the city will hold a study session to discuss the costs and features of the proposed registry.

On the list of San Luis Obispo’s major goals for 2025 through 2027 is “housing and neighborhood livability – healthy, safe, and affordable goal,” according to a SLO City Council Feb. 24 staff report. The plan is to root out bad landlords and create rent stabilization through a registry of all rental units in the city.

In the City of SLO, 62% of all housing units are rentals, according to the staff report. The average rent for the approximately 14,870 rental units is $3,200 a month.

Rental registries are databases of information about rental properties, including ownership and rent prices. In some cases, the municipality requires inspections while passing regulations to promote rent stabilization.

To pay for the software and staff to run the program, the city plans to have a yearly fee per housing unit. For example, Berkley’s rental registry costs $8.7 million a year to operate. Landlords pay between $212 and $344 a year for each rental unit.

While city administrators believe the program will result in properly maintained properties while also controlling rent prices, local landlords do not agree.

Several landlords told CalCoastNews that increased costs for the registry program and regular inspections will be passed onto renters through higher rental prices. The better option, they say, is to publicize the rights and responsibilities of renters and how to report landlords who are not properly maintaining their properties.

“In my opinion, as a landlord, it is a money grab plane and simple,” Steve Barasch said. “I provide a summary of tenant responsibilities with all my leases.”

 


Loading...
Subjects:     
Related:


19 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

So who is the mayor and her city council trying to create jobs for what friends? It’s a very unneeded program from a renter’s view, over the years of looking at places to live as an adult as most renters will choose by cost then condition of the rental. Rent is already rising in this town from their property insurance policy either being dropped having to find a new policy or just costing more that has been passed on to the renter. The students come and go as they pass through this town and then there’s renters like myself that try and hang on with a place that we can afford, I guess our mayor doesn’t give a shit about people like me. Is this rental registry a smoke screen for what really going on in this town? Trying to direct people’s attention to something else?

Another thing comes to mind is their resistance to do something about the neighborhoods and the quality of life for the residents living there. Why don’t they start a registry to keep track of all these houses and who they belong to and make the owners do something about their renters? I’ve said it before with the mayor and her city council either being connected to Cal Poly or associated with Cal Poly. They’re not going to do a damn thing about the students disruption in the neighborhoods and the cop out leaving it to Cal Poly to deal with it is really laughable, they don’t care how the rest of us live in this town.


33

seems as a first step the City and affordable housing projects as first course of action should provide complete disclosure of all sources and uses of public dollars expended or gifted directly or indirectly to affordable housing projects city-wide whether to the non profit or for profit participants in the city wide affordable housing projects.


The City owes the community, state and federal agencies transparent disclosure and accountability of where public money has been expended.


17

Glad they quoted Steve Barasch here… if you don’t know , he’s an architect who has amassed quite a fortune converting old 3 bedroom houses into 6 plus college kid occupancy all over town – Like a dozen plus properties. He’s part of an army of folks who have made it big while bringing the quality of life down for those of us who can’t even park in front of our own houses and have to deal with lots of student issues.

This town is full of illegal conversions and ADUs.

In my neighborhood, about half the properties have converted sheds and garages that are in no way up to code. All to feed the other piggie in the room- Cal Poly.


32

Actually, landlords like Steve Barasch are exactly why a program like this — and the last short‑lived rental‑registration effort — keeps coming back. A close friend of mine rented from him years ago, and he still talks about how bad the place was and how poorly it was handled.


18

“You will conduct your business ONLY in the manner that pleases the government”~ SLO “Il Duce” City Council.


44

Elections have consequences


20

Absolute nonsense! Another woke attempt to control the private sector that provides housing for the public. Implement this hairbrained tax and watch the unhoused sector increase tenfold.


35

what kind of fool would trust sensitive personal or business rental financial information concerning their rental properties gross or net rents or anything for that matter accessible to the likes of the city of slo and their host of consultants and paid contract attorneys.


guaranteed trouble allowing Marx and her cronies to have a mini-palantir data base on residents personal business and financial information.


87

This train is on the tracks and if property owners don’t show up at tomorrow night’s Study Session and vehemently object to this, it’s going to keep going. This is all about control and a money grab. Has nothing to do with safe housing. The Rental Registry is just the first step to rent control and tenant protections that takes more rights and money away from rental property owners.


73

I would show up if I thought it would make a difference. It will not. The democrat progressive city council and their staff have already decided the matter. They don’t give a f**k about what you say.


46

If the train is on the track, remember this is a railroad town, and there is money to be shared. Expect numerous very public meetings and a stringent process to be followed in order to railroad this taking. Stay tuned for the music that sounds like ” what is mine is mine and what is yours is negotiable”. Anything different than that is a pipe dream, probably why this town’s last mayor quit before accountability put her in jail. Remember, the SLO, SMART and LAZY party eats its own for dessert.


16

“To pay for the software and staff to run the program, the city plans to have a yearly fee per housing unit”, more bloated government. First we are to believe every current employee is working at 100% and can not take on any additional tasks, yeah right and there is no waste and fraud in government. Second AI can do this for a fraction of proposed cost. Why is governments answer to anything, even non-existent issues, to create more government, they never realize sometimes the reason for many problems in the first place is government.


96

This is a very bad idea for renters because landlords will pass the cost to renters. I have owned apartments in Los Angeles city for over 50 years. They have this implemented in Los Angeles city and it’s prohibitively expensive now for tenants because these costs are passed on to tenants. Another aspect that happens is so-called landlord accountability, which doesn’t really take place, but that’s how they get the renters to agree upon allowing rinse stabilization to exist I strongly suggest all renters reject this. The other aspect that’s happening in Los Angeles is mass Exodus by landlords because of the draconian rules and regulations that they have placed on landlords which has caused units to stay vacant. This is just another way for government to make extra money they’ve seen how much money Los Angeles, San Francisco Sacramento has made with these draconian procedures, and they like the money at the cost of tenants.


37

How else are they going to fund those bloated benefits and unfunded pension obligations?


22

This exactly. The cost will most definitely be passed on to the renters. Government is the only winner here. How about if SLO enforces the laws already in place.


33

Owners who are charging $3,200 a month per unit are balking at a $300 annual fee to help renters. To quote Gordon Gecko, “Greed is good.”


-46

And a city manger with compensation approaching $500,000 and average administration compensation circling $350,000 is,? Along with a minimal city population increase but a 200% increase in government size is?


20
1 2