St. Louis representative offers legislation to help landlords

In the following news release, Rep. Michele Kratky, D-St. Louis, explains her bill to help Missouri landlords:

Across my district and the St. Louis region there are a huge number of owner-occupant "two-families", "four-families", and "more-families". These homes and apartments and condos are great because they give us all a close feeling of community and of safety and the landlord on site means that when they are caring for a tenant's home... they are also caring for their own.

The distinctiveness of our neighborhoods and our local architecture draws people to St. Louis, and especially to South City. So many people have grown up in our neighborhoods and now so many new people are moving into our community everyday. It's important to know who our neighbors are. And it's important that rental properties are not ignored and left to waste away. Landlords are renting to the next generation of St. Louisians. Unfortunately these challenging economic times have left our property owners with less money in the bank and just as much maintenance to do. Most landlords want to keep their rental property up to quality standards, and many want to improve it. That's why I've introduced Missouri House Bill 1980 to help our landlords improve homes.

My legislation will allow a tax deduction of one-fifth the amount a landlord spends to renovate their property. These dollars will allow owners to do the same amount of work at a discounted price, allowing residents to continue to enjoy a fine living space.

Because the state must also keep its expenses in check, I have added that no one landlord may claim more than $2,500 a year, and there will be a cap on the amount of state dollars that may be used for this purpose. My draft of the legislation allows the deductions to be issued on a first-come first serve basis.

Like so many of you, I want to do all I can to keep our neighborhoods safe and clean and places where people want to live and own property. Please go to this link and read the full scope of my legislation:
http://www.house.mo.gov/billtracking/bills101/biltxt/intro/HB1980I.htm