On March 24, the City of Dayton unanimously passed a “pay-to-stay” ordinance by an emergency vote. The ordinance would allow tenants to remain in a rental property after an eviction has been filed if the tenant can fully tender the owed payment upon which the eviction was based.
While Dayton REALTORS® realize that the impact that the pandemic has had on renters, the ordinance represents an unnecessary intrusion into a private contractual relationship. Additionally, the ordinance does not make a landlord whole; nothing in the ordinance requires the tenant to pay the full cost of filing an eviction. Further, while most cities who have passed similar ordinances will sunset the pay-to-stay ordinance once the pandemic emergency order is lifted, the City of Dayton has no such provision. Pay-to-stay is here-to-stay.
Dayton REALTORS® engaged the City with several ideas to improve the ordinance as it worked its way through the process. While we appreciate the Mayor’s willingness to listen to them, ultimately none of the ideas were incorporated, leading to our opposition to the ordinance.
You can read our letter to Mayor Whaley here and her response here.
