From CityLab is a story, Landlords Are Using Next-Generation Eviction Tech.  As noted in the sub-headline, “as tenant protections get stronger…landlords use software to manage delinquent renters. But housing advocates see a tool for quicker evictions.”  This system seems to merely automate a highly-manual and time-consuming process. 

Putting too hard a thumb in the scale for tenants may result in unintended consequences for the very tenants policymakers are trying to protect.  Following a number of unprecedented local “pro-tenant” laws in New York City, sales of apartment buildings in the city fell by 40% in 2019.  The CityLab story notes that “[b]uilding owners are convinced that it’s now too difficult to raise rents, even to recoup the costs of maintenance or improvements. So investors are steering clear of rent-regulated units, instead pursuing market-rate buildings at higher prices, analysts say. These changes — above all the repeal of vacancy decontrol and the vacancy bonus — are even prompting some landlords to hold units vacant.”  The CityLab story cites back to several interesting articles that further this point: Carmiel, Oshrat, NYC Apartment Building Sales Plunge After New Rent Law Dents Values, Bloomberg, Jan. 27, 2020, and Geiger, Daniel, Held back by rent reform: Landlords decide it’s too costly to repair certain units, Crain’s, Feb. 20, 2020.