The City of Bellingham has passed an ordinance that all landlords are required to supply a locking mailbox to their rental home.
The new Bellingham ordinance affects any rental within’ Bellingham city limits. Whether it is a condo, single-family home, or multi-unit building – all are required to comply.
This change will take effect on January 1, 2025. It will be enforced through the Rental Registration and Safety Inspection Program.
An existing registered rental will be required to have the locking mailbox to receive a satisfactory renewal from the City Inspector. Newly registered rentals will need to meet requirements to obtain the certification.
The City of Bellingham states this is… “An Ordinance relating to the establishment of identity theft prevention measures for registered residential properties throughout the city, establishing a requirement for secure, locking mail receptacles [mailboxes].”
They later mention that those not able, willing or successful in meeting the new requirement may be subject to correction notice and penalties under BMC 6.15.
Charlotte Alden of Cascadia Daily News reported from the meeting held on August 12, 2024. Alden describes in her article that the Bellingham police department doesn’t track incidents of mail theft.
The only relative data described in the Cascadia Daily News article came from Public Information Officer Megan Peters. The data displayed showed there were 71 police reports that included recovered stolen mail for 2023.
For perspective, the ratio of confirmed citizens affected by mail theft to the general population is 0.07% (7 hundredths of a percent or 71 out of 95,960 residents).
Alden does an excellent job portraying the interaction of the meeting between attendees and City Council members. The referenced article can be viewed here.
ANALYSIS
It appears at first glance this change is quite brash. Implementing a policy based on numbers we don’t have.
There are roughly 5,500 single family rental homes in Bellingham. We won’t even include the multi-unit numbers… At an average of $125 per mailbox. On the low-end, this will collectively run property owners $687,000 in mailbox costs alone. Not including the cost of labor to install for those unable to do the labor themselves.
As stated by the City of Bellingham, they don’t have any trackable metric for mail theft. Therefore, there is no data to support a decision that will create an expense of over $687,000 for property owners.
Are there any examples of other states or cities that have implemented just an extreme requirement for mailboxes?
There have been, but mostly in the multi-unit space. No information could be found for any specific requirements for anything less than a multi-unit complex. The closest ordinances come from Seattle, California and New York.
Which raises hesitation about whether our quaint city wants to implement the same changes as those above while hoping for different results. Results like a safer community that is more wallet friendly for residents.
It appears their actions are speaking otherwise. As crime and the costs of living have skyrocketed in the past two decades due to policies enacted by those of authority in the City of Bellingham.
We are choosing to cater to criminals at the expense of our entire population. Rather than enforcing the law to prevent the crime from occurring. It appears the over-arching decision about crime from the city is: Deal with it.
As with any sector of our economy, expenses are passed down to the end consumer. We are seeing that in our grocery stores, mechanic shops, hardware stores and rental homes.
It’s foolish to think otherwise. If it costs more to operate a business, then the business needs to make up the difference to STAY in business.
Why are we requiring the Bellingham community to spend over $687,000 collectively? There are other avenues to take to resolve this mail theft/identity theft problem.
- Begin tracking the data around mail theft. Actively patrol areas with higher reported mail theft suspicions. Enforce the law when a thief is found guilty.
- If a resident makes a written request to a landlord for a locking mailbox to be installed, then the landlord must comply within’ 30 days of received request.
- Combination of #1 and #2.
If we wanted to save our community hundreds of thousands of dollars, then these simple focuses and adjustments could’ve been the alternative.
The Rental Registration department can’t keep up with the workload already to begin with. This decision has now added another burden for these poor people to carry at the expense of taxpayers.
It seems the time and resources could be better utilized elsewhere.
We’d prefer a safer downtown area that our residents can be proud to walk down at any hour.
We’d prefer to see more job opportunities with higher pay for our young adults in the community.
We’d prefer our residents not to worry about crime in their own backyard.
We’d prefer real action be taken to provide a more prosperous environment for all citizens in Bellingham.
Instead, we’ve chosen to provide a blanket policy regarding mailboxes, because we can’t control the increasing crime in our city.
ACTION ITEMS
What will this change look like within’ Patos Property Management? And how will this change impact the residents and owners we serve?
We are temporarily moving into the mailbox manufacturing and distribution business.
Just-kidding… That won’t be happening.
We are however maintaining full compliance with the new implementations into the city code.
We will be piggy-backing mailbox replacements onto new and existing work orders from now until January 1st. This will reduce the cost of labor for installation as our trusted contractors will already be visiting the property for a different reason.
When November rolls around, we will be implementing a procedure that transitions all properties to locked mailboxes.
Residents will be notified of the change and receive the corresponding key.
They will need to consider the change in how packages are delivered. It is likely that most will no longer be able to fit through the mail slot. They will need to remain diligent of when these packages are delivered to avoid package theft.
There will be one mailbox key provided for each unit. How the house chooses to allocate the key is at their discretion.
Patos residents do have access to our Identity Theft Protection Program. This is a part of the resident benefits package we have available.
We are constantly watching and considering what could happen in the upcoming years to prepare both residents and owners for the changes. It’s difficult enough to keep track of all the changes happening. We want to make it as easy as possible.
Ensuring you’re informed and protected for whatever is next.
Until next time!
Patos Property Management
360-441-1640 | info@patospm.com
