Landlord-Tenant Law and eviction notice on a desk.

Oregon lawmakers are once again considering a variety of ways to “protect” tenants in the state, and it’s likely at least of couple of them will gain serious support in the 2019 Legislature. With luck, however, both Gov. Kate Brown and more moderate Democrats will view the schemes in the light of the serious damage they would do to renters.

Under discussion are measures that would end no-cause evictions and cap rent increases. The 2017 Legislature wisely rejected earlier versions of each.

Ending no-cause evictions is one of those ideas that sound good until they’re examined closely. After all, what could be wrong with forcing landlords to go to court to get rid of bad tenants?

Plenty. Any landlord worth his salt would surely understand the time and money it would take to kick an undesirable tenant out and act accordingly. Landlords likely would demand even more concrete assurance that tenants have the wherewithal to stay current on rents. Too, they’d demand larger, perhaps substantially larger, security and cleaning deposits from prospective tenants. At the same time, a successful eviction for cause would leave the evicted tenant with a blot on his rental record that could be impossible to overcome in a tight housing market.

As for caps on rent increases, the Legislature’s ceiling would, for some if not all landlords, become a guaranteed annual increase.

Worse, both bills could actually slow construction of badly needed new housing in the state. After all, why build when the state is going to make it costly to get rid of bad tenants and bar you from raising rents to meet expenses and have a small profit besides?

Gov. Brown hasn’t been a big fan of such tenant protections. She no doubt knows they haven’t been particularly successful elsewhere. She should stick to her guns in 2019.