City of Pittsburgh - File #: 2023-1867

• File #: 2023-1867
• Version: 1
• Type: Ordinance
• Status: Died due to expiration of legislative council session
• File created: 8/29/2023
• In control: Committee on Finance and Law
• On agenda: 8/29/2023
• Final action: 12/29/2023
• Title: Ordinance amending Title Six: Conduct, Article I: Regulated Rights and Actions by adding a new chapter entitled "Residential Property Wholesalers," to regulate the solicitation of purchases of real property and require certain disclosures of property purchasers to homeowners. (Post Agenda held 10/25/23) (Briefing held 12/1/23)
• Sponsors: Deborah L. Gross

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
12/29/2023	1	City Council	Died due to expiration of legislative term
12/1/2023	1	Briefing
10/25/2023	1	Post Agenda	Post Agenda Held
9/6/2023	1	Standing Committee	Held for Cablecast Post Agenda	Pass
8/29/2023	1	City Council	Read and referred

Title
Ordinance amending Title Six: Conduct, Article I: Regulated Rights and Actions by adding a new chapter entitled "Residential Property Wholesalers," to regulate the solicitation of purchases of real property and require certain disclosures of property purchasers to homeowners.
(Post Agenda held 10/25/23)
(Briefing held 12/1/23)

Body
WHEREAS, corporate entities and residential property wholesalers have been increasingly active in purchasing real estate across the nation, with a recent report showing a record high of 18.4% of sales to them; as well as in the city of Pittsburgh, with a report by Pittsburgh Community Reinvestment Group showing an increase from 15.5% of sales in 2010 to 24.8% of sales in 2021, and;

WHEREAS, big corporate investors and residential property wholesalers are buying up hundreds of thousands of homes nationwide, leading Senators including Pennsylvania's John Fetterman to introduce the Stop Predatory Investing Act that aims to rein in these entities by stopping an investor who acquires 50 or more single-family rental homes from deducting interest or depreciation on those properties;

WHEREAS, individual homeowners have in many cases faced harassment and high-pressure tactics from these residential property wholesalers to convince them to sell for less than market rates; when they do so, home equity that has often been accrued over generations can disappear with the stroke of a pen into profits for these wholesale buyers, and;

WHEREAS, these transactions not only negatively affect individual homeowners, but threaten the fabric of communities; as the homeowners who sell to these residential property wholesalers can often not afford to secure other housing in their neighborhoods, resulting in displacement; and the residential property wholesalers of these properties are less likely to have a stake in the community and have incentive to maintain these properties, and;

WHEREAS, these residential property wholesalers are rarely real est...