The proposal, introduced at a City Council meeting earlier this week, is an amendment to the city's Housing and Building Maintenance Code designed to protect renters from owner retaliation. Representatives of the Apartment Association of Seattle and King County say the proposal would make it more difficult for owners to evict bad tenants by getting the city involved in eviction cases already being litigated, and would have serious repercussions on silent-partner real estate investors.

Chris Benis, immediate past president of AASKC and a real estate attorney who is acting as council for the association, says the proposed ordinance would open the door for tenants to file frivolous claims with the city. But what concerns him even more is that it would lessen the burden of proof required in criminal proceedings. "Under the proposal, you could be a one-tenth silent partner in an apartment building and if a law was violated, you could be charged criminally for the violation and the fact that you didn't know it was committed or had no intent to commit it wouldn't be a defense," notes Benis. "I think it would chill people's willingness to invest in real estate in the city of Seattle."

Under Nicastro's proposal, the burden of proof for some owner offenses would be lowered from the criminal standard to the civil standard. Owners could be punished under the civil standard if they evict tenants, increase rent, reduce services, or "otherwise impose, threaten, or attempt any punitive measure" against tenants who complain to the city about their building's condition or owner's conduct.