That still needs to go through an approval process, so not until September.
Even still, I wouldn’t consider that regulation to be the end-all be-all of dealing with it. The ban, iirc, is specifically for “algorithmic price setting”. So let’s say that goes through, and I’m a landlord. Here’s the regulation:
It shall be unlawful to sell, license, or otherwise provide to San Francisco landlords any algorithmic device that sets, recommends, or advises on rents or occupancy levels that may be achieved for residential dwelling units in San Francisco.
Well I can still hire a consultant, can’t I? A person, maybe one who works for a larger consulting firm. So I hire them to determine the “appropriate” price. So this consultant needs to come up with the prices for me, how are they going to come up with it?
Well they can still use software to run calculations, right? As long as I, the landlord, am not purchasing, licensing, or otherwise provided a device that uses an algorithm (a very generic term here, which is a separate issue), that consultant can use a variety of tools to come up with values can’t they? So the consultant uses multiples of the same systems for evaluation, and provides the landlord with the same price/price range I would have gotten in the first place.
This is how I expect it to be worked around at least.
San Francisco the first city in the nation ban the practice, using rent-setting software?
That still needs to go through an approval process, so not until September.
Even still, I wouldn’t consider that regulation to be the end-all be-all of dealing with it. The ban, iirc, is specifically for “algorithmic price setting”. So let’s say that goes through, and I’m a landlord. Here’s the regulation:
Well I can still hire a consultant, can’t I? A person, maybe one who works for a larger consulting firm. So I hire them to determine the “appropriate” price. So this consultant needs to come up with the prices for me, how are they going to come up with it?
Well they can still use software to run calculations, right? As long as I, the landlord, am not purchasing, licensing, or otherwise provided a device that uses an algorithm (a very generic term here, which is a separate issue), that consultant can use a variety of tools to come up with values can’t they? So the consultant uses multiples of the same systems for evaluation, and provides the landlord with the same price/price range I would have gotten in the first place.
This is how I expect it to be worked around at least.