State lawmakers rejected Tuesday a Realtor-backed bill attempting to bar a particular type of home sale fee.
I wrote about the bill a couple of weeks ago — it was a hot topic for a few reasons, one being the unusual teams it created of Realtors on one side and builders, affordable housing activists and environmentalists on the other.
The issue is a fee sometimes tacked onto new homes that makes future buyers of the home pay a percentage into funds to support land trusts or affordable housing development for at least 20 years.
The bill failed to garner a single vote in the state Senate Transportation and Housing Committee yesterday.
From a Sacramento Bee update:
Sen. Lou Correa, D-La Habra, who carried the bill for the California Association of Realtors, called it a “sad day” for home buyers.
“We’re back to where we are now with no controls, no accountabiilty and no oversight,” said Alex Creel, a lobbyist for the Realtors group.
But the builders and supporters of the fees say they are a tool that spread out the costs of a neighborhood’s upkeep over generations.