Soon, the Lawrence Woods HOA will make another attempt to restrict the number of rental properties in the community. Over seven years ago, we attempted to keep the number of rentals under control. There were just a few at that time, and they were owned by private landlords or sometimes referred to as “Ma and Pa” landlords. Since then, Lawrence Woods has experienced a significant increase in rentals from corporate landlords. To my best and current knowledge, there are now seven other rentals in our small community. What does this mean to the community? It may mean nothing, or it could mean a lot. Communities far and near are seeing degradation inside of them. There are increases in shootings, other crimes, and neglect of property. These issues are huge in my previous community and go as far east into the McCordsville area. All of these communities have a good deal of corporate-owned housing. We hope to prevent this from occurring in our community.

In my opinion and experience, corporate-owned properties are not as involved with the community as local landlords. All rental investors are looking to turn a profit on their investment. Local landlords are more likely to be careful about who they place in their units and to respond to complaints, taking action when necessary, not to mention keeping the property in good condition. Corporate landlords have numbers on their side. That is, they can afford to put whomever in their units and still turn a profit. They seem to be indifferent to resident complaints and are slow to take action regarding their tenants and the upkeep of the property. These are my observations based on experience with people who have rented from them and issues with one of the corporate landlords in our community.

We will have two options for limiting rentals. One will place a minimum amount of ownership on rentals before the owner can rent them, and the other will ban rentals. We can do nothing about the existing units, but either option will slow or eliminate any more units from being picked up by corporate landlords. We hope to have full participation in this event this time around. Please join us at the community picnic/annual meeting on Saturday, September 18th, 2021?