A proposed city ordinance which would decrease the amount of time a landlord may show a property came under scrutiny by campus area landlords Thursday in a meeting of the Landlord and Tenant Issues Subcomittee.

The current language of the ordinance would limit landlords’ ability to show units to prospective tenants until one half of the lease has been fulfilled by the current tenant. It would not apply to leases of less than nine months or the units of recently evicted tenants.

At the meeting, representatives from major area property owners voiced their opposition to the current language of the ordinance, saying the limits would hurt both student tenants and property owners, and would create too much government intervention in the property market.

Madison Property Management President Jim Stopple asked members of the subcommittee to work with those in the landlord community to come to an agreement that would help both student tenants and landlords.

Stopple said the proposal would specifically put freshmen seeking leases for their sophomore year under unnecessary pressure and would affect the services of property owning businesses.

“If we could not start renting the campus community until mid-February, we would probably have to terminate employment for [MPM employees]…and that’s going to be problematic for professionalism,” Stopple said.

Scott Watson, controller of Steve Brown Apartments, told the committee the ordinance would give landlords less time to sell a higher proportion of apartments because of the six month market created by the ban.

“If you were to institute a flat-out ban on leasing for six months out of the year, you’re going to be asking a lot of businesses to sit on their hands and turn away a lot of prospective customers in a very tough economy,” Watson told the committee.

Watson added the short showing period would disturb the daily lives of students and would interfere with their academic lives because of a rush to find and tour a desired lease within the period mandated by the ordinance.

Nancy Jensen, executive director of Apartment Association of South Central Wisconsin, said some of the language of the ordinance would compress the leasing season to the short term, creating a longer showing season when landlords cannot lease. She also said the ordinance will not change the transient nature of students when finding housing.

Author of the ordinance Ald. Bridget Maniaci, District 2, said she wants the double standard of allowing apartment showings one-fourth of the way into a lease eliminated, but with the help of the landlord community. She said many non-student tenants throughout the city are affected by policies enacted because of student demand and leasing behavior.

“One thing that we really wanted was to get feedback from people that would be affected by what is being proposed,” Maniaci said. “I think that in some ways, having that opposition is really only going to make this stronger and more successful.”

Maniaci added the ordinance will not affect current leaseholders or anyone currently in the process of signing a lease. She added the ordinance will likely be effective for the next rental cycle.