Renters get a break

It’s a relief to see a terrible public policy proposal become less terrible, and that appears to be what has happened with City Hall’s effort to look out for renters in Boston.

The Boston City Council had been considering a Walsh administration proposal that would forbid landlords from evicting tenants or not renewing a lease for any reason other than the nine that were spelled out in the proposed new law.

Nonpayment of rent or engaging in criminal activity — acceptable grounds for eviction.

To move Aunt Betty into the upstairs apartment? Or to turn the building into condos? No and no.

That earlier version of the ordinance represented an excessive level of bureaucratic meddling in the affairs of a private property owner, and it appears enough members of the City Council saw it that way that it was altered.

The new measure, which won council approval and was signed by Walsh last week (it still needs legislative approval on Beacon Hill), eliminates in most cases the conditions for eviction or nonrenewal. It now centers on mandatory notification to renters of their rights and available resources when a landlord moves for eviction, and requires 30 days notice of a lease nonrenewal.

It still overreaches, in our view. Landlords or building owners will be required to copy the city in on all notices; supporters insist that will enable the city to collect important data on evictions, but it seems like a bureaucratic nightmare in the making.

This measure is an improvement on the earlier effort, which itself was a slight improvement over the original idea — a return to straight-up rent control.

But it creates a new level of bureaucracy that will drain city resources without any clear indication that it will stabilize neighborhoods, as its proponents insist it will.