A bill to rescind Georgia’s decades-old ban on rent regulation is almost certainly doomed to fail during this legislative session—but what about a measure to allow local governments to more closely monitor rental housing costs and landlord behavior?

Sponsored by six Georgia Democrats, Senate Bill 278 seeks to repeal state statutes that prohibit cities and counties from inspecting multifamily rental properties without “probable cause” to indicate that a housing code violation is occurring, and that bar municipalities from creating registries to track the rents charged.

“With the infusion of corporate entities, especially those from outside the state, buying up properties across Georgia, it’s very difficult to identify owners and hold them accountable,” said the bill’s author, state Sen. Jason Esteves (D-District 6) in an interview. “This bill is intended to address that.”

SB 278 hasn’t had much luck in the landlord-friendly legislature so far, but advocacy groups like the Housing Justice League and HouseATL have urged policymakers to embrace measures to beef up inspection practices and allow rental registries.

Some American cities, including Seattle, Minneapolis, and Oakland, have established rental registries to log past and present rent prices for properties, as well as property owner information. These cities’ laws require landlords to submit that data to a governing body or else be barred from increasing rents or even, in some instances, evicting tenants.

Atlanta is saturated with absentee landlords and investors hiding behind shell companies and skirting housing laws. When a landlord lets an occupied or vacant property fall into dangerous disrepair, the city’s code enforcement teams often struggle to identify whom to hold accountable. 

“Public officials lack real-time data to know whether landlords are complying with the rules or flouting them,” according to a report from national community…