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Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#41

Post by coder543 »

Digory wrote: post #6

1. The Public needs to know if they are permitted to be at a place or not. Or even if they can claim it. Homesteading in the US (claiming public land as private land) only ended in 1986. 2. Because police need to know who belongs at a place, and who to exclude. 3. The government wants to know who to tax for the land. 4. Generally, we think the government's information should be publicly available, not hidden.

> Homesteading in the US (claiming public land as private land) only ended in 1986.

Is this a contributing factor to rising home prices? Maybe not, but it does seem weird that we no longer let people homestead public land.

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#43

Post by scarface_74 »

a_square_peg wrote: post #10

The United States has a policy about government data - including weather (e.g. NOAA) and GPS, to be made freely available to the public. Your property data, collected at the county level, falls under this category so they are accessible to everyone. However, I think Zillow would be prevented from publishing the owner name, since it would probably be classified as Personal Identifiable Information (PII).

I just searched for my address on Google and the sixth link is from PropertyIQ and shows my name and my wife’s name as owners.

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#44

Post by jedberg »

lxgr wrote: post #13
Digory wrote: post #6

1. The Public needs to know if they are permitted to be at a place or not. Or even if they can claim it. Homesteading in the US (claiming public land as private land) only ended in 1986. 2. Because police need to know who belongs at a place, and who to exclude. 3. The government wants to know who to tax for the land. 4. Generally, we think the government's information should be publicly available, not hidden.

1. is possible without knowing the owner’s identity – “public” (and maybe whether that means federal or state) and “private” seems to be enough. 2. breaks down when you consider rentals. A tenant might be legally allowed to deny access to a landlord in some circumstances. Tenants are usually not registered in property registers. For 3., how does the information for taxation have to be public? The government also need…

For #1, just knowing it is private isn't enough. I may have a claim to the land, and need to know who owns it. For example it's really handy to know who owns the land that borders mine.

For #2, the owner is ultimately responsible. If there is a lease or any other contract, that is a civil matter. But all that matters to the police is who owns it.

For #3, your income and taxes you pay should probably be public too. Why shouldn't they? In other countries it is public. And in America, if you work for the government, your income is public too.

For #4, you do have a say. You can vote for people who will change the laws. For example, in some counties the ownership information is available online, but in many counties, it is not. You have to go into the county office to get the name and address of the owner.

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#45

Post by scarface_74 »

kanbara wrote: post #30

you want your ownership of multiple properties that you dont contribute value to but earn equity in on the backs of renters to be private so you don’t get spam? or is there another reason?

Yes because everyone should own their home and landlords shouldn’t exist?

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#46

Post by jltsiren »

lxgr wrote: post #15
beardyw wrote: post #5

Because people have been living in houses for millennia and such an idea of privacy would only have emerged in the last few decades.

The idea of a property register is much younger than a few millenia, though, so that's not a good argument for its default privacy level. The United States are also younger than even a single millenium.

I would guess that the idea of a property register is about as old as the idea of formal land ownership. Ancient Rome definitely had property registers, and it was probably not their original idea. After all, maintaining records of land ownership for purposes such as taxation and military service was one of the core functions of many ancient states.

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#47

Post by crtified »

New Zealand recently had a minor controversy, where Owner (names) public datasets were used by third parties to create a searchable "What (else) Does My Landlord Own?" -style website, riding on a current of anti-rich-landlord sentiment in the midst of that countrys rising property price issues.

That happening raised discussion similar to this, and sparked the governments land data department to investigate the suitability of allowing public access to such data. Ultimately, so far, they have decided to keep the status quo - the data is available, but its usage is governed by reference to overarching Privacy legislation, which defines acceptable privacy standards and gives a legal pathway for abuse to be prosecuted.

Incidentally: due to many rental properties being owned in the name of private Trusts, Mom-n-Pop shell companies, and the like, a simple search by person-name only provides a partial result anyway, in this context.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/300959378/illfated-we...

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#48

Post by Espressosaurus »

coder543 wrote: post #41
Digory wrote: post #6

1. The Public needs to know if they are permitted to be at a place or not. Or even if they can claim it. Homesteading in the US (claiming public land as private land) only ended in 1986. 2. Because police need to know who belongs at a place, and who to exclude. 3. The government wants to know who to tax for the land. 4. Generally, we think the government's information should be publicly available, not hidden.

> Homesteading in the US (claiming public land as private land) only ended in 1986. Is this a contributing factor to rising home prices? Maybe not, but it does seem weird that we no longer let people homestead public land.

I'm shocked it took that long. Just because it's held in the public trust doesn't mean we should allow someone to build a shanty on it to claim it.

Re: Ask HN: Why is home property information so public?

#49

Post by Detrytus »

scarface_74 wrote: post #45
kanbara wrote: post #30

you want your ownership of multiple properties that you dont contribute value to but earn equity in on the backs of renters to be private so you don’t get spam? or is there another reason?

Yes because everyone should own their home and landlords shouldn’t exist?

Yes. Also: everyone should be forever young and handsome...
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