An owner-occupied rowhome on the block sells, and within weeks it's listed as a rental under an unfamiliar LLC name. The neighbor isn't opposed to renters — they just have no way to know whether they're about to get an attentive owner or an absentee one who won't return a call about a shared wall or a backed-up drain.
The neighbor enters the address into LandlordEye and pulls up the LLC that now holds the deed, which resolves to every other property connected to the same owner.
The owner turns out to hold four other rowhomes on nearby blocks, all currently licensed, with no open violations. That's a materially different situation than an owner with six open L&I violations and a lapsed license — and now it's based on the public record instead of a guess.
Knowing who's now responsible for the building next door beats finding out the hard way.
With a clean record, the neighbor has a reasonable basis to expect a responsive owner if an issue comes up. Had the record shown a pattern of neglect, that same neighbor would know to get any shared concerns in writing early, and who else on the block to compare notes with.
Neighbors and block captains tracking ownership turnover on their block, and civic and block associations that want a shared, factual reference point before rumors fill the gap.