Yes, I'm a Conservative, But SOME Rent Control IS Necesary

[protectionist]

Sorry to hear that, but I think what's unAmerican about it is government dictating who can charge what for rent. That's not what government is for. Government is to govern. What goes on between two parties under legal contract is not a position government should be taking.

Government has all kinds of restrictions on housing, as I've mentioned previously.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Your situation is why you need to buy rather than rent. The main reason I own a home is the fact that I hate landlords. Even when I like them as people, the invariably screw me over. They own the property because they want to make money off it, and they will squeeze you any way they can to get it.

 

[Weatherman2020]

I live in an apartment complex, that recently was bought by a new landlord. That landlord has been increasing expired lease rents by as much as 60%. Imagine that your rent is $600/month and suddenly it's damn near $1,000/month.

Whoa! For low income seniors on Social Security and small pensions, this aint gonna fly. Actually, younger people still in the workforce with higher incomes, aren't taking to well to it either. Practically everybody in this complex is moving out. Some people are moving in and paying the higher rents, but not as many as are moving out. I've never seen so many moving vans in my life.

Next May, I will be moving out too, and still haven't figured out where to move to. I have limitations because of a low credit score and income, but I'll find someplace, even if it's not as good as where I am now.

All this is because Florida has no limit of what landlords can raise rents to. The only thing limiting them is new residents' capability to pay, and what they are able to rent apartments for.

But there is another side to this, This isn't oil or minerals mined from the ground. It's not furniture being made and sold. This is about PEOPLE. And it's about people who have been living in this complex for years, and these apartments are their HOMES. One woman who just moved out, had been living here for 25 years. Longtime neighbor-friendships are being obliterated.

If landlords NEED to raise rents, (say 10% or less) for some reason, that's understandable, but to raise them by HUNDREDS of dollars, just for GREED, is not what we ought to be OK with in this country. When hundreds of people are forced out of their homes, this is unacceptable. As is the case with most conservatives, I also favor deregulation of business, but this is one case that is screaming for MORE regulation, to a reasonable degree.

You’re a moron is what you are.

What you need is apartments built in your area to create inventory.

 

[depotoo]

How many years had it been since a rent increase for those with that percentage of increase? Are they doing any improvements? Have to replace faulty equipment? How much more value of the property between when the old owner and the new ne purchased? How much more insurance is required vs the original owner? Does the mortgage holder require more insurance than the last did? I could go on and on. You as a renter have no idea all the variables that could have changed from one owner to the next.
You seem to be of the thought that nothing affects it, but you are mistaken.

And why not consider one of the other properties down the road you state are still much cheaper?

No other apt complex nearby, or even miles around, is doing this.

And you know this how? Were any others recently sold?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

What they may be doing is pressuring people out so they can make condos out of those apartments.

Nah, I've talked to real estate investor and RE lawyers, Condos is passe" around here. That died out years ago.

Well let me ask you this: Did you call somebody at the new company and discuss this with them? I don't think it would help your plight any, but maybe they can tell you something that would at least make sense out of all this.

 

[protectionist]

No matter what you think about it, it's still his property. Short of violating your contract, he can do what he likes with it. Otherwise you are expropriating his property.

For about the 10th time, govt has all kinds of restrictions on housing. No industry is more regulated that residential housing.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

Sorry to hear that, but I think what's unAmerican about it is government dictating who can charge what for rent. That's not what government is for. Government is to govern. What goes on between two parties under legal contract is not a position government should be taking.

Government has all kinds of restrictions on housing, as I've mentioned previously.

On housing, yes. On investment, no.

 

[protectionist]

I've been in that situation, and it sure sucked, but that didn't mean I had the right to continue living in a property when the owner didn't want me there.

It's not a case of owner doesn't want you there. If an owner didn't want you there, he could simply refuse to renew your lease. He wouldn't have to raise rents 60%.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

^^^^^Have you seen their financial statements, and operating expenses for the past several years? Have you seen their Proforma for future revenue, and expenses? Do you realize that there may have been deferred maintenance, and now a great need for Capital, and Operational spending to keep the complex an attractive place to rent?

The MARKET sets the rental rate. If the rent is too high for the market to bear, the new owners will not be able to lease the apartments, and will HAVE to lower rents in order to hit their target Occupancy Rate, which is 95%. 100% occupancy means your rents are too low.

The MARKET in this area doesn't require rents as high as the new owner is charging. Other complexes charge the previous rate, and they're not going up by this extreme amount.

What they may be doing is pressuring people out so they can make condos out of those apartments.

Not if they are still leasing the units.

Well they can't increase the rent until the lease is up. So I'm just assuming here that's what's happening with Protectionist. If they are increasing it while the contract is still valid, that would be illegal.

 

[protectionist]

Yes. That's fascism.

Liberals love to throw the word "fascism" around. In the meantime, fascism is more closely correlated to liberal ideals of BIG central govt, and lots of control over people (ex. gun control, queer wedding cakes)

 

[protectionist]

And you know this how? Were any others recently sold?

I just know what they rent for, because I've been looking for one of them to move to.

 

[Toro]

Rent control is an absolute disaster wherever it is implemented, no matter what the justification or rationalization, i.e. "some rent control."

It is the government creating laws to help the privileged few at the expense of property owners and everyone else.

It's typical statist socialist/fascist failure.

 

[Toro]

Liberals love to throw the word "fascism" around. In the meantime, fascism is more closely correlated to liberal ideals of BIG central govt, and lots of control over people (ex. gun control, queer wedding cakes)

Dude, I sympathize with your plight, but you are pretty close to being a fascist.

You want Big Gubmint to help "the people" while keeping darkies out. High trade taxes, government run healthcare, rent control, demonizing others with a different lifestyle, and keeping the scary black people away. That's you.

I support free market capitalism. Read up on fascism, because that's what you espouse here. You just don't know it.

 

[depotoo]

Yes. That's fascism.

Liberals love to throw the word "fascism" around. In the meantime, fascism is more closely correlated to liberal ideals of BIG central govt, and lots of control over people (ex. gun control, queer wedding cakes)

Demand is high there-
Red hot Tampa Bay apartment market means rents are on the rise
According to a new report by Real Data, a Charlotte, N.C.-based apartment market research firm, just 4.9 percent of all apartments in Tampa Bay are currently vacant — the smallest percentage in nine years. The bay area's vacancy rate is expected to remain below 5 percent over the next 12 to 18 months, lower than in the 19 other southeastern metro areas that the company tracks.

The flip side — that 95.1 percent of all Tampa Bay apartments are occupied — means that rents will go higher as demand nears supply.


At the north end of Fourth Street, Brenda Armstrong has been renting in the Inlet Bay at Gateway Apartments since 2010.

Born in Scotland, Armstrong spent 24 years on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, where she once worked as a charter-yacht cook, before deciding to try a warm locale in the States. She figured Tampa Bay would be less frenetic than Miami, and that an apartment would be less trouble than a house.

"Apartment living is so easy compared to anything else,'' said Armstrong, who owns a holistic health business in Largo. "This is convenient to everything. You can get to Tampa easily, you can go to the beaches, you can go to downtown St. Pete, and I like being close to the airport for when I go see my family.''

Armstrong, who has a one-bedroom apartment, worries a bit about rising rents. When she first looked at the complex five years ago the rent was $650, but it quickly jumped to $850 and is now $1,000.

"Rents are going up,'' she said, "and when the renewal comes up it might be a consideration.''

 

[B. Kidd]

Last time I checked, most apt. renters don't pay for property taxes, sewage, trash, water, and most don't have renters insurance.

Local Govts, especially the Democrat controlled ones, cannot keep their hands off of constantly raising these fees.

Frankly, as a senior citizen homeowner, not a renter, I cannot sympathize with the OP.

 

[Crepitus]

You've taken the first steps towards common sense and liberalism.

Congratulations.

Not hardly. I spent 40 years being liberal. Not going backwards. Conservatives are for business regulation, but not to extreme degrees. Everything has limits.

Lol, listen to your fellow conservitards, do they sound like they are ok with business regulation?

No, they don't.

 

[Crepitus]

You've taken the first steps towards common sense and liberalism.

Congratulations.

Not hardly. I spent 40 years being liberal. Not going backwards. Conservatives are for business regulation, but not to extreme degrees. Everything has limits.

Not all regulation is ethically equivalent. Proper regulations ensure a free market of safe goods and services (i.e., we know what we are buying). Rental control is not a proper regulation - it is a transfer payment of wealth from the owner to the renter. It's rather disingenuous of you to call it "regulation" when it's actually getting the government to mug someone on your behalf.

See what I mean?

 

[katsteve2012]

It is easier to buy than to rent in Califormia. The home that I own right now, was a foreclosure that originally sold for 750,000, and got it for 210,000 back in 2011 and got a very good mortgage rate Comparable properties are selling for about 600,000 now.

Just down the street from my home there are some loft apartments that just grand opened and they are asking 3500 a month for an 1100 sq. ft. 2 bd 2ba.

Unbelievable.

I lived in California for 12 years. It never did make any sense.

Very costly to live here. I'm a native and while the trade off is good year around weather, it is stupid expensive. Gas is high. (3.45 a gallon for regular this morning) insurance is ridiculous.

I just moved my 86 year old mother out here from Kansas to live with me. She sold a 3500 sq. ft home on 3 acres with a fully finished walkout basement and private lake, for 250,000.

And even though she and my dad lived in San Francisco for many years prior to retiring, she still was shell shocked when she saw the ridiculous cost of living here.

 

[Crepitus]

You can roll your eyes all you want, doesn't change the truth of what I said.

What you said was NOT the truth, and I refuted it.

Bit it was, and you can't.

 

[Marion Morrison]

I live in an apartment complex, that recently was bought by a new landlord. That landlord has been increasing expired lease rents by as much as 60%. Imagine that your rent is $600/month and suddenly it's damn near $1,000/month.

Whoa! For low income seniors on Social Security and small pensions, this aint gonna fly. Actually, younger people still in the workforce with higher incomes, aren't taking to well to it either. Practically everybody in this complex is moving out. Some people are moving in and paying the higher rents, but not as many as are moving out. I've never seen so many moving vans in my life.

Next May, I will be moving out too, and still haven't figured out where to move to. I have limitations because of a low credit score and income, but I'll find someplace, even if it's not as good as where I am now.

All this is because Florida has no limit of what landlords can raise rents to. The only thing limiting them is new residents' capability to pay, and what they are able to rent apartments for.

But there is another side to this, This isn't oil or minerals mined from the ground. It's not furniture being made and sold. This is about PEOPLE. And it's about people who have been living in this complex for years, and these apartments are their HOMES. One woman who just moved out, had been living here for 25 years. Longtime neighbor-friendships are being obliterated.

If landlords NEED to raise rents, (say 10% or less) for some reason, that's understandable, but to raise them by HUNDREDS of dollars, just for GREED, is not what we ought to be OK with in this country. When hundreds of people are forced out of their homes, this is unacceptable. As is the case with most conservatives, I also favor deregulation of business, but this is one case that is screaming for MORE regulation, to a reasonable degree.

And yet people voted to not raise homestead exemption AND increase taxes?

The price of housing is ridiculous.