What exactly is does rent control mean?

Question

I always here on tv (mostly the peoples court) people talking about rent control, what exactly is this and what is the purpose of it. Do you have to have low income to get it? Thanks in advance

Answer 1

It is a local (state/city) law passed in the interests of making sure people don't lose their homes due to housing inflation. These laws were passed when the country was much more liberal, even republicans were more liberal.

What the laws basically say is that if you have a tenant that lives in an apartment you cannot raise their rent more than some percentage each year that they live there. It can be a fixed percentage or it can be tied to inflation.

So if someone has lived in an apartment for 20 years, you will often see that the person's rent is extremely low, much lower than the overall housing market.

The downside is that some people abuse the system by subletting apartments to others even though they no longer live there anymore. Like on the show "friends" the only reason that they could affrord that huge apartment is because someoone's grandma used to live there, etc....

Most rent control laws don't let you pass the apartment down to anyone, even a relative. That;'s actually an illegal subletting arrangement.

Answer 2

Since rent control is a legal concept, it may work differently in different communities depending upon how the laws are written, but the main idea of these laws is to protect renters from unmanageable increases in their rents. The most extreme form of rent control would be to say that rents on any sort of unit cannot go up, or can only go up at a given rate per year. Initially, many renters think this is a great thing, but what often happens in the long run is that the landlords let the buildings fall apart because they can't (or won't) pay for repairs, or they convert the apartments into condos, which allows them to get rid of the tenants and start all over again selling off the units. If the prohibition on increases is attached to the renter, rather than to the rental unit, some landlords harass their tenants to get them to leave, so that they can charge whatever they want to the new tenants.

Less extreme versions may allow modest increases, or may say that these controls apply only to certain classes of units or tenants. There may be provisions written into the laws to stop landlords from doing some of the more egregious things mentioned above.

The People's Court is a national show, so there is no guarantee that any form of rent control exists where you live. It doesn't in most places (although New York is an exception, and a lot of cases on the show seem to come from there). My guess is that if you have been paying regular rent increases, without anyone telling you that this was a limit imposed by rent control laws, that it doesn't exist where you are. Rent control is usually NOT limited to low-income people, but whether or not you are eligible, I can't tell you without knowing where you live.

Answer 3

Well, here it means essentially two things:

1. Your landlord cannot increase your rent without adequate notice. Normally it is done on the renewal of your lease, but no less than 3 months notice, even if it is month to month. However it can be done anytime with three months notice, provided the rent has not been increased within the last year.

2. Even with respect to number one, there are limits with respect to how much a landlord can increase the rent. (I believe it is 2.5 % here.)

3. If a landlord wants to increase it more than this amount or more often than is allowed they must apply to the Residential Tenancies Branch director for permission to do same. Which is normally done if significant repairs or renovations were carried out, especially if they are at the request of the tenant.

OK I read a few of the other answers here, and I know it varies from place to place, but rent control here doesn't even allow a landlord to jack up rent beyond the percentage limit whether or not it is an exsisting tenant or a new one. The regulations are based on location, square footage and "extras" like indoor pools, fireplaces, additional bathrooms etc. I believe the aim is to ensure that every one, regardless of income has a secure and regular place to live. I wouldn't say that it disallows landlords to charge fair market value, but rather, dictates fair market value.

Answer 4

Rent control laws, as the name implies, control how much rent is or how much it can change.

The most common example is in many cities, where certain properties are rent controlled. The landlord can only raise the rent by a small amount, say 1% to 3% per year, or based on inflation or whatever. That means that as long as the current tenant remains in the property, they will be paying the same, or close to the same rent.

This matters because rents often dramatically increases as housing becomes scarce. And a rent-controlled property locks in the low rent value, which may cost the landlord a lot of money.

Answer 5

Many pre-world war II apartment were rent controlled. The landlord could only raise the rent by a very small amount. These apartments are very undervalued. Here's an example:
a person lives in a NYC rent controlled apartment and pays $250.00 a month rent. Another person in the same building with the same apartment pays $3,000.00 a month.
You cannot get a rent controlled apartment unless it is passed down from a relative. Once decontrolled, it goes to market rate.

Answer 6

It means that the government is intruding where it doesn't belong - it is forcing the owner of a property to accept less than the fair market value of his rental property.

Rent control doesn't really help but a handful of people. When a local government gets all communist like this, it scares off other potential builders of rental properties or pushes landlords to turn apartments into condos to avoid the rent control scam.

This results in fewer rental properties for the poorer people to have. And many rent controls are actually inhabited by people who can afford to pay fair prices.

It is a sad socialist scam and an abuse of power, is what it is.

Answer 7

From Wikipedia:

Rent control refers to laws or ordinances that set price controls on residential housing. It functions as a price ceiling.

In the United States, rent controls were first adopted in response to WWII-era shortages, or following Richard Nixon's 1971 wage and price controls. They remain in effect in some cities with large tenant populations, such as New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC. Smaller communities also have rent control, notably Santa Monica, and West Hollywood California along with many small towns in New Jersey. In recent years, rent control in some cities, such as Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, has been ended by state ballot.

Check the link for more information.

Answer 8

Almost all counties have a family law help center that have people that can help you figure out what all this means, best choices and how to fill out and file the legal paper work. That being said, if you cannot agree on custody, then a lawyer is your only choice, many will take payments just have to call them and ask, do not think that you cannot get a lawyer because you do not have money, look around. Yes what you singe and decide now will permanently effect you for the rest of the childes time, so make sure you do it right.

Answer 9

it means a landlord cannot excessively raise rent

usually it is set by the county and they can only raise rent once a year

Answer 10

CONTROLLING RENT