California passes rent cap bill

www.mercurynews.com...

In a dramatic victory for tenant advocates, the California Assembly narrowly passed a statewide rent-cap proposal on Wednesday night amid mounting pressure for lawmakers to protect renters from the steepest of increases in a hot rental market.

I find this such an interesting topic. Rent caps. Why should the government get involved?
Don't landlords have the right to profit? Anyone that thinks this is going to help renters is silly. All landlords will do is price high from the start!

I have a better solution, if you don't like high rents MOVE. Remember when that actually worked and was what people did?

originally posted by: JAGStorm
www.mercurynews.com...

In a dramatic victory for tenant advocates, the California Assembly narrowly passed a statewide rent-cap proposal on Wednesday night amid mounting pressure for lawmakers to protect renters from the steepest of increases in a hot rental market.

I find this such an interesting topic. Rent caps. Why should the government get involved?
Don't landlords have the right to profit? Anyone that thinks this is going to help renters is silly. All landlords will do is price high from the start!

I have a better solution, if you don't like high rents MOVE. Remember when that actually worked and was what people did?

All it will do is further restrict supply of rental units and drive rental prices up even further. Gee, I don't know... it isn't like we don't have a real life case study of NYC to see what it does to rental prices.

If landlords can't charge market based rents the stop upgrading properties, so the properties will fall into disrepair.... again, see NYC. Because of the rental caps, tenants never want to move and this restricts supply again. Again, see NYC where you have people living in apartments paying like $1000/mo for units that should be renting for like $10,000/mo. They never move or game the system passing apartment down to their kids. Some of these people are wealthy too. I think Congressman Charles Rangel was in on that scam for decades.

Charles Rangel Rents 4 Below Market Apartments

This forces the market to focus on properties that aren't restricted which makes things even more expensive for those who can pay market rates. The problem just continues to feed on itself.

a reply to: JAGStorm

You can see the consequences of rent control everywhere in Los Angeles. Owners have no motivation to invest money on improving, upgrading, or even maintaining their properties when it won't add any value. Therefore properties get run down, neighborhoods stagnate, and things go from bad to worse. And yes I own a property.

Ugh...
Stupid stupid stupid

a reply to: underpass61

But what would we do without government controlling out lives?

a reply to: Edumakated

They never move or game the system passing apartment down to their kids.

I read a story about that a while ago where a lady was paying under $300 and was trying to re-rent it through airbnb making a fortune, and it went through the courts. Not sure who won.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
www.mercurynews.com...

In a dramatic victory for tenant advocates, the California Assembly narrowly passed a statewide rent-cap proposal on Wednesday night amid mounting pressure for lawmakers to protect renters from the steepest of increases in a hot rental market.

I find this such an interesting topic. Rent caps. Why should the government get involved?
Don't landlords have the right to profit? Anyone that thinks this is going to help renters is silly. All landlords will do is price high from the start!

I have a better solution, if you don't like high rents MOVE. Remember when that actually worked and was what people did?

You don’t have a clue about what you’re talking about.

Landlords are allowed to increase rent each year here by a fair amount w existing rent control laws. But those laws don’t cover certain properties like single family units.

That means landlords like the one my family had could decide to raise rent by $800 all of a sudden (this happened) instead of the annual percentage rent control allowed.

So, as people move to town making bank at google or whatever, landlords like mine see $$$ and decide to raise rent to make you move. Once you’re out they can raise it again for the next tenant. This happened to us.

So to answer your question: what was once a home we were qualified to rent based on our income became a home that cost 200% more to live in. We Raised a family there..established careers there.

What happens then is that you are FORCED to move, and with other landlords doing the same thing you are faced with being uprooted to move to an affordable STATE let alone an affordable apt or something nearby (which there isn’t). So you loose your job and your home.

By all means landlords should make a living but please educate yourself.

In some places they can add a rent service fee that ranges from 100 to $500 a month.

a reply to: CajunMetal

I have several rental homes and every law on the books is pro renter and anti landlord.

Try to evict a woman with an elementary age kid.....
Good luck...

a reply to: Bluntone22

In MA we tried to evict a lady with a child who was a known rental scammer who refused to pay. Judge gave her extension after extension. Eventually she faked an injury and sued for like 500k. She lost (sort of, I think she got like 100k and insurance paid it), but the entire issue was created because we couldn't get her out.

originally posted by: CajunMetal

originally posted by: JAGStorm
www.mercurynews.com...

In a dramatic victory for tenant advocates, the California Assembly narrowly passed a statewide rent-cap proposal on Wednesday night amid mounting pressure for lawmakers to protect renters from the steepest of increases in a hot rental market.

I find this such an interesting topic. Rent caps. Why should the government get involved?
Don't landlords have the right to profit? Anyone that thinks this is going to help renters is silly. All landlords will do is price high from the start!

I have a better solution, if you don't like high rents MOVE. Remember when that actually worked and was what people did?

You don’t have a clue about what you’re talking about.

Landlords are allowed to increase rent each year here by a fair amount w existing rent control laws. But those laws don’t cover certain properties like single family units.

That means landlords like the one my family had could decide to raise rent by $800 all of a sudden (this happened) instead of the annual percentage rent control allowed.

So, as people move to town making bank at google or whatever, landlords like mine see $$$ and decide to raise rent to make you move. Once you’re out they can raise it again for the next tenant. This happened to us.

So to answer your question: what was once a home we were qualified to rent based on our income became a home that cost 200% more to live in. We Raised a family there..established careers there.

What happens then is that you are FORCED to move, and with other landlords doing the same thing you are faced with being uprooted to move to an affordable STATE let alone an affordable apt or something nearby (which there isn’t). So you loose your job and your home.

By all means landlords should make a living but please educate yourself.

And?

Landlords are landlords to make money, not provide charity. If the market rents are rising then why wouldn't they want to raise rent. If rent was falling, I'm sure you'd have no problem moving or asking them to reduce rent...

If you want stability, buy a home. If you can't afford to do that... move to where you can afford it.

a reply to: CajunMetal

Buy a house. Why should anyone tell a landlord what they can charge for their property?

a reply to: OccamsRazor04

We were sued for $460,00 by a POS tenant for black mold poisoning. She got her attorney from something like mold-lawyer dot com. She claimed her daughter had brain damage from mold exposure. When we investigated the only mold (not black either) in the whole place was in a bedroom closet with no plumbing or drain pipes anywhere near it. She had been throwing water and wet towels in there trying to grow mold. We had solid proof she was full of crap but the insurance company gave her $15K anyway just to drop the case and go away. They explained that basically payoffs were less costly to them than justice. That was 15 years ago and it still pisses me off when I think about it.

a reply to: CajunMetal

You don’t have a clue about what you’re talking about.

I know exactly what I'm talking about. So a landlord raises the rent $800.
If you don't like it MOVE. You don't own the place. If that amount is unreasonable, they won't get it.
That's how the market works.

Who cares if you raised a family there, started a career there. If you are so "invested" maybe you should buy a place!
Landlords have to pay for things like rising taxes, and other rising costs. Can landlords tell the government there must be a cap on those things? haaa

a reply to: underpass61

We proved this lady lied about everything and the judge awarded her 100k anyways just because.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: underpass61

We proved this lady lied about everything and the judge awarded her 100k anyways just because.

Unbelievable... but actually I do believe it. t

a reply to: JAGStorm

My brother was almost in legal trouble recently for shooting squirrels damaging the property, which MA law allows. Cop said he didn't care what the law said, illegally confiscated his pellet gun, and started laughing saying even if what he did was legal it's going to cost him a lot of money defending himself.

He went before the magistrate for the fine (not criminal), magistrate said she didn't care what the law said you can't just shoot squirrels and fined him for hunting out of season. They dropped the criminal charges.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: JAGStorm

My brother was almost in legal trouble recently for shooting squirrels damaging the property, which MA law allows. Cop said he didn't care what the law said, illegally confiscated his pellet gun, and started laughing saying even if what he did was legal it's going to cost him a lot of money defending himself.

He went before the magistrate for the fine (not criminal), magistrate said she didn't care what the law said you can't just shoot squirrels and fined him for hunting out of season. They dropped the criminal charges.

A big problem with legal system is there is very little recourse for a defendant in BS lawsuits / charges. It can cost more to defend yourself against a bogus claim than it would be to settle to make it go away. Some lawyers thrive on this dynamic where the entire goal is to get a settlement.

I almost feel like arbitration should be required BEFORE any lawsuit goes to court.

I had my answer in 2014 just before the big fire in Santa Rosa and I moved to Austin TX and became a CA expat. The rent cap has its pros and cons but sea level rise will have the last laugh.

a reply to: airforce47

I live on a peninsula on the L.A. coast with 150 ft cliffs around it and capped with a sizable hill. A serious sea level rise might put most of the city and surrounding areas underwater but I'd have island property. Aloha!