Comment by dv_dt
2 years ago
Rent control in California isn't particularly protective of spiraling rents. The statewide law applies to 15+ year old units and per year rent increases are limited to 5% plus inflation or 10%, whichever is lower.
2 years ago
Rent control in California isn't particularly protective of spiraling rents. The statewide law applies to 15+ year old units and per year rent increases are limited to 5% plus inflation or 10%, whichever is lower.
The statewide number is simply a maximum not a statewide standard.
In San Francisco, rent in rent-controlled apartments can only be raised by 2.6% per year. Which is far more impactful.
I’d guess that the vast majority of California renters are in big cities, where 3% rent control is typical. You get stuck after a year or two, unable to move without leaving the state, and landlords exploit this by neglecting repairs (i.e. lead, mold, asbestos). There is a pretty big range of “livable conditions” which I’ve experienced as a renter. So the divide between rich and poor (owner and renter) increases and the only socially acceptable solution it seems is yimbism, which seems to mean “increase the number of landlords until the problem disappears.” Or outright communism, where the state is the landlord, which has a history of failure.
> where 3% rent control is typical
> landlords exploit this by neglecting repairs
To be fair, if rent can never go up more than 3% per year, how long until the landlord can't afford to do any repairs?
Property tax goes up 2% every year, so there's only 1% headroom. If some other expense starts to go up wildly (such as insurance has been doing for years now) it can eat that up and then the landlord is losing money every month, which leads to abandoned maintenance. Which isn't good for anyone.
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The US has major issues with the state as landlord but other counties pull it off fairly well. That suggests me it’s the US that has the problem not the approach of having the government involved that’s at issue.
The US seems to default to doing the worst possible solution. Take long term rent control and private ownership, because like seriously WTF??? That’s literally combining the worst aspects of communism and capitalism.
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