Comment by raw_anon_1111
2 days ago
The two times I’ve stayed in an apartment complex, they had staff onsite and repairmen and someone on call. The individual landlord doing this on the side is likely undercapitalized and operating on thin margins and not budgeting for repairs
The difference here comes from the distinction between corporate landlords that actually want a sustainable business, and corporate landlords that know they will never make the money back for either rent control or market reasons and so only care about extracting as much money as possible before the building falls apart.
The overwhelming majority of landleeches in the US do not have to deal with rent control. It's a completely irrelevant outside of NYC and few counties spread out across the union.
I can tell you that the suburb to a mid city on the eastern seaboard I lived in did not have rent control, but rentals in the $12-1600 range with pest and mold infestation are in great abundance. I'm sure it'd be a total surprise to hear that I live in a state that skews hard in favor of landlords and offers next to no protections for tenants, because you know, deregulation always works out for the little guy, right?
And that’s why rent control is bad. Why wouod I invest money to keep up a building where I knew I couldn’t get market rates for rent if I were a landlord?
Do you imagine rent control is ubiquitous, and landlords nationwide are crushed under the heavy handed regulation of big government?
Because that could not be further from the truth. I'd that bet without googling, you can't name more than one jurisdiction in the entirety of the US that has rent control.
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