Rent Control

Landlords Enslaved by Bureaucrats & Regulation

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Rent Control:

Rent control and rent stabilization laws are quite complex and very greatly from city to city, but they all presume an ability to control the price of something without having the same ability to control the cost of providing it. Such laws actually date back to World War II when the federal government tried to regulate the price of things in short supply, including butter, gas and housing. The federal rent control law expired in 1950, but rent-controlled housing continued to exist, since the laws in some states allow them to be kept in a family from generation to generation. The rent in these dwellings may be increased only by an amount set by the government.

Rent Stabilization:

      A modern term for rent control. Rent "stabilization" laws were a political response to a shortage of affordable housing which actually worsened the problem they were enacted to solve. The laws typically cover multi-unit buildings and usually exempt one and two-family houses. They:

· set-up rent stabilization boards who attempt to regulate the market through edict

· regulate when and how much rent can be increased

· require that landlords continue to provide essential services (even if at a loss)

· define how, when and why a lease may be terminated

      Because of the serious affect that price controls have on supply, many states have enacted legislation that prohibits municipalities from adopting rent control. Massachusetts voters recently outlawed the regressive practice in their state. However, there are still a few cities where some tenants have the necessary political power to protect themselves - at the expensive of the community at large.

Rent Control exists in a relatively small number of locations in the United States, including:

California

Los Angeles - Oakland - San Francisco - San Jose

District of Columbia

Washington D.C.

New Jersey

Newark

New York

New York City

The above topics are discussed in much more depth
  on our members' Rent Control page.

Non-Members' Homepage