Rent Ceiling? Harmful To Tenants?

Question

A rent ceiling makes it illegal to charge a rent for housing more than the specified limit. How is it possible that such a policy will harm tenants. What are some of the possible solutions to deal with the problems emerging from rent ceiling?

Answer 1

It depends on the particular rent ceiling law.  If there is a provision to pass through increases in expenses it may be OK.  But in NY City a rent ceiling would not let landlords pass through increases in property taxes and utilities.  Landlords were going broke.  They stoped repairing and servicing the buildings.  When the city pursued the building owners, they denied ownership and abandoned the buildings.  Tenants stripped the buildings of doors, plumbing, wiring etc.  Then the city had to tear down thousands of buildings in Harlem, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and other places.

Answer 2

it is sad for the property owners to hav eto sustain deadbeats who pay inadequate rents to begin with

Answer 3

I have a rent ceiling with my 2 section 8 tenants.   I can tell you that if I had not owned that property for a very long time their standard of living would be less....I simply could not afford to keep the houses really nice.

For instance, I recently had to replace the kitchen floor, a floor joist had broken.     With rent control they would have gotten the joist fixed and MAYBE some cheap linoleum.   But, since I own the house outright I could afford a nice tile floor.

Many "slum lords" are simply broke due to very low rent.

Rent control violates (IMO) my constitutional rights to make a living in a FREE MARKET.

I would NEVER buy property in a city that had control over my business.   While I do have a little rent control over me, I have it by choice, I can choose not to accept section 8.

Answer 4

It doesn't harm the tenant who has a place too live but studies have shown that homelessness is highest in areas that have "rent control." This is because fewer and fewer potential landlords are willing to lease when they know the government will dictate how much they can charge. Put it this way, would you enter any financial endeavor knowing their was a "ceiling" on how much money you could make? I live in the Detroit Area which has battled unemployment as much as any other area, but homelessness is much lower here than in other cities. That's because there's virtually no rent control here.

Answer 5

A rent ceiling is not harmful to tenants. It's a way for tenants to not get priced out of their rental if they're on a fixed or limited income.

It might be "harmful" to potential tenants who do not qualify for the fixed rent, because if they're right on the edge of qualifying but have just a fuzz too much income, they don't get the benefit of having their rent fixed at a low price while someone who makes just a small amount less than they do gets that benefit. That may tend to make the renters not want to succeed financially, otherwise their rent will go up. So, why make more money?