Rent control has been around in the United States for almost 100 years. Rents were first established on a local level in 1919. Modern rent control laws can be traced back to World War 2 and Richard Nixon’s wage and price controls laws. Currently, rent control is still in effect in cities that have a large amount of renters. Cities with rent control laws include, NYC, San Francisco, LA, Washington DC and Oakland, California (source). Over the years there have been initiatives, propositions and referendums throughout the United States to decide whether to curve rent control.
In Massachusetts for example, a state referenda ended rent control.
For those that argue for rent control they believe it has several benefits including it prevents landlords from speculating during housing booms and allows middle class people to live in large cities as rent control keeps housing affordable (source). According to the global property guide rent control helps with the high transaction costs of moving. Since moving apartments is a very expensive endeavor, without rent control landlords could force tenants to pay more in rent or be face with the cost of time and money in finding and moving into a new apartment. In addition, tenants often do not know the full condition of a property until they begin to live in it. Without rent control if a tenant were to complain to a landlord, the landlord could just threaten to raise rent in retaliation.
However, the global property guide also lists several cons of rent control including reducing the incentive of actually supplying rental units. In addition, rent control can discourage property owners to maintain and repair apartments until the rent controlled tenant moves out. On a larger economic level, rent control can lead renters to actually make lower wages by discouraging them from moving to another location that may be closer to jobs with higher wages.
Interestingly enough as support for Rent Control has begun to wane in America; in the Middle East it is on the rise as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar have all implemented tougher rent control guidelines in the last several years.
If you’re a property manager or owner in a big city most likely rent control plays into how you manage your property. Rent control can limit your financial growth from year to year. Therefore you need to make sure your using a property management system that saves you both time and money. In today technological world management companies are becoming less prevalent as software for property management is becoming more advanced and user friendly. However, many property management software companies have become more like the management companies they are trying to replace. These companies have raised their prices and have become too corporate to properly serve their everyday customers. RISsoft’s management property software has the features you need as a property manager without the suffocating price tag and with the support you need to succeed. Their friendly and supportive staff will be happy to answer any question you may have about their software including how there building management software can save you time and money right away.