Posted on 01/18/2020 4:03:24 PM PST by karpov
A growing number of legislators are trying to eliminate a practice that has prevented many lower- and middle-income people from renting an apartment: the steep, all-cash security deposit.
With low-cost housing hard to come by in many states, state and city lawmakers are introducing bills that would give younger renters and others strapped for cash the choice to replace security deposits with insurance policies or installment plans paid overtime. These payments are usually equivalent to one or two months’ rent, which landlords require as a guarantee against damages.
Cincinnati on Wednesday became the first U.S. city to require that landlords accept alternatives to a cash deposit, including payment plans and insurance.
New York state lawmakers recently passed a measure limiting deposits to no more than one month’s rent. A member of the Virginia House of Delegates submitted a bill to give tenants options for how they pay deposits last week. Legislators in Connecticut, Alabama and New Hampshire say they plan to introduce similar bills.
Laws to ease costs associated with security deposits are part of a growing effort by lawmakers in a number of states to address the shortage of affordable housing and rapidly rising rents. Over the past year, California, New York and Oregon have introduced new limits on rent, while others have enhanced protections against evictions.
Average rents rose 36% nationally over the past decade, though rents rose more than twice that amount in hot markets such as Denver and Seattle, according to data provider Yardi Matrix. About a quarter of American renters pay 50% or more of their income in rent, according to listings platform Apartment List.
Many landlords are already pushing back against the security-deposit legislation. They say collecting all-cash security deposits at move-in is necessary to protect their assets
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Shhhhh. Don’t give them ideas.
In Californiastan landlord has 14 days to settle up the security deposit and mail refund to previous renter.
Not what you posted in “Chapter 2”
How about that same government giving mandatory classes to prospective renters on how to live like normal humans .... taking care of it like it was your own.
The only other income I have is Social Security.
The state would not allow me to collect any of the unpaid rent or damages. They have made me "real estate poor."
Who do these legislators think they are representing when their laws and taxes obfuscate any sense of trying to structure a fair deal for the owner. The only people that can begin to make a profit are the property management corporation that have hundreds of units and a bevy of fearsome lawyers.
I never have.
If you paid with a credit card, you did. You might not have noticed, but the car company put a temporary hold on several hundred dollars through the card.
14 days is just plain not long enough. As a landlord, I have to schedule carpet cleaning, painting, plumbing repairs, and handyman work. Just getting each one of these people out to look and give an estimate can take 7-14 days, plus the time for actual repairs before the real cost is known.
In my state, we are allowed 31 days and that is cutting it short sometimes.
In one recent instance, I had a Section 8 tenant who left $8000 worth of damage in a unit that rented for $1200/month. There was only a $1200 deposit. From now on, Section 8 is going to indemnify me for any possible damages or I will not place their people.
The woman has no job, no assets, and went back to live in her mother's basement. I can get a judgement, but it is not collectible.
A temporary hold on a credit line is not a payment.
That makes sense, 'cause illegals seldom have that kind of money.
Security deposits have nothing to do with rent increases. They help keep rent lower. If law makers want to see rent increase even more, just do away with security deposits.
This is an example of showing how law makers don’t have any common sense.
When I was looking for my last apartment, one building required an application fee, first and last up front and a one month security deposit plus a “non refundable damage deposit” for the elevator and a parking permit fee of $50 to get the decal.
I told the person, it I had that much cash, I would put it down on a condo and walked out.
I ended up renting a place that only required one month up front.
I will say, though that the people who did rent in the building were definitely first-class people.
These legislators live in a world of Marxist fantasy.
The days of first, last, etc, are long gone unless you are renting from a personal owner or a house.
But, I suppose if you own a rental income house, you deserve to have ingrates and dirtbags come in, trash the place, and leave you with the bill? Because? Rich. White.
True. I should have said “We had to sue to get the security deposit back.”
If you lived in NYC you would have realized that’s what I meant, as almost everyone skips their last month’s rent assuming it will be their repayment for the security deposit. In having to pay it, by being sued, we were essentially having to forfeit our security deposit.
It was an expensive apartment for that time, and that made it worthwhile for him to try to cheat us and for us to fight back. It was actually the model apartment that was specially fixed up for viewers who were considering buying an apartment when the building went coop (which it eventually did), so it had an enormous modern kitchen that was created by eliminating the maid’s room that existed on the other floors.
If the State forces landlords to rent to people too impulsive to save up two months rent, housing will get scarcer, more expensive and both.
This is a prime example of democrats not understanding incentive patterns... It’s this pattern of shallow ‘feeling thinking’ that’s the reason democrat cities are filled with homeless drug addicts pooping and living on their streets.
Stuck on stupid - - it’s ‘the democrat way’...
If the State forces landlords to rent to people too impulsive to save up two months rent, housing will get scarcer, more expensive and/or both.
This is a prime example of democrats not understanding incentive patterns... It’s this pattern of shallow ‘feeling thinking’ that’s the reason democrat cities are filled with homeless drug addicts pooping and living on their streets.
Stuck on stupid - - ‘the democrat way’...
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