Free Republic

(KRON) — With the new year comes new changes involving housing in California. Governor Gavin Newsom signed several bills into law this year that will go into effect starting Jan. 1, 2024. Some bring changes to the workplace, others to the state’s official symbols. Here are five impacting housing that you’ll want to be aware of: 1. Security deposits Tenants will no longer have to fork over several month’s rent as a security deposit. A new bill caps the amount a landlord can charge to one month’s rent. 2. Evictions based on alleged criminal activity Tenants will not be able...

After years of missed rental payments, one Oakland property owner was left on her own to recover her losses, despite desperately seeking help from the city, state, and local law enforcement.Carolyn Silas-Sams, a retired paralegal and an Oakland resident, said she inherited a duplex in the city in 2006 from her late mother and has been maintaining it ever since, although she never imagined that she would face the disaster that she has over the past few years due to the eviction moratorium. “I’m telling you ... any level of education would not allow your brain to accept that something...

There is a new law in New York State that allows tenants to stay in the home they are renting even if they do not pay. If you know anyone who owns a rental property, hopefully, things are going well. New York State has put a ton of new laws in place that makes things more clear in a ton of different aspects of the landlord-tenant relationship. If you have someone who is a horrible tenant, look how long they can LEGALLY and technically live in your rental unit! An entire year! The new Attorney General, Letitia James, has a...

“My background is partially in extremism,” Rep. Emily Dievendorf, D-Lansing, told WKAR News recently while defending legislative proposals supported by a group of progressive lawmakers. Dievendorf is the author and key sponsor of a series of housing bills and ideas that would upend the rental market in Michigan. This includes rent control and preventing landlords from using criminal background checks for renters. More bills were introduced recently, including: HB 5235 – Requires housing providers to accept renters on a “first come, first serve” basis (unless legally obligated not to, as in cases of low-income housing). HB 5237 – The state...

As one of the most expensive cities in the world, it should come as no surprise that a third of New Yorkers are forking over half their income for rent. The devastating data comes from the latest report from the nonprofit the Community Service Society of New York, which found that 55% of households, or nearly 1.2 million households, in the Big Apple were “rent-burdened” in 2021, meaning tenants spent at least 30% of their income on rent. A staggering 34% of the city’s tenants were classified as “severely rent-burdened,” spending at least half their income on monthly rent as...

To free much-needed room in shelters, the state of Illinois is helping cover costs for temporary housing for migrants, including $9,000 in rental assistance over a six-month period, Chicago's deputy chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas told Fox32. The funds include assistance with moving costs and a starter kit to furnish apartments. The city has allocated $4 million to help migrants find temporary housing, and the state has contributed another $38 million. It's unclear how many migrants are currently benefiting from the program. 'That rent lasts for six months and ideally people would have started their legal process, secured legal work...

America’s renters - more than one-third of the nation’s households - are in for trouble. Left-wing politicians are demanding rent regulation from coast to coast. Wherever it is adopted, the result will be a disastrous reduction in the rental housing supply, leaving renters desperate for places to live.New York is the poster child for the failures of rent regulation. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently mulling a challenge to the constitutionality of the city’s rent regime.Whatever the justices decide, the public needs to consider less destructive, more targeted ways to help low-income people pay for housing. The court of public...

Paul Krugman, Nobel Laureate in economics and media celebrity, made a terrible claim yesterday when he pronounced that “The war on inflation is over. We won, at very little cost.” Krugman’s proclamation was trumpeted by The View’s Joy Behar Joy who claimed that everything is going great in the country! The economy is “booming” and people are having an “easier time” putting bread on the table. Huh? Easier than a month ago maybe, but not easier since 2021 under Bidenomics. I pointed out yesterday that “real” wages contracted 0.1% YoY (after 3 months positive) in September. It is important to...

Gimme (expensive) shelter! Following August’s bigger than expected jump (driven by surging energy prices and healthcare methodology changes)., September’s CPI was expected to slow (+0.3% MoM) with the YoY pace inching back lower (from 3.7% to 3.6%) after rebounding for two straight months. However, headline CPI came in modestly hot at +0.4%, with YoY at 3.7% – that is the 3rd monthly rebound in a row. Source: Bloomberg Core CPI rose 0.3% MoM, with YoY sliding to +4.1% YoY (as expected)… it still hasnt been below 4.00% since May 2021…. Source: Bloomberg Food and Commodities contribution to YoY CPI slowed...

The city of Rochester has asked a state judge to order an out-of-town real estate investor to pay more than $131 million for code violations at derelict properties he owns. The request is by far the largest judgment sought since the city began more aggressively pursuing neglectful landlords in court a year ago. Citations for rodent infestations, holes in walls, smashed windows, and dilapidated roofs are among the more than 470 violations that have accumulated at 15 single-family homes and apartment houses owned by Meyer Hirschhorn, of Rockland County. Hirschhorn, who has real estate holdings across New York and New...

A D.C. landlord who tells the News4 I-Team he hasn’t been paid rent in three years will have to wait at least another four months to get a trial on evicting the tenants. John Jones owns a single two-bedroom unit in Southeast D.C. The I-Team first met him when he complained he was missing $14,000 from a COVID-era rent relief program. City documents show a check was sent in 2021 to the tenants, and that check was cashed — but the tenants never sent the money to Jones. He says they hadn’t paid rent for a few months before, and...

Over 90% of Los Angeles tenants were given three days to get out of their homes, but the city is offering more help Tenants in the Hollywood neighborhood were handed the most eviction notices in Los Angeles after protections introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic lapsed earlier this year. Those living in the 90028 ZIP code received 3,585 — the most for any L.A. neighborhood — out of nearly 50,000 notices accounted for, according to new data released by L.A.'s City Controller, Kenneth Mejia on Monday. In August alone, 5,575 notices were filed across the city. Other top neighborhoods affected by...

Following altercations at a party celebrating the end of Berkeley’s eviction moratorium Tuesday evening, the Berkeley Property Owners Association released a statement condemning the protests and voicing disappointment in the city of Berkeley and Berkeley Police Department’s response. “We condemn the actions of hostile dissidents who disrupted a private gathering at a local restaurant to intimidate, harass, and physically assault our members who are law-abiding small business owners,” read part of a statement, which was shared with SFGATE. A cocktail party thrown by the Berkeley Property Owners Association in celebration of the end of the city’s eviction moratorium resulted in...

It’s already very expensive to rent in a hot housing market like Southern California. Now landlords have found a way to make things even worse. A growing number of property owners and managers are hitting tenants with extra fees each month — a nickel-and-diming of people that the airlines, for one, have made a core aspect of their business model. It’s been common for years for landlords to charge more for a parking space or having a pet.

In a case that promises to utterly upend New York politics — and boost the city’s housing market — the Supreme Court may soon strike down the essence of the rent-control laws. *** New York landlord groups asked the court to hear their challenge to the state Rent Stabilization Law, which lets the city cap rent hikes and gives tenants a virtually ironclad right to renew their leases. It’s led to some people renting the same unit for decades — and then passing it to a family member, *** *** In many cases, building “owners” never regain control over those...

Steyer could face $20,000 civil penalty per county ordinance if found to be in violationThe Globe received a scoop this morning that a complaint was filed by a Douglas County resident with the Vacation Home Rental (VHR) Advisory Board against billionaire climate investor Tom Steyer, owner of the Glenbrook mansion that the First Family is renting while on a nine-day vacation in Lake Tahoe. The complaint reportedly cites that Steyer does not have a VHR permit for his $18 million waterfront manse. If found to be in violation, Steyer could be subject to a $20,000 civil penalty per county ordinance....

In the modern rental market, some apartments and other types of homes for rent have requirements from their owners dictating the level of a tenant's income. Typically, these require tenants to make three times their monthly rent in income to qualify, with some requiring up to four times the rent to ensure tenants will pay each month. Over the past few years, rental rates have increased dramatically across the U.S., with a 16% increase observed nationally from 2021 to 2022, according to NerdWallet. While that growth has reportedly slowed, rents remain higher than they have historically. A TikToker questioned the...

The UK is a small place. They flooded it with immigrants that breed like rats. How could there be anything other than a massive rise in the cost of housing? Maybe immigrants can use diversity to lower housing costs? If they can’t do it with diversity, I’m sure they could use vibrancy. RT: Private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK have jumped by 5.3% in the 12 months leading up to July, marking the largest annual percentage change since records began in 2016, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown. The figure was up from...

So have you talked to anyone looking for a home lately? Or someone renting? Well, check this out: On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN This Morning,” co-host Phil Mattingly and CNN International host Julia Chatterley discussed the surge in mortgage rates and said that the skyrocketing mortgage rates have contributed to “the worst affordability crisis in housing that we’ve seen for four decades” that won’t “really change until the Federal Reserve starts to bring rates down, these things ease, people start to sell their homes, and that’s going to take some time” and that comes as rent prices remain high and...

Piper Phillips thought she won the treasure hunt for a coveted one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan. Then she was hit with jaw-dropping additional costs totaling more than $10,000 — which would have brought her initial payout, including security and first month’s rent, to a whopping $21,507.50. The Midtown condo asked Phillips to cough up thousands in fees — not including the monthly rent — such as a $550 application fee, $1,500 administration fee, $1,500 “move-in” fee and a one-month broker’s commission. The Chicago native couldn’t believe the “ridiculous” hidden costs associated with the already pricey listing, which would have run her...