Free Republic

Democrats in the California legislature are pushing a law that critics say will hurt renters with higher rents by imposing restrictions on landlords. "This is really going to cause havoc to renters in California," said Daniel Yukelson of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles to Blaze News about Assembly Bill 1266. AB 1266 would restrict landlords from asking whether potential renters have pets and would ban them from requiring pet deposits in order to cover the potential cost of damage from pets. Coverage of the bill in the mainstream media has been mostly positive and ignored criticism from housing...

(Colorado Newsline) Colorado landlords will now need a specific reason to evict or not offer a lease renewal to a tenant under a new law signed by Democratic Governor Jared Polis on Friday. It is a victory for tenants-rights organizers and progressive legislators who seek to include renters in the conversation about how to address the state’s housing and affordability issues. Colorado is the sixth state to enact such a policy. “Everybody here wants to prevent unnecessary evictions and save families money. And House Bill 1098 does these things while placing no financial burdens on landlords. This is the right...

The woke city of New York is being overrun by rampant crime, illegal immigrants, and now squatters thanks to a law that turns them into tenants after 30 days. New York City homeowners are being pushed to financial limits that allow squatters to live rent-free. At the same time, the owners are forced to keep paying electricity and maintenance bills for the apartments. Under New York City law, anyone who lives in a home or apartment for at least 30 days can claim squatter’s rights, even if they broke into the property without permission from the owner. Squatters are taking...

Hertz Global Holdings Inc. is replacing its chief executive officer in the wake of a disastrous bet on electric vehicles that the company began unwinding in recent months. Stephen Scherr, who ran Hertz for just over two years after three decades at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has decided to step down, the rental-car company said late Friday in a statement. It’s replacing him with Gil West, the former chief operating officer of General Motors Co.’s Cruise robotaxi unit. West also will join the board of directors on April 1, according to the statement, which confirmed an earlier Bloomberg report.

House Bill 621, sponsored by Republican Florida state Rep. Kevin Steele, was put forward in response to Jacksonville resident Patti Peeples, who made national headlines earlier this year when several squatters moved into her Jacksonville property and caused nearly $40,000 in damages. Peeples first discovered that two female squatters broke into a rental property she owned after she sent a handyman to make repairs in anticipation of a home inspection after she showed an interested buyer the home 48 hours before.

No, renters, you are not imagining those grey hairs springing up on your head – your living situation is actually making you older, faster. A landmark study out of the University of Adelaide and University of Essex has found that living in a private rental property accelerates the biological ageing process by more than two weeks every year. The research found renting had worse effects on biological age than being unemployed (adding 1.4 weeks per year), obesity (adding 1 week per year), or being a former smoker (adding about 1.1 weeks). University of Adelaide Professor of Housing Research Emma Baker...

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.

The owner said she rents to people from all over the world but has had difficulty with most of her Black American clientele. She categorized them as “disrespectful, entitled, unappreciative” and said the reason they are is that they have been spoiled and given too much “free sh*t” in America. She complained that they “start fights with each other” late at night and said they expected the same treatment in Jamaica that they receive in America, “They think that they can come to Jamaica and can get the same free shit here, and they are nasty about it.” She continued...

A handful of California cities are still enforcing laws that protect tenants from eviction or rent increases, extending pandemic-era policies that most of the country wound down more than a year ago. The San Francisco board of supervisors voted in March to maintain a local eviction ban for unpaid rent until at least the summer. In Oakland and Berkeley, similar laws will also run into the summer months. The city of Los Angeles, meanwhile, extended a prohibition on evicting tenants for having unauthorized pets or occupants in their apartments. It also renewed a rent freeze on rent-controlled apartments until next...

RealPage, Inc., a real estate software and data analytics company, is facing class action litigation and a federal investigation over whether it is facilitating a data-driven rental property cartel with landlords and property managers, driving up the prices renters pay each month.

Proptech company RealPage won’t be able to turn the page on its software controversy anytime soon. A class-action lawsuit filed by a University of Washington student accused RealPage of colluding with student housing providers to inflate rent, Multifamily Dive reported. The lawsuit, filed last month, names a number of prominent multifamily landlords, including Greystar and Cushman & Wakefield. The plaintiff alleges collusion in popular college towns, such as Ann Arbor and Gainesville. The lawsuit claimed operators had the ability to collaborate and track competitors’ rents through the RealPage platform.

Earlier this year, Denver City Council passed a property ordinance that requires all rental houses, units and apartments to be licensed. The deadline for some landlords is around the corner and the FOX31 Problem Solvers are finding out that only 1% of owners have complied. Eric Escudero, spokesperson for Denver’s Department of Excise and Licenses said they’re concerned about a “slow” and “disappointing” start. “There are obviously a lot of people who are procrastinating to get this required licensing to be a landlord in the city and county of Denver,” Escudero said. The city council passed the “Healthy Residential Rentals...

In the town of Fairfield, Connecticut, nearly 2,400 residents have signed a petition opposing a project proposed for downtown that could bring 19 units of affordable housing. In nearby New Canaan, homeowners have raised about $84,000 for a legal fund to fight a proposed apartment complex downtown on Weed Street that would include 31 rent-restricted units for households with moderate incomes. And in Greenwich, a developer recently withdrew an application to build a project that would include 58 apartments priced below market rate, after residents living in nearby luxury condominiums objected Throughout Fairfield County, Connecticut, local residents and elected officials...

The housing and renting market continues to teeter on the brink, and the newest incoming data doesn't offer up any clear signs of stabilization. In fact, new data continues to suggest the opposite: that volatility in housing could only be beginning...and that we're going to have plenty of fodder on deflation, which we have talked about frequently, invoking the effects of a "reverse bullwhip" on the economy. A new report from Apartments.com examining multifamily rent growth trends for July 2022 shows that the Sunbelt markets are set up for what is being called a "a significant collapse of demand" heading...

After a period of confusion, a revised economic report confirms the loss of single-family, detached rental houses in Portland and the larger metropolitan region. If fact, the revised report says that nearly six times more rental houses were lost between 2015 and 2020 than the original report claimed. . . . . According to the new report, 3,987 rental houses were lost in Portland over that period, a 14% reduction. The new report also said 6,417 rental houses were lost in the larger region, an 11% reduction during the same period. . . . . During the initial, March 15...

Supply chain issues aren’t just showing up for consumer staples, they’re also starting to rear their head in rental cars. There has been a shortage in the rental car industry since earlier this year and while travelers are “encountering higher rates and few choices,” according to a new Wall Street Journal article, companies like Hertz are “struggling” to re-stock fleets after downsizing due to Covid. For customers lucky enough to even find a car, many are being forced to downsize or book vehicles they didn’t originally intend. At the same time, rental rates are skyrocketing. The daily rate is now...

Your house is your biggest investment, but it could also be a source of income you hadn’t thought about.Get this: In 33 of the 50 biggest metro areas in the United States, rents are higher than typical monthly mortgage payments. If you own a home in one of those cities and you’re thinking about moving, it might be wiser to rent your home instead of selling it.The typical rent-to-mortgage difference for these areas means renting could mean money left over after paying the mortgage that you could save for your dream vacation, invest for your retirement or use to pay...

BERLIN — Voters in the German capital have backed a proposal for the Berlin regional government to take over nearly 250,000 apartments worth billions from corporate owners to curb rising rents. A nearly complete count of Sunday’s referendum showed 56.4% of voters in favor of the measure, and 39% opposed. The non-binding referendum forces the Berlin government to consider consider expropriating big landlords in a radical move to cool one of Germany’s hottest real estate markets, where rents have become unaffordable for many residents in recent years.

When District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich heard a challenge to the CDC’s new moratorium on evictions, I warned that the hearing didn’t go well for landlords or the US Constitution, see Federal Judge Signals She Will Allow CDC’s Illegal Eviction Moratorium Stay in Place. A little earlier today, Judge Friedrich made her ruling, and, as expected, it left the CDC action in place.A federal judge on Friday allowed the Biden administration’s new eviction moratorium to remain in place, saying she didn’t have authority to block it despite her misgivings about the ban’s legality.U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich in Washington said...

Following the Democrat-run House of Representatives’ failure to extend the moratorium on evictions in the United States, Joe Biden walked back his earlier claim that he lacked the authority to extend the moratorium unanimously. And now, a federal judge is considering the legality of his order. Despite his lack of constitutional authority, Biden caved to progressives and extended the moratorium knowing full well that it would not pass muster if brought to the courts. On Monday, a federal judge rose up to challenge the Biden administration’s order, suggesting that it is engaging in legal “gamesmanship” to resurrect a pandemic-related eviction...