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 ...
In Japan it can be as much as 6 to 8 months rent just to move in. Not including utilities. When you move out, you get nothing back. We are talking some serious cash.
So you’re saying an oven is not a BBQ grill?
That’s harsh.
Perhaps these lawmakers should read the leases. According to lease agreements Security deposit is placed in a separate account. The tenant is notified of the account. When they move out they receive their security deposit PLUS the interest collected. SD is not the last month rent. It is used for damages.
We just had some tenants move out. The apartment was a mess, nail holes everywhere and heavy West Elm furniture left behind. The sofa itself was worth 1 1/2 month's rent, a Mongolian Lamb poof chair worth $400... and they had complained that the rent was too high. Meanwhile it cost the landlord 1k to move that furniture to the curb.
A security deposit is needed. Oh and lawyers are the worst tenants. THE WORST.
That's called section 8. Every building can have one apartment in that program.
IN NYC, there's the SCRIE program where NYC pays part of the rent for senior citizens. That money is deducted from the landlord's Property Taxes. NYC used to apply it to the current year but this year they decided that they will deduct it next year.
I have when I’ve paid with a debit card.
I have friends with rental properties and I have seen the way a place can be trashed.
Nonetheless the abuse on the side of landlords has been allowed to circumvent even the tiniest pretense of due process for a century.
What probably needs to be done is assign some bloated government entity (perhaps the county courthouse with maintaining photographic records.
Renter registers photographs of the property upon taking the lease and whenever damage which falls on the landlord occurs. Landlord registers photographs during the property inspections they are supposed to be doing. Both register photographs when the renter moves out.
Pain in the ass?
So what.
Alternatives should be offered. And if landlords don’t offer them, then the law has to step in.
I used regular dish washing detergent in my dishwasher once, mainly out of curiosity of what would happen. I’ll never do that again.
I totally believe it. I used to do part time handy-man work to supplement my income. I've seen it all. But that is a new one on me!!!
I was thinking of buying a couple of rental units to supplement my retirement, but it is too much work for so little profit.
Love that picture! That is a KEEPER!
My apartment is virtually trash proof.
Most of it is my stuff so I have incentive to maintain the property in good condition.
The landlord’s handyman had to fix my bed mattress board which broke which was made of the cheapest kind of wood.
The new board is solid wood and has stood up even to my standing on the bed. I’m happy now.
Yep. Landlords will be less likely to take a risk if they know they're going to get stuck for damages. And as many people have pointed out, some birds just foul their own nests.
I hope you understand that tenants do this when they don’t trust the landlord to return their security deposit. We had to pay the last month’s rent and then we had to sue to get our security deposit back, as the apartment was left in excellent condition. We shouldn’t have had to do this.
The landlord probably thought because we were four women, we wouldn’t be able to unite and organize to fight him.
I bet the Japanese tend to leave their rented apartments in pretty good condition. Regular wear and tear, but none of the uncaring neglect and abuse discussed in this thread.
And I hope you saw my first reply to this thread, comment 12, where I said one month was not enough in NYC, where it takes the landlord more than one month to get squatters out.
Tenants should either post insurance or a sum sufficient to cover damages but not two months rent.
I think that’s perfectly reasonable. And if landlords can’t accept that, then they shouldn’t be renting out in the first place.
If you don’t trust tenants, any money they could post as surety doesn’t really matter.
A better maintained and cleaner apt the likes you’ve never seen. Though the non Japanese tend to not care as much and tend to be trouble.
the only reason that landlords are asking for double security deposit, is that the states stopped permitting them to ask for last months rent.
Wow same here. My complex has many from other countries. Someone has been flushing female pads that is affecting my toilet. They have seen moved out and had no problems with my toilet.
In the apartment building with 36 units I live in we had one guy upon moving out because he was evicted for not paying rent. He kick a large hole in the front door from both sides. Another liked smoking dope and were evicted as well and left the place a big mess. Another the police kicked in the door due to drug dealing.
Another was a hoarder who had a trail from the front door to the kitchen and bath. He stored boxes of stuff in the shower. Another started a smoldering fire from a lit joint he forgot about. It fell onto the carpet and melted the carpet and the plastic under the bed. A minute more and the whole apartment would have been in flames. Smoke very thick and black.
The attack on landlords is causing many to leave the business. I would expect their to be fewer and fewer homes for rent. Liberal governments see all landlords as bad people who take advantage of poor tenants. When in fact it is more and more the other way around. And it is always the landlords who pay the price.
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