http://Living Life Happier/ ([identity profile] living life happier) wrote in [community profile] davis_square2014-04-09 03:23 pm
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Rent raise limits?

My landlord is raising my rent more than 7% for the next year. Is there any state or city limit on the amount a landlord can raise the rent? I'm in Davis Square. Thanks for any help you can give!
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[identity profile] achinhibitor.livejournal.com 2014-04-10 01:40 pm (UTC)(link)
If you want to be strictly libertarian, rent control isn't an abuse of anyone who buys a property after rent control is established -- it's just like buying a property subject to a homeowners' association agreement or a complicated lien, the buyer knew damned well what he was getting into, and you can be sure that the price he paid was marked down to compensate for the decreased rent that could be obtained. The people who were wronged were those who owned property at the time rent control was imposed. Indeed, if you bought a property after rent control was established and held it through the reppeal, you got a government-imposed windfall, as your property's value increases due to government action -- and that benefit is as unfair as the loss imposed on landlords when rent control was imposed.

[identity profile] somerfriend.livejournal.com 2014-04-11 11:34 am (UTC)(link)
I don't agree with the use of the words fair and unfair here, and that is part of the whole thing with government interference in markets. Another example is mortgage interest deduction. Objectively speaking, it is a failure, Like all subsidies, it increases demand and all increases in demand (absent supply increases to absorb them) increase prices. So it failed. Plus not sure if it is a good idea to favor homeownership, economy may be better served by a more mobile population and maybe a fairness issue. But now that we have it, I'd really be hurt if it was taken away, since value of my house would go down. Would that be fair or unfair to me, it is a matter of debate.
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