With UBI not applying to newcomers, then newcomers would be priced out of the market. But they are a big portion of the market, so their capacity would inevitably be considered when setting new rent prices.
New rent is already about (or more than) $25,000/yr (CAD) where I live. Generally, that’s enough to pay for a person’s mortgage, taxes, maintenance, and to still profit (unless they’re a new buyer). There’ll always be someone willing to accept less profit to get the sale.
Add taxes/fines for vacant units. (Some municipalities have this where I live)
Add rent control between renters or market rent. Some countries do this, and this would probably be the best solution for rent specifically.
I understand that there are solutions that could fix this, I just don’t think the US government as it is now would be willing to enact or enforce them even if it went ahead with UBI. That’s why my initial post said we need to figure out these things before UBI, or else we’ll enact it without things like taxes for vacant units or rent control between renters, and it’ll fail, killing any enthusiasm for another attempt following potential law changes to fix the issues.
Essentially. They can’t freely change rent for current tenants since they need to stay within the confines of whatever lease was agreed upon, but they can make rent whatever they want for new tenants, so it’s not an uncommon occurrence for them to simply stop fixing things in a timely manner so that current tenants feel compelled to leave, and then they can fill the space, charging whatever they feel someone will pay for rent after that. It’s scummy, and it’s technically illegal, but everyone knows they won’t really get in trouble for it.
Same thing happens where I live, but there is recourse. If it were me, I’d probably try to fix things on my own if I were getting a great deal on rent. Not that I’d have to, but to save myself from having to move. Of course, that’s not an option for everyone.
Still, with a lot of the rental market (again, where I live) being newcomers, I don’t think it’d make sense to immediately jack up the rates… they’d be turning away too much of the market.
Well, once the lease is over people have to sign a new one anyway, so even existing tenants can only lock in rates for so long. And when one landlord ups rent, it’s usually because all the other landlords are doing it too - it seems like they do it in unison, I imagine because they don’t want to have to worry about people leaving for somewhere cheaper. I’m not sure if it’s illegal like price fixing or not, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the end.
I understand that there are solutions that could fix this, I just don’t think the US government as it is now would be willing to enact or enforce them even if it went ahead with UBI. That’s why my initial post said we need to figure out these things before UBI, or else we’ll enact it without things like taxes for vacant units or rent control between renters, and it’ll fail, killing any enthusiasm for another attempt following potential law changes to fix the issues.
Can landlords just change rent whenever they feel like it in the US?
Essentially. They can’t freely change rent for current tenants since they need to stay within the confines of whatever lease was agreed upon, but they can make rent whatever they want for new tenants, so it’s not an uncommon occurrence for them to simply stop fixing things in a timely manner so that current tenants feel compelled to leave, and then they can fill the space, charging whatever they feel someone will pay for rent after that. It’s scummy, and it’s technically illegal, but everyone knows they won’t really get in trouble for it.
Same thing happens where I live, but there is recourse. If it were me, I’d probably try to fix things on my own if I were getting a great deal on rent. Not that I’d have to, but to save myself from having to move. Of course, that’s not an option for everyone.
Still, with a lot of the rental market (again, where I live) being newcomers, I don’t think it’d make sense to immediately jack up the rates… they’d be turning away too much of the market.
Well, once the lease is over people have to sign a new one anyway, so even existing tenants can only lock in rates for so long. And when one landlord ups rent, it’s usually because all the other landlords are doing it too - it seems like they do it in unison, I imagine because they don’t want to have to worry about people leaving for somewhere cheaper. I’m not sure if it’s illegal like price fixing or not, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference in the end.