| Pretty sure you have this backward. Landlords don’t get to decide how much people are willing to pay to rent. They charge the market clearing price (or as close to it as possible). This isn’t based on what they paid for the property, though the value of a property will at least in part be based on the income it can generate. If rents seem too high, it is because demand has outstripped supply, and the marginal renter in the market has more money than you do. If you want rent to come down for everyone, you can: 1. Reduce demand by making the area less desirable. 2. Increase supply by making more rental units. Rent control is just a lottery that benefits the people lucky enough to get it at the expense of everyone else. I had a rent controlled apartment for 5 years in San Francisco. Which, incidentally, I was subletting from someone who had moved to LA but didn’t want to lose his place in case he came back. In no way was I deserving of special financial treatment, I had a high paid tech job, and a wife making decent money. Anyone else who moved into my neighborhood was paying literally double when I left. It was nice to randomly get a $20k/year windfall, but did not feel like sound housing policy. |