Biden administration rolls out a blueprint for a 'renters bill of rights' – Here's what it...

And what about the landlords? What about their rights? If a tenant does not pay and it takes months to get them out, the landlord will still have to pay the mortgage on the property. This is clearly illegal and government overreach!

If the market will bear the price, it is not "egregious." It is free market economy.

I did not live in marginal homes and spend years of my off-time and expendable income rehabilitating and renovating those marginal homes so that the government may decide how much rent is too much rent, so the government may tie one hand behind my back in achieving the best lifestyle I can. I did it so that I could provide for the best possible future for my family.

Everything wrong with this policy - and our current government - in one half of one sentence....

"As part of the White House actions, the Federal Trade Commission said it will look into ways to expand its authority to take action..."

How the HELL is an executive agency - which is ONLY supposed to execute those laws and authorities that Congress grants it - going to expand its own authority? Hell to the no.

Yet another example of the Executive branch creating law.

As a landlord, I opposed pretty much everything here. Not because I want to be able to stick it to my renters, but because I don't want them to stick it to me. I charge one month security deposit. They can (and, on two occasions, HAVE) done far more damage than that. It is already almost impossible to get extra damages. And pursuing them adds additional costs in time and money.

It is already damned hard to legally evict someone. They don't need more protections. Maybe more enforcement for the bad actors, but not more protections.

Who defines "exorbitant" or "excessive?" Some bureaucrat somewhere with a spreadsheet and no knowledge of fair market value?

When COVID hit the very first thing I did about my property was call my property manager and tell her to talk one-on-one with my tenants and make sure they were financially secure. I gave her full authority to re-negotiate rent, up to and including paying half-rent every other month and no rent at all in between. I did not want my tenants to have to choose between home or food. Once COVID was "over" and market rates started soaring, I implemented a tiered rent increase raising rent by 17% over the course of 6 months. My property was renting approx 20% below market value, and it will soon be up to just below market value. Is my rent hike exorbitant? Am I being a "greedy landlord?" I don't think so. But I am sure some pencil pusher will see 17% and get his panties in a bunch.

I am not alone in the way I do things, BTW. When I called my property manager about COVID rent relief, she said I was the 4th such call she had taken that week. And I talked to her a month later and she said fully half of her clients made a similar call all on their own, with no prompting from tenants, property manager, or government.

This is government seizing authority they do not have in order to make rules that are not needed to hurt small businesses.

Because you can bet the big businesses they are worried about aren't using Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, they aren't worried about a 30 day rule, and they have enough overhead to absorb reduction in security deposits. The "slumlords" won't even bat an eye. But us Mom and Pops? We are the ones who will be hurt. And it will be another example of government "fixing" an industry by making it too expensive or risky for the little guy.

Just like they did with banks and farming, they will drive the industry further and further to big business conglomerates. Who is going to care more about their tenants, a landlord with one or two properties or a landlord with 1000s? All in the name of "helping."


Thanks Brandon.