Rent Control
Definition of "Rent control"
“What is Rent Control?”, you ask.
Rent Control is how some governmental policies that prevent the Landlord from abusively raising the rent are called in the real estate world.
"Rent control in NYC!" is how TV producers excuse themselves when asked how those twenty-something sitcom characters – like the ones on “Friends” - are able to afford to live in such huge apartments. But because of the omnipresent Rent Control in NYC broadcasted by Television and Movies, many people think that the whole country has it and that is not true. Not every state has rent control laws. And the ones that do, normally don’t impose those regulations over every single rental property. Rent Control is usually a tool against gentrification used only in communities where the demand for housing is too high - like NYC.
A Landlord with a house (or an apartment) under those rent laws basically has determined by the government when (and by how much) he/she can increase a Tenant's rent. This prevents the Tenants from having a bitter surprise when the time comes for the contract renewal.
Note: the Landlord is not stuck forever with the Tenant. He/She can reach out to the market and find a new Tenant willing to pay his/her overpriced rent, sure. However, he/she will have a hard time finding this new Tenant, because other properties in that same area are not costing as much, thanks to those governmental policies. If the new Tenant knows this, he/she will probably negotiate around that. Also, hopefully, the current Tenant will have done a good job on his/her rental contract and will have made a clause where he/she has the right to cover the offer and/or other tactics to keep himself/herself inside that property.
Real Estate Secrets:
Get smart with our Glossary Terms! Search away and learn hundreds of real estate words!
Want to find the best Rent Control properties? Find a specialized agent on The Official Real Estate Agent Directory®
Popular Real Estate Terms
The Loan-to-value ratio (LTV) is a calculation that measures how much you need to pay for a mortgage (loan) concerning how much the asset is worth. The loan-to-value ratio in real ...
A Vanilla Shell - also known as a Vanilla box, white box or whiteboxing – is something very common in commercial real estate and growingly common in residential real estate. In many ...
Each payment made by the borrower is equal each period, usually monthly. Each payment is comprised of principal and interest. Interest is based on the beginning balance. The cash paid less ...
Legal competence of parties to be held responsible for the terms of a contract or to be brought into the courts. Those who are under the legal age, are mentally incompetent, or under the ...
Possession and use of a property estate by virtue of a lease. There are four types of leasehold estates: estate for years, periodic tenancy, tenancy at will, and tenant at sufferance. ...
The right to recover property taken away by foreclosure by paying the lender the total amount owed plus foreclosure costs. The right of a debtor in bankruptcy to recover personal ...
Materials that are inherently noncombustible, are widely used in constructing exterior surfaces and include brick, aluminum siding, cement, and asbestos shingles. ...
Analysis of the risks and rewards to an individual in making a particular property investment. Investment analysis considers the cost of the original investment, the investment return over ...
Circumstance where no people or contents occupy or are kept in a building for at least 60 consecutive days. The same stipulations apply to property coverages as found in unoccupancy. ...
Have a question or comment?
We're here to help.