U.S. renters are taking corporate landlords to court for collusion

return2ozma@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 394 points –
Why U.S. renters are taking corporate landlords to court
cnbc.com
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Same shit in my area. I've asked landlords why they're increasing rents and they say things like "well based on local prices and value of the property...." I've asked multiple what makes them think that and it's always "we have software that estimates what our units are worth". So now any landlord raises rent and they all raise rent in unison. No renovations or new perks to the property. It's just "well someone else hiked rent this year so now your new lease does too".

Value of the property? Lol. You can find that in the public records and good chance they already paid off the loan they used to buy/build the property. Meaning the landlords profit margin is greater than 50%. Profit margins should be capped at whatever the federal interest rates are because otherwise landlords can claim anything from the increase in rent.