Rent board seeks to avoid exorbitant rent increases after pandemic

MOUNTAIN View — With the town confronting soaring rents, Mountain Perspective could shortly involve landlords to limit rent boosts for particular tenants with pandemic-period discounted lease agreements to steer clear of an exorbitant soar in monthly rent when their lease finishes.

Tenants who received discount rates throughout the pandemic — these types of as very first month totally free rent or a greenback amount lower price — when the rental current market in Mountain Perspective experienced and vacancies went through the roof could be entitled to a lessen boost in lease as users of the Rental Housing Committee deemed amending the city’s five-calendar year-previous hire control legislation.

The committee oversees issues this sort of as hire command and eviction protections and helps make the determination each individual 12 months of how considerably the increase in lease really should be for upcoming year’s time period, according to the Community Stabilization and Good Rent Act. Previously this year, the group authorized the highest allowable hire raise in its historical past at 5%, which goes into result on Sept.1.

Considering that the pandemic, when move-in specials ended up offered to renters to fill vacancies, landlords and tenants have questioned how to determine the foundation rent “when a concession, in the form of discounted or reduction of the rent, is offered through the preliminary time period of the tenancy,” in accordance to a city report.

As the Bay Location proceeds to deal with skyrocketing rents, several metropolitan areas have relied on hire handle to hold expenses stable for renters as landlords associations and owners continue to seek to strip towns like Mountain View of renter protections that several say could retain housing charges down in one of the most high priced locations to live in the nation.

These new prospective protections — which seek out to continue to keep lease boosts somewhat acceptable — came as the Rental Housing Committee this week permitted its $2.1 million price range along with a rental housing charge for the next fiscal year. Even while the rate is lessen than last year’s, some landlords nevertheless think it is much too large as they alert of an exodus of house owners inclined to hire.

The spending plan will be funded by a $96 per rental unit payment that will have to be compensated by the landlord. Last fiscal calendar year that rental housing price was $102.

Back again in March, the RHC postponed amendments to the rent regulate regulation that would set a statute of restrictions on back lease for tenants who gained a price cut on their rent or experienced an agreement with the landlord for a reduction in lease in order to get input from renters and landlords. Soon after a number of meetings and a general public hearing on Could 23, the committee held a study session this 7 days to determine if people transfer-in specials really should depend towards base rent.

In a 3-2 vote, the board determined to move forward with discussions to set the base hire as the quantity of rent really demanded to be compensated by the tenant in excess of the term of the first tenancy and dividing the sum by the quantity of months in the initial tenancy.

So, for instance, if a tenant signed a twelve-thirty day period lease for $2,400 for every month but gained a 25% price cut, then the foundation lease for calculating a hire enhance need to be the full amount of money such as that price reduction, so about $1,800 for each month. This year’s hire improve of 5% would then be applied to the decreased determine.

The statute of restrictions would enable tenants to retroactively sue for overpayment of lease starting from tenancies that began final yr.

These a move prevents folks from finding a hire hike higher than what the rent board approves, stated Vice Chair Emily Ramos, and to get compensation from landlords attempting to skirt the legislation for revenue.

“The worry I mostly heard was renters who signed a lease with a go-in reward with a ‘your actual lease is this quantity but you are having 25% off,’” Ramos mentioned. “It’s now one particular 12 months due to the fact they moved and all of a sudden they are faced with a 25% boost. That’s not ok with me. On a bare minimum foundation, not ok with me.”

The committee ought to even now make a decision irrespective of whether to make these protections long term, and there is some controversy about no matter if move-in bonuses like a month off really should be integrated.

Committee Chair Nicole Haines-Livesay would like to preserve the dialogue open up about thirty day period-off bonuses as quite a few landlords give months off “in fantastic religion,” but thinks that landlords who give out dollar-determine special discounts are knowingly setting up tenants for a large enhance in rent at the end of their time period.