The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a major property-rights challenge to rent control laws in New York City and elsewhere that give tenants a right to stay for many years in an apartment with a below-market cost.
A group of New York landlords had sued, contending the combination of rent regulation and long-term occupancy violated the Constitution’s ban on the taking of private property for public use.
The justices had considered the appeal since late September. Only Justice Clarence Thomas issued a partial dissent.
Tenets breaking rules and being shitty mean that landlords lose on their investments (which inherently carry risk).
Landlords breaking rules and being shitty means that people go homeless, live in awful conditions, or cannot afford basic necessities.
Sure, both sides have the capacity to be bad, but trying to “both sides” basic shelter is fucking wild.
Tenants breaking rules drives up the cost of rent for the good ones. When a landlord expects to have expensive maintenance (patching holes…) that gets priced into the cost of rent. If supply and demand doesn’t allow getting that much rent then they will sell and then no more landlords at all. Renting a house is the best option for some people, so we need landlords. Therefore we need them to make a small profit.
Do you think there’s only one landlord in NYC? If one sells, who is buying? Another owner!
Also, since this is about NYC, obviously co-ops and condos need to enter the conversation. What’s a co-op, you ask? That’s where the tenants own the building and run it, with possible restrictions on income and some tax benefits. They can rent out apartments if they want.
The “worst case scenario” here is the owners selling to the current tenants, which just might mean they lose money. Property owners are not entitled to a “small profit” as you put it. If they want risk-free income, they can buy a Treasury Bond.
For whom is renting the best option?
Anyone who isn’t going to live there for very long - there are a lot of costs to selling a house, while renters can just move out at the end of their lease. Some of this is risk management - house values sometimes go down, eventually they tend to go up (hopefully tracking inflation long term - often more but I agree with those who say this is not sustainable). The real gains of owning a house don’t come until you have been there for a few years: your payment stays the same while inflation means you get more income (eventually many pay it off) ; and you can reconfigure it to fit your personal needs. A good rule of thumb is if you won’t live there for 7 years you should rent.
If you are good with tools you can save a lot of money doing your own labor - fixing your house can be a good hobby for some. However if that doesn’t describe you then renters mean someone else deals with all the contractors to repair things which can be nice.
In the end everyone has a different situation so there is no common rule. You need to figure out what is right for your situation (some of which is only a guess!) and trust that others figured right for theirs despite coming up with different answers.