Rental costs in Florida have skyrocketed in 2021 by as much as 30 percent By Adriana Montes This makes Florida a no-go zone for renters and one of the questions many people are asking is, ‘why is this legal?’
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ell, legally, a landlord has the power to raise the rent on a new lease and they can do that at their will. However, in light of the current situation, legislators are trying to attack the issue through a bill filed recently. SOME RENTERS have already experienced the rise by 29% and term this as ‘criminal’ According to Attorney Denita Jones with the Legal Aid Society of Palm Beach County, “Unless the Florida Attorney General’s Office intervenes or the legislator puts a cap on the rental increase, there’s really not much anyone can do,” Jones said. WHAT DOES RENT RISING IN FLORIDA MEAN FOR THE OVERALL HOUSING MARKET? Landlords in South Florida for long have been
living in a free market where they can do as they please, they will raise their rents, and unsurprisingly find people ready to take the units. This has made them notorious and the people whose bank accounts couldn’t keep up were hastily left behind. 2021 was a hard year for many people as they tried to recover their lost jobs. Meanwhile, South Florida landlords saw this as a unique opportunity to accelerate the trend capitalizing on the fact that there are too few new apartments that have been built and affordable housing far from reach. While that is happening, renters in Florida have little to no control of the market which by the way makes Florida one of the worst places to rent. These tensions have reignited the conversation over rent control- a proposal that has always failed in the past. But seeing rent control working in other states, the situation might soon change. MARCH 2022 | 31
