Well, it was an interesting week here in Tampa Bay for the renal market. The city of Tampa voted against going forward with a rent control ordinance although it may come around again late this year or early next year for discussion. City staff presented specific data on why this would be a bad decision.
Pinellas county for voted for an ordinance including a tenant bill of rights, source of income protection for rental prospects, late fee notices and rent increase notices when above 5%. In my opinion none of this will resolve the current supply issue of affordable housing.
The city of St. Petersburg will be holding another meeting on August 11th to discuss rent control as well. Their approach is using a resolution versus an ordinance. Will this stand up to current statutory requirements? We shall see.
Hillsborough county also updated its tenant bill of rights to include a notice to tenant when rents will increase more than 5%. This does not mean rent cannot increase, only that the tenant needs to be notified a certain amount of time in advance.
Last month Orange county, in the Orlando area, voted for a rent increase notice as well similar to the above.
Obviously as rents increase due to economic conditions, including a lack of supply, many localities are looking for ways to give some relief to tenants. That's very understandable. The question is will these approaches do anything or will they cause more problems in the long run?
