rent controls


Rent Control

A local law setting maximums on the amount landlords can charge tenants on certain properties. This is done primarily to protect tenants from certain actions, such as increases in rent at the end of a lease on tenants who ask for repairs. Proponents argue that rent control gives tenants a degree of stability that would not otherwise exist. Opponents contend that rent control discourages investment in housing, reducing the quantity (and perhaps the quality) of rental housing available.

rent controls

the regulation by government of the RENT payable on a leasehold property by a tenant. Rent controls are used to establish maximum rent levels to assist tenants who are on low incomes. Such controls can distort the housing market, however, by discouraging the supply of rented properties and reducing the incentive to maintain rented properties in good repair. Rent controls may also reduce the geographical MOBILITY of labour, insofar as ‘sitting tenants’ will be reluctant to move from rent-controlled tenancies.