Can Your Landlord Double Your Rent?

Photo by Jose Alonso on Unsplash

I often feel quite lucky with my current landlords. They’re not perfect and I don’t always agree with them, but one thing they don’t do is massively hike my rent.

No, I’m not happy with any rent increase as it tends to eat up increased income. But in the past I had landlords increase my rent by $500 a month to force me out.

But I’m not the woman in Boise, Idaho, who posted to social media the wonderful letter her neighbors got after new owners bought the building she lives in. She’s on a lease, but some of them aren’t.

Their rent is being increased from $700 a month to $1450, a more than double increase. The landlords also kicked out some disabled people receiving housing assistance.

So, can landlords actually do this? Sadly, in most of the U.S., the answer is yes.

Hideous Rent Hikes are Usually Legal

Landlords can charge whatever they can get away with. If you look in any given neighborhood, you won’t find a huge variance in rents from building to building. Everyone is charging “what the market will bear.”

Only a very few places have rent control, where landlords are only allowed to raise the rent a certain amount a year.