After a new landlord hiked rent, Jose’s neighbors were pushed out

 Lawmakers can stop this from happening to anyone else

When greedy landlords buy a building and hike the rent without making any improvements, good people are pushed out, and our neighborhoods suffer.

That’s what Jose is enduring in his New Britain apartment after a new landlord bought the building. He’s watched his neighbors be pushed out when their rent went up by 30% to 40% – hundreds of dollars more than what they were paying before.

“Right now, I am waiting to do more negotiation with the landlord, but I know I am going to end up paying 30% more,” he said during a community call with The Connecticut Project.

The single father of two is hopeful the state legislature will stand behind renters by passing a law that would let a fair rent commission stop these kinds of excessive and cruel hikes.

“Hopefully, they will pass a law that will help tenants who live in low income housing and help prevent rent from getting increased too much,” Jose said. “Right now, landlords can do whatever they want to. It’s not easy with crazy rent increases.”

Right now, fair rent commissions can step in to stop big hikes, but the law is vague about what’s considered “harsh” and “excessive.” Often, fair rent commissions will investigate buildings and find that landlords want to increase rent in a unit that’s not safe enough for someone to be living in – and are sometimes deemed as “unfit for habitation” by safety officials. However, because the law is vague, fair rent commissions can be confused about what’s considered too much. House Bill 6892 would give more clarity and better protect renters by empowering fair rent commissions to decide that a rent increase of more than 10% within the first year of a new landlord buying a building was “excessive” or “harsh,” unless the landlord makes improvements have been made to two major building systems, like the plumbing and air conditioning. Small updates like painting the walls or planting some flowers wouldn’t give a new landlord a free pass to hike rent. 

Jose hopes stories like his are a wakeup call for lawmakers. Earlier this year, members of the legislature’s Housing Committee heard from Jose and other renters about how they’re struggling to make ends meet when greedy landlords buy a new building and increase the rent for no reason. Many renters shared their stories about paying more for rent, even when a landlord hasn’t fixed leaking pipes, cleaned up mold, or finished other repairs needed to make a unit safe.

“When a new landlord comes in, they need to be accountable to the community,” Jose wrote in his testimony to the Housing Committee. “If they just buy a building and do nothing to improve it, they shouldn’t be allowed to make huge rent increases that price out hard-working tenants.”

Renters shouldn’t be worried that someone new will buy their building and increase the rent without making real, substantial improvements. When rent goes up, other landlords can try to use that increase to hike the rent on other properties, leading to everyone in the area paying more for the same apartments. That, in turn, forces people out of their communities and children out of their schools.

Renters’ rights give tenants and fair rent commissions the power to fight unjustified rent increases. Take action today to tell your representatives to pass HB 6892.