I was a landlord for a while, only one rental property, but I refused to raise the rent along with market increases because the existing rent was sufficient to cover my property expenses. There was no financial need to raise the rent, except for personal gain, so instead I choose to show gratitude for what I already had and passed on the benefits to the tenant.
I think that's how it should be and probably used to be. A lot of landlords with very few rentals.
Nowadays, we have literal company optimizing everything to get the most out of their investment. If they can increase, they will.
A landlord that does this as a side business won't necessarily increase the rent because he will prefer to have a good relationship because he does not want to spend all his time searching for new tenants.
I bought a house last year that I'm going to live in eventually after my elderly parents (who I live with) pass or move into a nursing home. In the meantime I'm renting it out below market to a coworker who needs an affordable place so she can keep her daughter in our school district. I get enough to cover my insurance and property taxes and some additional renovations to the house. I consulted with a property lawyer before buying it and he gave me a copy of his standard lease which he recommends to clients; it included an automatic annual 5% increase in rent. I've rented most of my life and I've never seen anything that rapacious.
In fact the 5% increase will roughly keep you even especially if you are charging under market rent. That's not keeping up with rental market increases, just inflation + the consequences of market increases even if you aren't tracking with rental rates yourself.
If you charge $1000 this year that's around $950-$970 next year. Or to flip it around, say you have $1k in expenses for repairs etc that's around $1030-1050 next year. And that's with average-ish inflation (it was 7% in 2021!). The 5% covers that plus increases in property taxes (jeebus fuck) and insurance costs (holy shit).
You are very commendable for this. However, this is also the reason why we clearly can't rely on people's good will over their greed, because you're clearly exceptional haha
They made it a game
Land Value Tax breaks the game.
Fuck landlords. There should be a 100% tax on the value of land
What does land mean in this context does it mean property? How am I supposed to be 100% tax on property that does not generate money because it's a house? Is the property value drops then I'm losing money under this scheme.
You would not be taxed on any improvements, only on the value of the land underneath it. Building improvements is a good thing and you shouldn't be punished for that. A 100% tax on land value would make ownership of that land essentially worthless, so you would only be taxed the amount that land could produce in rent.
wrong take
I get that it's satisfying to say "the bourgeoisie are bad people!" (and "the proletariat are good people!") but it's not really about moral character: they are two different classes who embody different relations to property.
Ah... divide and conquer.
Your local politicians are very very proud of all of you.
