My brother lives in a 700 square foot duplex that was built in 1960 and is a mile from the airport. He has lived there for 18 years. His landlord just gave him notice that in December his rent is going up from $1500 to $2000 a month. When the people bought the property in Sept. 2021 his rent went from $800 to $1500. I know a couple of other people that had their rents go up in Jan. 2022 anywhere from $300 to $900 more a month, now they are being told that in Jan 2023 they are being raised by $600 more a month. They have lived in the places 10 + years. These places aren't in million dollar home neighborhoods. They are in old neighborhoods where the houses were built in the 1930's to 1940's. Landlords are really getting greedy. My brother and the other people have never even asked the landlord to repair anything, if something needs fixing they do it themselves. My brothers landlords excuse is "Well things have gone up in cost" The only thing they pay is the property tax, which was cut by 5% this year. This is in Idaho.

I shop suburban apartment complexes. I can't believe what some of these apartments are going for!

Tell your brother to look into affordable housing. There are set income limits, but they are very generous.

inflation is 10%. not 25%

I've read there has been a influx of people moving to Idaho. Probably a result of demand increasing so landlords are seizing the opportunity where limited or no rent controls are in place.

The one thing renters do have going for them in the area I live is that landlords cannot increase rent more than 5% per year, although rents are significantly higher to begin with.

Idaho doesn't have any rent controls. The politicians here say they don't want the government interfering in peoples lives.During the pandemic there were a lot of people that moved her because of remote work. Now they are moving back out as they have been called back to their offices. And are leaving the state.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

I shop suburban apartment complexes. I can't believe what some of these apartments are going for!

Tell your brother to look into affordable housing. There are set income limits, but they are very generous.

Idaho has very little affordable housing. You have to sign up and the current wait period is 4 years to get in. And my brother is 83 years old.

If housing prices go up rents go up.

If rents go up and are borne, then housing prices go up.

There’s a cost to everything.

Using one’s money to house strangers is not a charity, it’s a business.

I sympathize with the increased costs. I’m struggling immensely in this economy.

I used 1850 kWh (AUG) in 2020, then 1630 kWh (AUG) in 2021, and now 1270 kWh (AUG) in 2022 and the bill was the SAME!

That’s the economy we are in.

Is Edison gauging?

Are they giving fat raises to their employees?

Can I do anything about it?

As a landlord, I definitely sympathize with renters on the high costs of housing and the increases I have seen do SEEM predatory, in some cases. Because i know how many variable costs come with running a rental business, I can't say that is entirely the case. I have mortgages on my properties, because there is otherwise not a clear write-off, other than depreciation. Renters are doing the same thing I am doing -- using other people's money. I am using the bank's money to create an income for myself. The renter is using my money to make sure they have a safe place to live. My property costs have doubled over the last 10 years, but so has my equity. Unfortunately, I am not able to use that equity to pay bills, so I depend on the rents. Maintenance costs have easiliy tripled, insurance costs up by 25%, and the cost of materials is crazy, along with the waits to get things done. All of these things factored in, there are some clear INTANGIBLES that the renter doesn't see, but benefits from. I have home warranties, property management and termite protection. Long story short, I took a bit of a monthly loss one one unit for the last 2 years, because I had really good tenants. They decided to become homeowners and now with anew lessee, the rent went up by 30%, but my profit is the same as it was 4 years ago. Lots to consider, but it is definitely not always about the landlord just being greedy. It is a business, and if they didn't do it, I think there would be less available housing overall, which would be a different crisis, but still a crisis, nonetheless. Just my thoughts.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/18/2022 10:31PM by sachseshopper.

Have a free energy audit done. Call your electric company to schedule it.

The cost of fuel went up so our electric bills are paying the price.

@Tanischri87 wrote:

If housing prices go up rents go up.

If rents go up and are borne, then housing prices go up.

There’s a cost to everything.

Using one’s money to house strangers is not a charity, it’s a business.

I sympathize with the increased costs. I’m struggling immensely in this economy.

I used 1850 kWh (AUG) in 2020, then 1630 kWh (AUG) in 2021, and now 1270 kWh (AUG) in 2022 and the bill was the SAME!

That’s the economy we are in.

Is Edison gauging?

Are they giving fat raises to their employees?

Can I do anything about it?