The city of St. Paul is putting the finishing touches on the rent control ordinance. Starting May 1st rent increases for all rentals are capped at 3% with some exceptions. The city has a rent control website.
Property owners will be allowed to “self certify” rent increases up to 8%. That ought to be an interesting process. I don’t understand how the ordinance is going to be enforced especially the rule that caps rent increases between tenants. How will new tenants know what the last tenants paid so that they can complain?
Builders have put various projects on hold because the ordinance also applies to new construction. Building more housing is a great way to increase supply which could help keep rents down.
Rent control will have an impact on the value of rental properties but that isn’t going to show up for a while. The people I have talked to that are in favor of the ordinance favor it because housing is so expensive and they believe that rent control will help make it more affordable. The creators of the ordinance did not look at data from other cities or consider the impact of the ordinance on new construction.
