My husband and I have owned property and provided housing in Portland for over 40 years. When we first started, everything was done with a handshake and, later on, a lease. This is not the case for the last three years. Things have gotten so complicated that you literally need to be a lawyer in order to keep up with all the legal changes. The lease is not five pages, but 50 pages!
Before rent control, we usually didn’t increase rent for our current tenants. After they left, we were able to update our property and set the rent to market value. Over the last three years, this has not been possible. We now have to increase rent for our current tenants every single year. After they leave, we won’t be able to update our property because we can’t recuperate our losses.
With property taxes increasing, homeowners insurance rising and the cost of building materials at their highest, it is becoming less and less feasible to keep our buildings up to the standards that we would like.
The June ballot question gives a chance to landlords to adjust the rent to market value, after current tenants move out voluntarily. The proposal is incredibly narrow in focus and easy to understand for both tenants and housing providers.
Rudina Gribizis
Portland
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