Rent increases

The cost of rent continues to rise in the Central Valley and many renters are struggling to cope with the ever-changing prices.
Many Modesto renters say if the rent prices continue to climb like they have the past several years they may be forced to move out. One local property management firm says the end of the rise might be several years away.

"In one way I’m very angry about having to stay here, but on the other hand I’m blessed to have a roof over my head," said Tina Gilstrap, a renter of eight years.

RENITA BARBEE, 52, was still grieving the death of her mother last fall when she received another shock. Her landlord, the Wall Street rental behemoth Invitation Homes, was raising her rent to $3,000 a month, an increase of more than $800 all at once. Barbee had shared the three-bedroom Los Angeles rental home with her mother, husband, and daughter. But her husband wasn’t working after a recent stroke, and without her mother’s Social Security payments to help cover the bills, there was no way that Barbee’s family could afford to stay put on just her salary as a city dispatcher.

Rent is on the rise in the Central Valley.

The Central Valley experienced some of the fastest growing rents in the mid-sized city category, according to a study by RENTCafe, a website that connects renters with properties.

The five-year analysis revealed that the average rent in Stockton, Lodi, Tracy, Manteca, Modesto, Turlock and Merced has risen year over year since 2013,
Stockton placed No. 2 on a list of fastest growing mid-sized U.S. cities in terms of rent increases, with a 7.8 percent rent increase year over year.

A federal district court judge in Oakland, California, has given the go-ahead for tenants of one of the largest landlords in America to pursue a class-action lawsuit alleging unlawful and excessive fees to renters who are late on payments.

Marin landlords will now be required to enter into mediation with their tenants if they increase rents more than 5 percent within a 12-month period.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt an ordinance imposing the new requirement. The mediation requirement also will be triggered if a landlord reduces services to a tenant, if that service reduction is equivalent to more than a 5 percent rent hike. Landlords will be required to notify their tenants of the new ordinance by Feb. 12.

How much will you pay for your next apartment?

With Rentberry, that all depends — on how much you’re willing to bid. The new real estate website is shaking up the Bay Area’s housing market by encouraging potential renters to bid on homes the way they would on designer handbags or celebrity autographs on Ebay.

The Los Angeles City Council has shown only lukewarm support for Mayor Eric Garcetti’s proposed “linkage fees,” which would be funded by developers and earmarked for low-income housing. But even as the policy has stalled on a citywide level (it was finally green-lit by a key committee in August), a coalition of advocates has been steadily working on other ways to create developer incentives and get more affordable homes built in South Central L.A.

In the world of New York housing, where landlord-tenant battles are both routine and brutal, Joel Wiener has plenty of scars.

One of the city’s top 10 rental apartment owners, Wiener’s been sued for overcharges and shoddy repairs, and denounced by politicians for making housing too expensive for the working class.

California Gov. Jerry Brown’s extension on the price-gouging ban stimulated much debate and confusion at the Berkeley Rent Stabilization Board meeting Tuesday night.