Cheryl, having been involved in the property management field for 20 years, I can offer a few explanations. First of all, it is a tight rental market out there, at least in CA. Landlords are tired of bad renters costing them money and time. With the threat of possible rent control, some owners are jacking up rents, just in case, I have seen articles blaming the legalization of pot for rent increases too. There are more and more people with evictions, bad credit, etc. and unfortunately, even those with good credit lack the understanding or ability to properly care for an owners property. There are many good renters but it is a crap shoot. Someone may look good on paper, but in fact turn into a nightmare, but also vice versa. However, landlords need to also be carefull about how they use criminal backround checks, as well. They could be causing themselves problems as well. I would say that there are as many uneducated (as far as rental laws) owners as there are tenants, so everyone needs to do their homeowork before signing a rental agreement
|