For years now, landlords and their associations have been telling the citizens of Bellingham of their concern over rental rates increasing if licensing and inspection of rentals is put into effect. The Zonemaven, not having been taken in by their feigned anguish, countered by saying that landlords have been raising rental rates for decades for reasons that have nothing to do with licensing. But the landlords stuck by their guns, so distressed were they with the thought that they might have to pass to their renters a $24 per year licensing fee.
Now we discover that, because rental availability is tight (the vacancy rate is 2.4% - or as low as 1.6% last fall), rental prices will be going up. (See the Herald article on the subject by clicking here.) The reason for the rise in rental rates has nothing to do with any factor other than the mere fact that landlords are taking advantage of a tight market. Nothing is forcing them to hike rates. So much for their concern for the pocketbooks of Bellingham's renters.
2 comments:
Dear old Zonemaven...
When will you ever stop expecting thought patterns to surface in the great american commonsense famine
I have passed through experiences wherein buyers would choose a "desirable" home on the basis of its wallpaper
The facts you detail will not impress such people whose gambit of comprehension is best expressed in a single phrase.... "do not confuse me with facts my mind is made up"
Lies and profiteering are as American as apple pie It just so happens that rental interests are doubly endowed with the expertise of deceit due to their masters degree in obfuscation
Old?
If nobody speaks out, there will be no change. Facts must be stated or the falsehoods are perpetuated. As for common sense, without facts, common sense cannot take hold and rational process is halted.
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