Readers React: I’m a landlord. Why should I be forced to absorb increased costs under rent control?

To the editor: As the owner of rental properties, I find Gustavo Arellano’s apparent belief that landlords increase rents by unfair amounts ignorant and offensive.

Arellano feels that rent increases would not be as severe if the tenants and landlords were neighbors. But when I go to buy gas or groceries, do the CEOs of those companies have to explain their price increases to me face-to-face?

Most properly managed rental properties do not have large rental increases, as the rents have kept pace with the market. When large increases do happen, typically the amount being charged was far below market rate. If I were to arbitrarily raise the rent $500, my tenants would leave and lease another house down the street at current market rents.

I constantly get mail from large corporations that want to buy my properties. If rent control passes, I will most likely take them up on their offer and purchase properties outside California. Why should landlords be the ones to absorb increasing costs when everything we need to purchase to own and manage our properties has no price controls?

Mike Novak-Smith, Riverside

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