Rent Law Loopholes

I am appalled at the demagoguery inherent in the article on rent law loopholes in which the authors attack vacancy decontrol.

The citation of the Jessie Davis eviction case is a red herring that serves only to emotionalize the decontrol issue. So too with the citation of the plight of the homeless in California. To lay either of these problems at the doorstep of vacancy decontrol is to trivialize any serious discussion of the real problems that the rent control laws seek to address.

To argue that because “a small minority of landlords attempt to evict tenants to re-rent units at much higher profits” we should eliminate vacancy decontrol, is a non sequitur, and is tantamount to the absurdity of arguing in favor of the elimination of property rights because of the illegal actions of a few property holders. Abandoning decontrol would seriously impair the property owner’s ability to carry on a viable economic venture, which would in turn have a negative impact on the tenant.

FRED BURSTEIN

Woodland Hills