The Rights of Renters

A lot of the official story of the economy in the past few years has been about the ending of an unprecedented increase in home-ownership in a wave of foreclosures. Owning your own home is not just part of the American Dream but is also considered a marker of how well the larger economy is doing, with home purchases and construction of new homes routinely tallied and announced as part of the monthly economic news. Yet this focus solely on home ownership leaves out a very large number of people from the calculus, namely those who rent. The number of people who rent may not be something we tout, but that number is growing.

Over a third of people in the United States rent rather than own their own homes. While the percentage of renters was 31% in 2004, the percentage has grown to 35% as of 2012. In numerical terms, it means that around 43 million households are renting. That translates to over 100 million people who live in rental units. While discussion often ignores this vast number of people, if we are serious about reducing this country's levels of inequality and making an economy that works for everyone, we cannot leave those who rent out of the discussion. 

In the first place, it is foolish to suppose that we can safely ignore renters because we think the economy should make it so that nearly everyone who wants to can own a home. Renting will always be part of our economy, and at no point will we reach a state where everyone can own their own home. Poverty, lack of opportunity, and the increasingly mobile nature of our economy, in which professionals can expect to hold a number of different jobs in different fields over the course of their working life, mean that home ownership is either not possible or not advisable for large numbers of people. Nor can we ignore renters because we suppose that they are all students. While renters under thirty make up the largest share of those renting (many, but not all, of them presumably students), the sheer numbers of those who rent in other age groups are useful to examine. Over 24 million people ranging from age thirty to age forty-four rent, over 18 million people between the ages of forty-four and sixty-four rent, and roughly 7.7 million people older than sixty-four rent as well. In recognition of this, we need a push for the rights of renters. Renting will, very likely, always be a situation heavily tilted in favor of the landlord, but we should work to curb excesses that unfairly punish renters for merely being renters. These excesses help to limit economic opportunity, leading to landlords who unfairly profit off their tenants, not to mention that our tax code helps to subsidize home ownership while doing no such thing for renters. 

These are just a few suggestions to start this long-needed discussion, ranging from small to large. This discussion leaves out the basic, underlying fact that rents are increasing steadily, and this is making it hard even for middle class workers to afford, a topic large enough to merit its own separate treatment. 

• landlords should be prohibited from charging an application fee for filling out the preliminary paperwork. In the past, I've paid application fees ranging from $20 - $40 just to fill out a basic form. This is unfairly profiting from potential renters.
• if pets are allowed in the rental unit, renters should not be required to pay a monthly pet fee, on top of a pet deposit. Pets can certainly do damage to an apartment, but if a landlord will allow pets in the unit they should not charge an additional monthly fee on top of a one-time pet deposit. This additional monthly fee could well put pet-ownership out of reach for many who otherwise would.
• landlords should be prohibited from charging a "convenience fee" for any online payments. If a landlord chooses to make online payments an option for their renters, they, not the renters, should be the one who absorbs whatever credit or debit card fees are imposed. "Convenience fees" represent an unfair additional cost to renters.
• should a renter have to end the lease early, they should not be required to pay the remainder of the lease (being required to pay rent for two additional months if the tenant leaves after ten months in a one-year-lease, for instance). In some cases, including one I've experienced myself, needing to end the lease early results in having to pay rent for the time remaining, even though that landlord will most assuredly rent the unit out again, resulting in a financial burden for the renter and several months of double-income for the landlord.  
• renters should be able to deduct a portion of what they've paid in rent from their taxes, just as homeowners are able to deduct a portion of their mortgage. This will help to level the economic playing-field, and can be paid for through limiting the deduction for homeowners above a certain income level, who will still be financially secure without it. 
• landlords should be given an incentive to make their units more energy-efficient. What form this would take can be debated, but it is certainly true that landlords currently have little incentive to take steps to make their units more energy-efficient. This results in units that have high electricity and heating costs, a financial burden for many who are already poor. Incentives for landlords to weatherize their units, replace old appliances with energy-efficient ones, or even add solar panels, would benefit not just renters in lower energy costs but our economy and our environment as a whole.
• finally, a non-partisan arbitration board should be created to settle disputes between landlords and tenants. If the rights of a renter are ignored, getting a lawyer may be beyond the financial reach of many tenants. An arbitration board, created at the regional level in each state, would be on-hand to deal with these disputes in a fair fashion.

These are just a few basic ideas for making renting more fair for those who rent, and should be considered the starting point for a larger discussion about this issue. If we truly want an economy that works for everyone and a society that is more equal for all, it is essential that we take on some of the fundamental unfairness that seems to go hand-in-hand with renting.