Higher rent costs are prompting some tenants to take part in rent strikes, which are often seen as renters’ last option to not get priced out. During a rent strike, tenants withhold their rent checks in an attempt to pressure landlords to negotiate rents and typically to improve building maintenance, too.
The move forces landlords to comply or take each of the tenants who are striking to eviction court individually to argue their case. That move can prove costly. But rent strikes can also be risky for tenants, who may be gambling on being evicted or becoming homeless by not paying their rents.
“A rent strike with one person isn’t going to change anything,” Trinidad Ruiz, an organizer with the Vermont Beverly local chapter of the Los Angeles Tenants Union, told LAist.com. “You need an entire complex to do the rent strike.”
Several buildings in the Los Angeles area have reportedly had tenants turn to this strategy. In one community within Boyle Heights, tenants reached an agreement with their landlord earlier this year following a months-long rent strike.
But not all cases of rent strikes are successful; some could end up with tenants evicted.
Advocates say tenants are banding together because they feel like they have no other choice in being priced out. “When you’re in a no-win situation, you fight,” Ruiz says. “They aren’t able to pay the rent, so they’ll end up on the street. If they lose the rent hike, they’ll end up on the street. Only if they win the rent strike, then there’s a chance they’ll stay.”
Some tenants are using the decline in the condition of their apartments to fight against rental hikes. In California, a law says renters are allowed to withhold their monthly rent checks if landlords fail to maintain a property, like addressing mold, insect infestations, or other issues.
“The rent increase is legal, but [the landlord] also has to maintain the apartments,” Elena Popp, a lawyer with the nonprofit Eviction Defense Network, told LAist.com. “The lack of maintenance gave the tenants the opening to do a rent strike."
Some landlords argue, however, that the rent increase is to cover the rising maintenance costs.
Tenants may need to brace for more rent hikes ahead. Many landlords say they plan to raise rents even more over the next few months.
Source:
“Rent Strikes Are Back. Can They Save Poor Tenants From Homelessness?” LAist.com (Aug. 30, 2018)
