September, 2007
Mortgage Crunch Affects Renters: Guess who's advocating good landlord tenant relationships?
From a report By Lynne Adkins, KYW News
If you rent a home or an apartment, you know that the cost of renting is going way up and the supply of available residential properties is down.
Blame it on the housing market credit crunch: when it's more difficult to borrow money, fewer people buy properites to rent out. And if supply is tight, prices increase, according to Phil Lord, executive director of the Tenant Union Representative Network in Philadelphia:
"We've already seen renters increasingly finding rents going up and finding it difficult to move into places because of credit problems and credit issues."
He says there's not much a renter can do about the situation except wait until the credit crunch eases – and maintain a good relationship with the landlord:
"Making sure repairs get done, pay rent on time, keeping in touch with the landlord and communicating well. All those things help smooth landlord-tenant relations."
He suggests you keep rent costs to 30 percent of your income, but adds that it's more common now to pay up to half your salary for rent.
