The Pottstown borough in Pennsylvania is on the verge of implementing new home rentals rules. The rules are still being considered and are reportedly patterned after the guidelines that are in place in Gettysburg. However, some borough residents and landlords have argued that the new rules will drive good landlords from the town and will result in a decline of property values.

In response, some code officers from Gettysburg have stated that this will not be the case. They claim that years of having the same rules in place at Gettysburg have not resulted in declining home values and landlords leaving town. As a matter of fact, officers have claimed that the rules have contributed to landlords' ability to attract good tenants and have actually led to property value increases.

The proposed new rules will be discussed by the Borough Council within the week and a vote is expected to be called a few days after council deliberation. The rules were reportedly introduced by Borough Manager Jason Bobst in June.

Under the proposed new home rentals regulations, absentee landlords would have to have a manager who resides within a five-mile radius of the borough. Landlords would also be required to have annual licenses for each unit being rented, with renewals available only to those with good records. In addition, yearly inspections will be held and a deposit for each unit designed to cover abandonment and non-maintenance costs would be paid to the borough.

Pottstown borough officials have stated that the rules will be effective in improving rental property situations in the area as proven by Gettysburg which already has the same guidelines in place. However, critics of the proposed rules have stated that officials have not canvassed the public's opinion about the rules.

Meanwhile, a number of landlords have opposed the new regulations, claiming that they are oppressive and can lead to abuse of power. They added that the current rules in place are standard regulations and have served the area well so they should not be changed or modified.

The debate surrounding the proposed new rules on home rentals will soon be resolved as the council is set to deliberate within the week. The final decision on whether these rules would be implemented or not will be known to all residents in the coming weeks.

Some of the private universities and colleges in Massachusetts offer luxury homes for rent to their presidents as part of their compensation packages. The estimated monthly rent for the homes of college presidents were revealed following the Internal Revenue Service’s request to higher education institutions to include nontaxable perks in reporting the compensations received by their executives.

According to reports, the president of Harvard lives at Tory Row in Cambridge in a Colonial residence with an estimated monthly rental value of $8,000. Meanwhile, the Northeastern president lives at Beacon Hill in a five-story town house with an estimated monthly rent of little over $6,000, while his MIT counterpart occupies a home near Charles River which rents for $5,800 per month.

According to the IRS, the new rule aims to present a more transparent picture of the way school administrators are rewarded. However, an examination by Globe shows that colleges vary in the way they interpret the IRS requirement. Some schools assessed the value of entire luxury homes for rent, while others considered only the portions that qualify as private residences.

The variation happens because some college presidents’ houses reserve the ground floor for entertaining students, alumni, faculty and visiting dignitaries and is considered public space. As an example, Boston University president Robert Brown describes his home as an apartment located above a restaurant because the house serves as venue for university functions every week. Brown’s home is considered the most expensive, with an estimated monthly rent of over $20,000.

The instructions from the IRS, according to universities, did not specify the portions of the houses that should be included when executive compensations are added up. Most private colleges admitted that they just decided to value the entire property without considering which parts serve as their presidents’ personal living quarters.

Some local realtors who specialize in luxury homes for rent have argued that some universities have undervalued the rental rates for their top executives’ homes. They also asserted that most of these homes would fetch significantly higher rents in the open market than what the schools reported.

A protest was held by advocacy groups for tenants’ rights after the Los Angeles City Council prevented a proposed ordinance from being implemented which would have frozen property for rent payment increases for a period of four months. The protest, which happened at City Hall, led to several arrests.

The proposal was meant to prevent owners of apartments from implementing rent increases between May and October 2010. The ordinance was reportedly proposed to give tenants some respite from the impact of the nationwide recession. The City Council ended up voting 10 to five against the proposal. It has now been sent to a committee for another study. Meanwhile, landlords can raise rents starting July 1 by up to three percent.

Following the vote, protesters made up of tenants and tenants’ rights advocates, reportedly caused chaos at the council meeting by shouting at council members and waving slogans. The protesters were said to have waited for five hours to hear the result of the vote. Upon hearing the result, they reportedly filled the aisle of the Council Chamber and police had to be called in to get them to leave.

According to some council members, the protesters expressed their anger over the vote for the property for rent measure in a violent manner and refused to heed the call for order. Three protesters were arrested after police officers were called in to restore calm to the Chamber. Some members of the Los Angeles Community Action Network, an advocacy group that participated in the protest, have revealed that one of the three arrested individuals was injured while being restrained by the police.

The group of protesters had stated that they will go to the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Division station in support of the arrested individuals. Those who were arrested will be booked at the station and members of the demonstrating group have vowed to remain at the same station until their three colleagues were released.

The measure that would have prevented property for rent owners from raising rents have been voted down by the Los Angeles City Council. The ordinance is now in the hands of a special committee that will review the proposal further.

The properties rental market of New York adds two glass towers to its list of properties for rent. The towers are launched in the Upper West Side, with rooms requiring rental prices that are not commonly heard among walk up rentals scattered around the area.

A number of homeowner associations in Tampa Bay are now allowing more homes for rent in their deed-restricted communities because of the need for foreclosed houses to be occupied and because of the increase in real estate investors owning properties in these communities.

Properties for rent in Tampa, Florida will still face rental and occupancy challenges in 2010 despite expected declines in rental inventory because of continuing job losses, according to analysts working for Marcus & Millichap.

Homes for rent in Albany are being neglected by landlords and banks as they lay on each other the responsibility of maintaining the rental properties.

Owners of house rentals in San Francisco may have to ready themselves for additional challenges to their rental investments after the Board of Supervisors in the city approved a proposal to extend eviction protection laws to rental homes and condos built after 1979, the year the rent control legislation was passed.
Under this new legislation, [...]

More and more homeowners are losing their houses to foreclosure. There are different reasons, such as job loss, relocation, and other issues. This continues to injure the real estate market and the housing industry. House prices continue to fall in price, and more homeowners are becoming landlords.
There is a lot of evidence that prove this [...]

Houses for rent in Northern San Joaquin Valley in California are being offered at discounted rental rates and with lots of move-in incentives because of fierce competition among landlords.
A lot of apartment rentals in Modesto are being offered at only $400 per month, with the first months free for renters signing one-year lease agreements.
According [...]