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Vaniver comments on Open Thread, May 25 - May 31, 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: Gondolinian 25 May 2015 12:00AM

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Comment author: Vaniver 27 May 2015 02:45:06PM 0 points [-]

Why does a luxury flat produce a problem for someone with a rent controlled flat?

  1. The neighbors are now different; this will change the character of the neighborhood, partially by changing what shops are profitable and partly just by changing who is around to interact with.

  2. The new neighbors vote, and probably have different political preferences. Among other things, they are unlikely to be sympathetic to rent control.

  3. If every apartment in a region is required to be cheap, then there is no value for the landlord in trying to be tricky. If some apartments are cheap and some and expensive, there is value for the landlord in trying to turn cheap apartments into expensive apartments, possibly by driving out the current tenants to get around the rent control laws.

I'm sure there are more that I've missed; I'm not even touching on the moral intuitions around high prices.

Comment author: ChristianKl 27 May 2015 03:01:59PM 0 points [-]

If every apartment in a region is required to be cheap, then there is no value for the landlord in trying to be tricky. If some apartments are cheap and some and expensive, there is value for the landlord in trying to turn cheap apartments into expensive apartments, possibly by driving out the current tenants to get around the rent control laws.

If there are few apartments on the market because some people do move and high demand those apartments will fetch high prices.