NVAR

Property Management and Residential Landlord and Tenant Issues

With homeownership being the ultimate goal, the reality is that most individual’s first housing option as they enter the workforce is rental housing. REALTORS® recognize the need to produce rental housing and preserve rental housing stock. REALTORS® are active in the rental housing market in many ways. They can help renter clients find housing in competitive markets, they help their clients purchase properties and rent them out to tenants, and they manage properties for their clients.

The pandemic and the current housing crisis have affected both landlords and tenants across multiple sectors. Rental housing is in high demand and rising rents reflect this demand. Almost half of American renter households pay more than 30% of their income on housing costs. Federal, state and local governments must work together to tackle the cost of housing in the United States. With this in mind, local and state leaders are expected to continue developing options to keep individuals in their homes, prevent evictions, reduce inflation of rents and to preserve rental housing options.

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Local Advocacy Priorities

Relaxing Regulation on Short Term Rentals
Localities across our region have adopted ordinances that limit or prevent the ability of property owners to rent out properties on a short-term basis. The dynamics of this issue are complex. Local governments have tried to find a balance between allowing short-term rentals while facing immense pressure from community advocates to protect the “character” of residential neighborhoods. Officials also fear the loss of both rental and ownership housing stock to non-resident investors.
With the high cost of homeownership, a key feature of an individual’s property rights is the right to gain income from property. The ability to supplement income through short-term rental of a single room in a property, a whole property when the owner is not there, or even an accessory unit can be the difference in maintaining ownership of the property or being forced to move or relocate due to the ever increasing cost of living. NVAR recommends local governments reexamine and relax current regulations on short-term rentals with specific focus on increasing the allowable nights for which a property may be rented annually, and allowing accessory dwellings to be used for short-term rentals.
State Advocacy Priorities

Oppose Rent Control
Rent control (also known as rent stabilization and/or rent caps) is a form of government-enforced price control that limits rents that property owners may charge in market rate rental housing. While the intent of rent control laws is to assist lower-income individuals, history has shown that rent control exacerbates shortages, disproportionally benefits higher-income households and ultimately drives up rents.
Most of the nation’s existing rent control laws were first instituted in the post-WWII economy, when America struggled to find enough housing for returning soldiers. Today, rent control is mistakenly perceived as a method to improve affordability in the face of stagnant household incomes. While rent control policies are often well-intentioned, numerous studies and real-world examples demonstrate that such rules and regulations lead to unintended consequences harming residents, property owners/managers, and the greater community. NVAR opposes rent control and rent stabilization laws and will strongly oppose any attempt to grant local governments in Virginia the authority to oversee rent control policies.

“As a Realtor® and specifically a Property Manager, I am committed to representing and protecting my Owners and Landlords in their real estate investments. We need to ensure that operating as a housing provider is not burdensome on the owner and we need advocate against rent control and other restrictive pieces of legislation that limits their ownership rights.”

Debbie Baxter, NVAR Public Policy Committee

NORTHERN VIRGINIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

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NVAR

Property Management and Residential Landlord and Tenant Issues

Local Advocacy Priorities

Relaxing Regulation on Short Term Rentals

State Advocacy Priorities

Oppose Rent Control

NORTHERN VIRGINIA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®