There are no rent control laws in Las Vegas, which means landlords in this fabulous city are free to raise rent on you at any time and for as much money as they want. One local man got a hard lesson in this incredibly unfair fact when his landlord surprised him recently with a rent increase from under $2k to over $6k a month. This is just one example — of many — where landlords are essentially terrorizing families in clear retaliation against the rent moratorium that was in place during the height of Covid19. What can be done about this — and will Nevada lawmakers be willing to protect local families who are being threatened with homelessness by despicable, greedy people?
KVVU News reports that a man named Derek was in shock when he was hit with the astronomical rent increase. He had been paying rent in the amount of $1,495 every month, but his landlord thought it’d be a totally chill thing to do by increasing his rent without warning to $7,890. Naturally this all came after the rent moratorium was lifted in Nevada, which was preventing landlords from evicting struggling families during the quarantine. During this moratorium, several Las Vegas landlords were on social media complaining about the whole thing, so it seems like at least one landlord is trying to find a way to get even, and they’re taking it out on people who had no choice in any of this.
Fortunately for “Derek,” a local viewer of KVVU News saw his story a few weeks ago, and she took it upon herself to help this man out and find him an affordable place to rent, but not every Las Vegas resident is this lucky and not every family is going to be able to find a way to get assistance while greedy people gouge them unjustly.
What can be done about this?
Many areas have rent control laws, which vary from state to state and city to city. The state of Nevada doesn’t have rent control, and we are under something that is known as Dillon’s Rule — which prohibits local government from making and enforcing laws or regulations that aren’t expressly decreed by the state government. In other words, Las Vegas can’t impose rent control laws without the state of Nevada also implementing them, or at least providing the framework to do so. That means in order for anything to be done about these greedy landlords in Las Vegas or any other town, Nevada state lawmakers will have to pass legislation and create guidelines which allow it to be done. But how likely is it that something like this will happen for Nevadans anytime soon?
So, for the time being, it doesn’t look like there will be any relief for Nevada residents who are unfortunate enough to be renting their homes from medieval land barons. What you can do, however, is contact Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak and demand that the office of the Governor address this growing concern. After all, it was Sisolak who imposed the quarantine that left so many people without jobs, without assistance and without a means to actually maintain rental payments, and it was Sisolak who ordered the rent moratoriums here in Nevada. Let it be Sisolak who addresses this problem, and let suffering Nevadans know what he thinks should be done to stop landlords from unfairly gouging them to this ridiculous extent.
Housing is a basic need
Food, clothing and shelter are the three basic needs that humans need. The current lack of regulation makes it seem as though the State of Nevada sides with greedy landlords who are dead-set on increasing our homeless population. What do you think about this?
Chelsea Hoffman is a true crime writer with over a decade of professional writing experience. She is best known for her coverage of missing people including the tragic disappearance of Madeleine McCann as well as the heartbreaking cases of Dylan Redwine, Heather Elvis and many others.
