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Seattle Bans Rental Junk Fees

70 points · 173 comments · toomuchtodo

  1. matchbok3 · · focus · HN ↗

    [dead]

    1. solid_fuel · · focus · HN ↗
      > If you want to know why big, progressive cities have the most unaffordable housing, look no further than this law.

      And how exactly does the causality for this work, in your head? Rent is already high in the big, highly desirable cities, before this law.

      Is this some new form of retro-causality? A law passed today drove rent up 5 years ago?

      1. matchbok3 · · focus · HN ↗
        It is an example of how cities regulate housing, which I believe pushes prices up, not down.
        1. gs17 · · focus · HN ↗
          In this case, I don't know that the result will be increased prices necessarily. If landlords are forced to show people honest prices (as opposed to now where the advertised price is at least a few hundred under the real price, but those are mandatory "fees" instead of rent), they may have to bring prices down to compete. It's possible that the currently "honest" landlords will raise rent to match the new higher prices with fees lumped in, so we'll have to see how it plays out.
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