An Assault on Our Lives

As you said : "But I had no interest in the "American Dream" of home ownership." So you made your choice.

Sorry to hear of your situation. If your rental is below market, the owners have less money in their pocket, so you can have more money in yours. Fairness depends on perspective. If you look at CAP rates locally, I doubt they are making tons of money on this new investment either. Ownership is risky too.

There are many reasons that the "American Dream" is of home ownership. You've just learned on of the big ones. You somehow feel that you have a right to live on that property simply because you have for so long. The world doesn't work that way (nor should it). If you are a good tenant you have the right to negotiate with the owner a price for your continued use that you are mutually agreed to. Nothing more. If you are not a good tenant the owner can/will do what he can to discourage you from staying.

I'm sorry for your situation. But yeah, this is the risk you take as a renter, as balanced by the risk others take in lashing themselves to home ownership with a 30-year mortgage. Not many renters have a 31-year rental run.

Sorry to hear about your situation Robert, Is it possible to give a few more details if you feel comfortable... How many bed/baths is your unit, what was the rent and how much was the increase?

I can't believe the comments on here [some]. My family were LL's for YEARS in New York [Queens]. We had a tenant who lived there forever, basically until the property was sold. They NEVER raised his rent. He was a great tenant, kept the place up and even did his own repairs. It was a great relationship. I could just as easily say if you can't afford your property without a renter then don't buy it. It cuts both ways. So yes people can do what they like in our capitalist society - charge their high rents, do what they want with the property, all of that, but at what cost? Greed versus humanity. This is what our society is now, hence all the problems we are seeing. Lack of humanity. Entitlement. The rules only apply to me [I can buy a property I can't afford without renters], but not to you [too bad for you that you didn't buy property]. Total lack of soul.

The whole reason we bought a house 19 years ago is that the fixed rate mortgage payment was inflation protected and that we’d have control of our destiny.

Robert, you admit that you could have bought a home, but made a conscious decision to not buy a home. You can now freely move to another rental as other adults do. You lost me when you called the choices you've made for 31 years an "injustice". We all have to grow up sometime.

Robert,I'm sure a lot of folks here can relate to your plight.I hope you don't have to leave.You get to go and take pics with people in places that were me and my buddies extra large playground in the mountains and backcountry and you have been my connection for that now that I can't go anymore myself.Hope you can find a place in the area and continue exploring.

After 35 years of occupying an office in downtown Santa Barbara, as well as making $300,000 worth of improvements at my own expense, a wealthy investor owning more than sixty downtown properties bought the building and raised rents from $2/s.f. to $8.60/s.f., essentially evicting everyone. I had two months to find another site. You don't have to look far to see this happening here at home as well.

Please don't bash him...I am a renter...have owned over 6 homes, in my lifetime.
Bought here, in Santa Barbara, top of the market..in 2006.
Got cancer...went into for closure...
Was mortified....
Have been a good tenant...6 years, now 2 years...it is hard being a renter...been lucky to communicate, pay on time.
But the neighbors, all know you are renters.

Santa Barbara Housing Authority has many, many low-income housing units for seniors in this town. Give them a call. Get on the waiting list. Subsidized senior housing is known for its higher turn-over. Much faster movement up the waiting list for subsidized senior housing in this town. SBHA has made living easy in this town for qualifying seniors - huge inventory and multiple options. Everyone needs to take a lot at the SBHA website to learn what we are already doing for our aging in place residents.

I hope you two can land safely in your feet.

Robert, I don't know you, but have seen you riding the same bus as me from Goleta. I'm sorry you're going through this. However, it's the shock and fear right now, and no words can ease the pain. You will find another place soon...maybe a transitory spot and then onto another for a better move! Go forward! Don't look back!

Sorry you need to move. Im not trying to be harsh, but the new owner has rights and expectations that tenants will pay fair market rent.
I’m sure they gave you proper notice of 60 days when you refused to pay market value rent.
I am also having a hard time with your blaming not being able to work because you were given a notice to move. Many people move and still go to work.
And your stmt, “ Some have said that this is just the risk one takes as a renter. But that is not true in civilized countries where renting is normal for most people”.
Anytime a person pays current value for a Property they expect to get current rental values.
Over 60% of America are renters. You’re not the only one that has to move because you do not own your own. You said yourself, you chose to not buy even though you could have.
You should be glad you were paying under market rents for so long and you didn’t put a down payment down to buy. Hopefully you saved that money since you were living below market value. Be happy you saved all that money over the 31 years.

It’s also troubling that you don’t recognize that a new owner had to pay current market value for the property and needs to make an income off their investment.
The person should be mad at, besides yourself for not taking control of your home by buying, is the old owner. Their cost basis was much lower and could afford to not raise your rents to market value. If they gave the property away for what they paid 31 years ago they could have stipulated to not raise your rents. But they didn’t and you didn’t ask them to.
This new owner may do the same thing for new tenants. They may be a great land lord just as yours was. Just because you don’t like paying market value rent, don’t get mad at them.
What is also troubling is that the new regulations force propertyowners to raise the rent every year to protect their investment.
An income property is only worth its cash flow potential. If there are rent caps a land lord has to raise the rent every year to protect the value of their investment which means every year your rent go up unlike the old days where you stayed at under market rent until the property sold.

Please don’t blame others for something you could have prevented and something for which you’ve been underpaying for years.

If the “owner” of a property loses his right to raise the rent, remodel or renovate the property, or occupy the property, then I think the tenant has effectively taken ownership of the property. Challenging the concept of property ownership raises a number of interesting questions. If you owned a vacant house, would it be worth the risk of renting it to someone if the renter obtained the right to live in the house for life paying below market rent? How would that situation impact the availability of rental housing? How would the value of your house be impacted if prospective buyers didn’t have the right to evict a tenant in order to move in? Would a property owner be entitled to have his property tax assessment lowered to 0 if his property was rendered unsaleable and worthless because a long term tenant refused to move out? Alternatively, would a tenant become responsible for paying the property tax if they effectively take ownership of the property?

Robert, I'm really sorry about your plight and misfortune. Having been a long term tenant typically makes you an asset to most landlords but all to often the Gordon Geckos of the world come in and strip the place bare and leverage it to the hilt to boost profits. It sucks your elderly landlords needed to sell and sold to such a profiteer. Alas you're now in the same boat most SB renters are in who live in properties that have changed hands in the last 20 odd years, properties saddled with debt that old timey rents just can't cover. Something's going to break, it has to 'coz a just and healthy society cannot afford to turn everyone to the streets who can't afford to pay exorbitant fees/rents but aren't paid fair wages. Best wishes finding something decent and affordable.

Wait until renters wake up and find California voters passed the current "split roll" attack on Prop 13. All commercial property will get huge property tax increases, which naturally will be passed on to the renters. Are landlords greedy asking for market rate rents, or are tenants greedy when they demand under-market sweetheart deals?

Some of the comments here are deplorable.... Maybe your mothers are proud?

Robert, I hope that your many friends and acquaintances in town will help connect you to a decent rental. I agree, our system of home ownership as a profit center is whacked. Most Californians are so used to the system, we can’t see how it could be any different. And yet, as you say, in other countries people still find it worthwhile to be landlords, despite renters having more protections. Obviously our version of real property ownership is not working well for the majority of citizens, especially in Santa Barbara. I used to think I wanted to own a place with a rental unit, but the numbers have never worked out. And it is true that if one buys now, one would have to charge obscene rents just to make ends meet (unless one had enough cash up front to put down a 50% or more down payment, which is not feasible for any but the already-very wealthy). I guess I can be thankful that I had unpleasant rental experiences early on, which pushed me to buy a modest home three decades ago. And of course the housing market, both for rent and purchase, just keeps getting more out of line with incomes. The stress of being a renter in this environment can not be good for the health of our citizenry.

Robert, I am very sorry and wish you the very best luck in finding someplace you and your wife like! You ask, "What would you call it if someone caused you to lose your home of 31 years through no fault of your own? If that person disrupted every aspect of your life and cost you large sums of money?" I would call the situation, "housing reality", especially in desirable locations. I am not sure there are many places now in this country which provide rent stability, without having that rent move up (rarely, if ever down) with the "fair" market value. I am not sure how the new owner cost you "large sums of money," unless you're referring to the rental prices you'll have to pay for housing similar to what you've had. But, whatever, really good luck!