It’s been a few decades since I’ve rented, and my previous landlord was very transparent with providing information about increased taxes and utilities to explain why rent was increasing. He knew that if he just increased it for the lolz, I’d happily just find another place to rent.
With the market being the way it is, the shortage has provided the leverage crooked people can use against renters.
I do wonder how many landlords are crooked, and how many are being forced to drive up rent due to the rise of excessive tax hikes, insurance premiums, utilities, maintenance and labor costs, etc. I know personally, my home’s property taxes have more than tripled in the past 5 years. I’m now priced out of my neighborhood.
I might be a stray data point, but I had a smoking hot partial differential equations professor who dressed for the weather during the summer semester. Didn’t learn a damn thing.