But NAR and industry groups voice support for multifamily tenant protections, including 30-day written notice for rent increases.

The National Association of REALTORS®, the Housing Solutions Coalition and industry groups are speaking out against the Biden administration’s proposed rent caps. Rent control is shown to reduce housing supply, and it consistently fails to improve communities. The White House plan calls for capping rent increases at 5% per year on landlords who own more than 50 units.

“Price controls may seem appealing, but they have backfired on local governments and harmed the people we need to help the most,” says NAR President Kevin Sears. “Developers are reluctant to build in areas where the government imposes rent controls on new buildings, and these policies actually decrease the supply of low- to mid-range housing units.”

NAR has long advocated against rent control, calling such a policy an “infringement upon private property rights” and arguing that property owners should have the right to set their own rents at fair market rates.

Carl Harris, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders, says: “[The plan] will worsen the housing affordability crisis by discouraging developers from building new rental housing units at a time when the nation is experiencing a shortfall of 1.5 million housing units.

Separately, NAR and other industry groups threw support behind new mandatory tenant protections for multifamily properties financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Covered housing providers signing new loans on or after Feb. 28, 2025, will be required to provide tenants with:

  • 30-day written notice of a rent increase
  • 30-day written notice of a lease expiration
  • A five-day grace period for rent payments

The coalition, which includes the Mortgage Bankers Association, National Multifamily Housing Council and National Apartment Association, said the tenant protections were “generally consistent with practices employed by quality, professionally managed housing providers and we will work diligently with the [Federal Housing Finance Agency], the government-sponsored enterprises and our members to make sure these new initiatives are implemented as efficiently as possible.”

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