Shelter is very vital in our lives. The harsh weather condition in which we find ourselves as human will not be of any good for us to survive without shelter. Though some people can find a place of safety under tents, trees, uncompleted building: most of these structures are in the open. There will be need for ‘warmth’ which can be found in the comfort of a well enclosed structure (shelter). This makes it a necessity for one to be well accommodated (sheltered). In the world we found ourselves, getting an accommodation is somehow difficult- considering where we found ourselves (rural or urban setting). Shelter can be made available either by building a self-owned or getting a rented apartment; patronizing in home mortgage, detach house.
Shelter (accommodation) is a basic architectural structure that provides protection from the local environment. Having a place of shelter, of safety and of retreat that is a home, is commonly considered a fundamental human need, the foundation from which to develop higher human motivation. House can be built in a large variety of configurations. A basic division is between free-standing or single-family detached homes and various types of attached or multi-family residential dwellings. Both may vary greatly in scale and amount of accommodation provided.
In the state of shelter (accommodation), consultations and considerations need to be made; putting into account location, materials to be used (whether imported or local base materials), manual labor, finishing and furnishing. For this reason, when one puts up a building and wants to lease it out, (s) he puts all the operating cost made into account before letting it out for lease. For this reason, it makes the amount to pay for accommodation varies from different location instead of having a fix amount for all accommodation (lease homes). In this cause, one may ask when it gets to controlling the affairs of rent in the country who is in charge: the government or the owner of the building.
Renting an apartment can be a cost-effective way for a young or middle-income person to live in or near a major city and enjoy a lifestyle that home ownership could never meet the expense of. Conversely, leasing tariff has a propensity to rise over time as landlords find leaseholders willing to pay more or as the cost of housing rises due to inflation.
Let us enlighten ourselves on what rent control is, thus: Rent control is a program that some cities set up to set limits on how much landlords may raise rent on existing tenants. It is most common in cities with large populations where tenants may have difficulty finding affordable housing. Most rent control programs include exemptions and exceptions, so rent control does not apply to all rental units in the city. Rent control department is one of the departments under works and housing.
Purpose:
The purpose of rent control is to ensure that a city has a certain amount of affordable housing for lower- and middle-class residents. Without rent control, rental tariff would rise and fall based on supply and demand. Cities that are desirable places to live could easily become overpriced for all but the wealthiest residents, causing problems with labor market and causing large economic inequality.
Policies:
For this rationale, every city lay down its own specific policies for rent control. Most policies allow landlords to raise rent by a certain percentage each year. This may be a flat rate, or may be tied to inflation. Landlords may petition for larger increases because of unusual economic circumstances, but for the most part tenants can expect to pay only slightly more in rent each year.
Advantage:
The primary advantage of rent control occurs for tenants. Besides paying an affordable rent, they can predict what rent will cost in the future and budget accordingly without the fear of large or sudden increase that may make living in an apartment less affordable. Rent control also has advantage for cities, allowing neighborhoods to retain economic and social diversity and allowing middle-class workers to freely live within the city rather than being pushed to low-cost suburbs or urban slums.
Drawbacks:
Rent control also has some significant disadvantage. It creates artificial scarcity by encouraging tenants with rent control to remain in their apartments longer. This can reduce number of available apartments at any given time and drive up the price of available units. In addition, rent control creates an incentive for illegal rental practices, such as unauthorized subleases that tenants use to make a profit by renting their apartments to new tenants for more than they already pay the landlord under rent control.
Duties of rent control department:
In every country, there is a rent control department that sees to the cordial relationship between tenant and their landlords. They are to assess the revocable rent of any premises on an application made by any person interested in the premises. They are also to issue rent cards to tenants and landlords to keep records of rent payments by tenant, and receipts by landlords. Measures are taken by the rent control department against tenants who abscond from rented premises, under an order made by rent magistrate. Complain is made to the rent magistrate of an offence committed under this act via investigation and determination by the tenant.
Most landlords go for loans to put up these kinds of houses for rent, for this reason they are forced to demand two years advance payment before giving out their buildings for rental. By law: ACT 1963, one is to pay one to six months advance payment before the room or house can be given out for rent. For this reason, when you ask them to take one month, the amount will not help them to pay back their loans, this makes them demand more than is expected of them by the rent control department. This makes most people express their grief over the high cost of rent; lack of proper regulation is also a concern of many.
I believe when proper measures are put in place by the rent control , it will help in healthy relationship between tenants and landlords, also price of building materials should be less expensive to make it possible for the middle class citizen to be able to own a house or if not that, be able to rent a house to make life worth living.
