Rent Control

I disagree totally with Mr. Jacobs [The Fallacy of Rent Control, Nov. 8]. Oh, and by the way, I am a landlord!

Rents have gotten totally out of hand. The reason is not solely because of supply and demand. The main reason is that Wall Street speculators have made a substantial inroad into the real estate market. These corporate thugs have great buying power, much more power than the average home buyer or investor and thus can corner and manipulate the market jacking up prices and rents as high as they want.

The remedy would be rent control as envisioned by the recently defeated proposition 10, which provided among other things that a landlord was guaranteed a fair return on his property. Such a scheme should provide that rental boards must make decisions based on legally sufficient and credible evidence with the right of judicial review for any unsatisfied party.

Once rent control really becomes a reality, the Wall Street blood suckers will leave the market like the rats they are leaving a sinking ship. Another sad thing is that an average investor who buys one of these properties will have a mortgage with exorbitant rates will have to charge exorbitant rents to make his or her payments. I would make rent control applicable to ALL properties, including those built after 1995. At any rate the present situation is untenable.

Oh, and, incidentally, I do not charge my tenants exorbitant rents!