Maybe someone already commented on this but there is a post going around on Tik Tok claiming that as of 7/1/24, landlords are not allowed to require 3X income to rent ratio. Upon further digging I'm coming up with some foolish legislation called the "Safe at Home Act" whereby you are not allowed to collect more than 2X monthly rent for SECURITY DEPOSIT. Has nothing to do with 3X monthly rent to income although I'm sure they will come up with something like that should the current regime remain in place this November.

Here in NYS it's moot anyway because they have already outawed collecting more than 1 month's rent for security deposit statewide anyway back in 2019 under the dreaded HSTPA.

NE, it's all too real. The tenants are now emboldened and have a lot of kahonies. The local LL group I belong to has property managers writing in telling them that the TENANT is telling them that it's illegal to ask for 3X income to rent ratio! As my parents used to say "bold as brass!"

Not real here. Can't find that it's real anywhere, except for deposits which has always been true here: if you call it a Security Deposit you can only collect max 2 months on an annual lease. No biggie.

What's funny is I've always heard a Tenant can collect treble damages on improperly held deposits, etc. but treble or punitive damages seems specifically *against* the law.

I understand that CA gets some big money in rents but why oh why do you guys stay there?

Guess finding ways around the silly legislation is easy enough once you put the time into it but man, talk about losing your freedom while you jump thru all the new hoops.

Yes, we've been discussing it for a few days in this thread:

www.mrlandlord.com/landlordforum/display.php?id=14729736

Quoting Tik Tok or any social media about what I can and can't do = DQ. Got that added to my list. I would have just lumped it under being uncooperative at first, but might as well be specific.

Missouri limits security deposit to 2x the rent. If the tenant is so bad that 2x the rent doesn't cover me... I don't want them. Think about that for a second: you're EXPECTING that person to cost you more than $3,000 on a $1,500 rental. That's a huge red flag. Just deny them and move on.

I only see ONE possible usage for a Sec Dep over 2x the rent: someone who got evicted a long time ago (10+ years) and has since paid up on their judgment, proving they knew what they did was wrong and did what they could to make up for it. Still a risk, but possibly one that could be mitigated with enough $$$ in the bank.

Governments by and large cater to the most vocal groups, and tenants outnumber landlords by a significant number. So it doesn't surprise me that they pass laws like this... and might actually pass a law saying you can't require income of 3x the rent. Okay... fine. That means I'll just demand perfect credit and references and file the DAY they are late.

Every act they take to limit what I can do causes me to find a work-around, most of the time making things harder for less-than-stellar tenants. Which makes housing more expensive/hard to obtain unless you're perfect in every other way. Dumb laws generate unintended consequences.

Btw, you know what ISN'T getting clobbers with dumb laws like these? Commercial landlords. I can require whatever I want. 10x the rent income and 5x the rent security deposit if that's what it takes. I have only one limit: what the market can and will bear. As it should be.

Yes, the thread got off-track. This was about the currently ongoing "trend" on social media saying that some new federal law has outlawed any "multiples of the rent" requirements. There appears to be no such thing even being considered -- just some made up thing that caught on.

Then others started talking about maximum deposits that are usually multiples of the rent. Those laws DO exist in various states, but have nothing to do with what was being discussed here (and in the other recent thread about the same thing) recently.

John, Again it PASSED in CALIFORNIA for property owners with 4 doors and under. Any more than 4 doors in CALIFORNIA and you are subject to the "one month sec dep only" In NYS this one month rent for sec dep only is statewide.

mapleleaf18: Again, you are talking about something completely different (security deposits). That is the point of my post -- please read it again. This thread -- which YOU started -- was about whether or not you could require 3x the rent in income. THAT is what is trending on TikTok and it is simply incorrect. There is no law to support that.

You then mentioned that you found a law about security deposits. Again, that is something completely different than if you can require 3x the rent in income, of course.

So, yes, I know it "has nothing to do with 3x income to rent ratio." I'm the one pointing that out!

You asked about one thing (income being 3x the rent -- which is the incorrect TikTok garbage) and then started talking about something completely different (security deposit maximums).