UPDATE: This has been defeated. Check out this article for some 2024 victories against rent control!
Once again, a bill to control rent is floating around the halls of a state government.
This time? It’s Georgia House Bill 811.
With the crazy rate management practices that REITs have employed over the last year, it’s no surprise that this topic is starting to gain more traction. There are industry veterans who have warned about it.
The good news? Each previous attempt has been defeated thanks to the efforts of groups like the Self Storage Association. Also, the rent control measures in this bill are fairly reasonable for a good customer experience.
But rent control isn't the only thing in this bill.
Let’s take a look at this latest attempt in Georgia and go over what the bill includes. Hint: It’s not just rent control.
Before we dive into all the dirty details, here’s the need-to-know:
Rent control may be what is bringing scrutiny to the industry, but rest assured that rates aren’t the only thing that scrutiny will land on.
Quick Disclaimer: We aren’t lawyers, lawmakers, or law experts by any means. If you’re curious about how this bill would really impact your facility, make sure to seek counsel from a legal expert. You might try reaching out to your local state storage association—in this case, the Georgia SSA.
Now, the details. Let’s cover the bill’s rent control measures.
What is rent control? To put it simply, rent control means that a governing body—a state government, in this case—would step in to regulate rates in the storage industry.
When we talk about rent control, this is what we mean.
To summarize, Georgia H. B. 811 includes rent control provisions that make it illegal to:
Here’s the full wording from the current version of the bill as of 2/20/2024:
That’s a lot. But let's be honest, this is already how you should be treating your customers to have a better customer experience.
The really important stuff is what doesn’t fall under rent control.
You may have looked over the rent control provisions and thought, “This won’t affect me at all.”
That’s awesome!
Time to strap in, though, because that isn’t all the bill covers. The rest of it will definitely impact your self storage business in Georgia.
We’re not going to dig into the details of each item, or else this blog post will quickly become a textbook, but here’s a high-level look:
Not adhering to these provisions constitutes “a breach of the rental agreement.”
The aggressive rate management practices of certain Wall Street-traded players in the industry are bringing this increased scrutiny, but that doesn’t mean they’re the only ones who will be impacted.
Just like we’ve seen in Georgia H. B. 811, every self storage operator is potentially at risk of their business being affected because of the attention, regardless of their rate management practices.
If you'd like to read the bill yourself, click this link and then click the "Current Version" button at the top of the page.
Here are some of my other favorite posts to check out!
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