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Comment by rwmj | Hacker News Reader

Is renting stable in the United States? In the UK it's very precarious. The landlord can throw you out after a year with a couple of months' notice[1], so you might have to move every year. You don't want to be kicked out of your house and have to move when you're in your 70s or 80s. Plus the usual stuff like you cannot make any modifications, even paint a wall.

[1] This might change to 4 months: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renters'_Rights_Bill

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Not at all stable from my experience.

Plus, it is in no way tied to what the "average renter makes". In my state there are very few laws about rent increases. It can basically happen within 1 month of lease renewal IIRC. Which does not allow (most people) time to move and typically the surrounding rents have increased higher than the proposed increase so it often does not save money.

It really depends on the landlord or property management company involved though. Some do 5-10% increases every time they can because "that's the way it is"....some don't.

If I would have bought a house 6 years ago I would be spending ~$500/mo less than I am for the house I currently rent.

A couple of months' notice? That's an eternity compared to what we have here. Where I live in the US, tenants have very few rights. You can get one month notice. And you can't change anything at all. Even getting them to wire the electrical up to code is a crapshoot.

In Germany, it's practically impossible to cancel the contract with an elderly person that has lived in the apartment for many years (as long as the person keeps paying the rent that is). The person of course needs to be willing to exercise their rights.

Most states only mandate a minimum of one month’s notice. Many landlords write a two month notice into the lease but this is mostly for their benefit so they have advance notice to find the next tenant and minimize vacancy.

Even in states with reasonable tenants rights, your lease will still have provisions like "If the cops come to your door, we can kick you out that very week"

One noise complaint? One false noise complaint? You're out.

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