More than twenty tenants of an apartment complex in Hialeah, Florida (USA), on Wednesday demanded an immediate response from local authorities to an exponential rent increase of up to 60% that could end in eviction.
The protesters, mostly Hispanics and tenants of a building located at 1501 West and 42nd Street in Hialeah, a city bordering Miami, affirm that as of February 1 they will have to pay an increase of up to 60% of the price of the rent or, otherwise, they will have to leave.
The property owners’ decision was notified “with very little time” in advance, according to the protesters, who displayed signs reading “No to eviction” and “No one is leaving Hialeah.”
Other posters displayed by the protesters, representing some 20 affected families, bore the caption “No to gentrification.”
“Here they paid around 1,050 dollars (per month) and they raised it (the rent) to 1,650; from December 22 they left us a notification saying that we had to pay that or, otherwise, leave,” Denio Abel told Efe. Sierra, who works as a driver.
“What lives here is a working class. This is disrespectful. They said that they had studied the market, but that is a lie. We do not want them to pay us rent, but we are protesting to have a fair rent,” he added Sierra, who has lived in the building for four and a half years.
For her part, María Rubí explained that if she paid $ 900 per month, she will now have to pay 1,650 each month.
“I have been living here for 25 years, something like this has never happened. This is not Miami Beach or Downtown (downtown) for us to raise our rent so much,” the woman reproached.
Some tenants of the two-story property do not have an annual rental agreement, as is usual in the United States, and pay month to month.
The protesters, some of them with around 20 years living in the building, asked for annual contracts for no more than $ 1,200 per month.
Others indicated that, faced with a possible eviction, they are looking for rental options in a real estate market currently with too much demand and few offers.
According to RealPage, a real estate data analytics company, professionally managed apartment rentals increased 10.3% in the third quarter of 2021.
While the owners have rights, so do the tenants, according to a real estate agent acknowledged to a local media.
“You have the right to be told when there are intentions to sell the house. You have the right to a notice of at least 30 days,” Rosa Decarlo, a real estate agent for Keller Williams Realty Partners SW, told CBS Channel 4 on Wednesday.
