Tenant rights in Nevada revealed amid rapid rent increases

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) - We’re taking a closer look at the increasing rent prices through the experience of one family man.

He asked us not to share his identity so we’ll call him John Doe in this report.

He says the management company at “The Bungalows at Sky Vista” increased his rent by more than $500 a month.

He says the first time he saw the price hike he felt so sick he wanted to throw-up. “

I wasn’t prepared for that. I was blown away. I couldn’t believe it. I’ve never seen a rent increase that much,” Doe said.

He says he walked to the property managers office for a face-to-face conversation and while the manager was apologetic there was no give.

He says this is the response he heard, ‘It’s market value and they’re not allowed to negotiate.’ He claims the price hike is a more than 35 percent increase.

The additional rent adds up to paying an additional $6,000 a year. This means not minor, but major changes for his entire family.

”One of the things that I’ll have to do is we’ll have to only drive one car and we have three adults that work and go to school. We’re going to have to rely on our own two feet and rely on mass transit. Currently I spend probably $600 a month on food and I will have to cut that at least by half,” Doe said.

We took Doe’s concerns to the senior attorney in charge of tenants rights in the Reno office. His name is Dan Hansen. He says Nevada does not have any kind of rent controls in place.

The only restrictions a landlord has is under NRS 118A.300. It states the landlord must provide 60-days written notice before increasing the rent. If your lease has not expired, the landlord may not increase rent. If you do not agree to the rent increase, the landlord may serve you a 30-day no cause notice to evict you.

The rising prices are another indicator of the growing demand to live in northern Nevada leaving some of the long-time locals to scramble.

“A lot of people are leaving. I don’t know if you want people to stay or if you just want people to leave and I really hope you can justify the cost of raising that much rent and it’s going to something and not just lining your pocket,” Doe said.

He says he’s going to stay and pay the additional cost because rental prices are going up everywhere.

Click here for a link to learn more about your tenant rights.

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