FOX Business is reporting that Orange County, Florida voters (home to Orlando & Disney World) will go to the polls this Fall and vote on a ballot initiative that would implement rent control for one-year in one of America’s fastest growing metros. However, according to the report, Florida state law already prohibits the practice, except in the city of Miami Beach, which imposed rent control measures before the Florida law limiting them was passed. The Florida Apartment Association and the Florida Association of Realtors recently filed a lawsuit in an attempt to invalidate the initiative. The measure calls for limits on rent increases in multifamily buildings to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index. Luxury units, single family homes or vacation rentals would be exempt. Stay tuned…
“It is adverse and antagonistic to the public interest and to the interests of the Plaintiffs and their members to allow the Rent-Control Ordinance to be placed on the ballot or enforced by Orange County where the Ordinance is unlawful and invalid,” the associations said in court papers.
“The associations say that Florida law prohibits rent control ordinances except in an emergency, and the current situation doesn’t rise to that standard….The associations also argue it could have the unintended consequence of discouraging the construction of new apartment buildings and other housing.”
Click here to read the full story at FOX Business.
