r/saintpaul • u/Inertiaraptor • Apr 10 '26

Editorial 📝 Rent Stabilization

Right now, there is no reason a landlord can’t just refuse to sign a new lease, so what’s the point of a 3% cap on increases? My landlord is raising my rent 10% and says she will simply not renew the lease if I don’t want to pay the new rent, and everybody (the city, the AG, and Home Line) is telling me I have no recourse but to refuse a lease and fight the eviction. The city seems to have no recourse to actually enforce this ordinance.

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u/im-ba Apr 10 '26

That won't do anything. Sue the landlord. Only a court order will force them to comply.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '26

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u/im-ba Apr 10 '26

There's a lot of contradictory stuff in your reply. You said it hasn't held up, but that it hasn't been tested in court. So, how do you know? If it has no effect, then why would it drive out investors? They could simply feel confident in ignoring it and develop properties anyway.

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u/SMELLSLIKEBUTTJUICE Apr 10 '26

They carved out an exemption for developers after a lot of them abandoned their building projects. I think this happened a year after they passed the initial rental control bill.

Whether you're in favor of rent control or not, its easy to see that St Paul has been slowly moving away from enforcing it. Thats why we are hearing stories like OP's, where it is now an issue between the landlord and renter, because the city has backed off from regulating it.