Leaders in Collier County want landlords to give more notice before raising rent

Landlords are raising the rent on tenants, often with little notice. Leaders in Collier County want to change that by giving people a 60-day notice for rent increases.

If the commissioners give their OK, the 60-day notice will only be for renters in the county, not renters in Naples or Marco Island.

“It sends a message and I think it sends the right message that we want to, at least be fair to tenants,” said Collier County Commissioner Burt l. Saunders.

Collier County Commissioners debated the idea Tuesday. They believe most landlords will have no problem with the ordinance, but not every commissioner likes the idea of a mandate that’s tough to enforce.

“We want to make sure we’re, we’re voting on something here that is actually not only going to be enforceable but does what we need it to do,” said Collier County Commissioner Rick LoCastro.

“I’m not interested in adopting an ordinance that isn’t enforceable or creating more bureaucracy or burden,” said Collier County Commissioner William McDaniel.

Neighbors like Elizabeth Radi said Collier County needs an ordinance like this. “We have a chance to maybe do one thing that can help the individuals in this county through this rental crisis, and we’re playing around with logistics,” said Radi.

She made it clear that finding a place to live is very difficult.

“Many are putting in 10 to 20 applications spending up every bit of money they have just for these applications, and there’s 20 other people on these applications and being denied for no reason,” said Radi.

The county board of commissioners will talk about the proposal again in a couple of weeks.