Ordinance requiring Naples landlords to give 60-day rent hike notice stalls

People who want to know if their rent is going up in advance will have to wait even longer for a decision.

The vote on an ordinance requiring landlords to let tenants know 60 days ahead of time if rent is going up 5% or more will not happen until at least August.

Rent.com says rent is up 60% in Naples in the last year. The average apartment now goes for $2,800 a month.

All renters want is a heads-up from their landlords before their rent jumps.

For months, Naples City Council has gone back and forth on whether to pass an ordinance to that effect. On Wednesday they couldn’t get it done.

“The more we push this down the road, the more we get hung up on technicalities and ignore that the situation is not as bad as it is, the more angry these residents are going to get,” said Elizabeth Radi with the Collier County Tenant Union.

Because the city failed to advertise a revised ordinance for 10 days, the council could not vote Wednesday.

Now with members taking their summer break, the vote won’t happen until August.

Radi said she’s disheartened by it all.

“Every day, several people go homeless, and right now our county is failing us and our city as much as they want to help,” said Radi.

Collier County voted no on a similar 60-day notice ordinance.

Radi believes this is a crisis and doing nothing is not acceptable. “By August when everybody comes in, and you can quote me on this, there will be so much momentum built up that no one will be able to ignore this situation. We will be on the front doorsteps of the city hall and we will be on the front doorsteps of the county building. Whatever we have to do to get this 60-day ordinance passed we will do.”

Radi hopes Naples City Council will finally pass the 60-day notice ordinance in August.

As for Collier County, Radi hopes to convince the commissioners to reconsider their no vote.