Residential landlords in Miami-Dade County are now required to provide renters at least 60 days’ notice of rent increases of 5% or more, as renting in South Florida grow increasingly expensive.

The legislation was proposed by Commissioner Eileen Higgins and unanimously approved during the commission meeting on March 15th.

Throughout the country, renters are facing a massive rent spike by at least 50% and according to Miami-Dade County, they hope this legislation will help curb those numbers and make Miami more attractive to tenants.

This new legislation would apply to renters nearing the end of their contracts as well as those on month-to-month leases who are facing the 5% rent increase. Also in the new legislation is the notice on eviction time going from 30 to 60 days, including month-to-month leases that came from a 12-month lease.

According to a commissioner, landlords could bypass the new legislation by offering weekly leases. This new legislation can only be enforced in court.

Higgins stated during the meeting, “Thank you all for your understanding about how fair notice is the right thing to do, but not all landlords are doing the right thing. So, this requires them, if their mothers didn’t teach them to do the right thing.”

There are also 2 additional bills for rent control expected to be voted on by this summer, Tenant Bill of Rights and Rent Control. The tenant bill of rights would allow tenants to withhold rent for certain maintenance issues that the landlords haven’t repaired. Landlords would also be required to provide renters with information about their rental rights for state and county laws.

If approved the Rent Control legislation would put a cap on rent increases for 12 months. There would be many hurdles with this legislation that involved multiple votes by commissioners, the mayor, and Miami-Dade citizens.