A sign of these times is the helplessness due to the deregulation of a State that withdraws from the scene, leaving “the market” without control and citizens without protection against abuses. In the world of housing this is exposed like never before: According to a report by Tenants Grouped, contracts started in 2024 under DNU 70/2023 pay between 40% and 50% more than those that are under the Rental LawHowever, they point out that Only 38% of current contracts are framed within the norm.
In newer contracts, The 3-year period occurs in only 9.7% of cases. On the other hand, the share of short-term rental contracts increased sharply. Temporary contracts with a duration of less than or equal to 1 year accounted for 27.2% of cases. And contracts between 1 and 2 years are now the most frequent, in 57.7% of the cases surveyed in June.
Under the validity of DNU 70/2023 the annual update is almost no longer presented as a possibility: el 95.5% of tenants have seen their rent price updated in periods equal to or less than 6 months. On average, 7 out of 10 who signed their contracts after the decree suffer monthly increases or every 3-4 months, at most. And in many cases, dollarized.
Indebted and evicted
Almost 9 out of 10 respondents (88.4%) considers that it will be difficult for him to pay his rent in the coming months.
Currently, 62% of renter households surveyed have debt of some type: half have credit cards, 37.6% go into debt to buy food and three out of ten do it to pay other debts.
More than 80% responded that the housing situation and the evolution of their salaries are the main causes of concern today.
Jorgelina is a tenant in La Plata. «I rented in February and We rose 71% in the first quarterly update by ICL“, he laments in dialogue with Time. Alludes to the Index for Lease Contracts (ICL) which takes into account in equal parts the monthly variations of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Average Taxable Remuneration of Stable Workers (RIPTE).
Marcelo C., a tenant in Balvanera, bordering San Cristóbal, a few meters from Avenida Independencia, on Rincón Street, had his rent raised by 80% this quarter, despite the fact that the official inflation rate was one third. He says that other coworkers (he works in a private mail service) had to move farther away to find affordable housing.
A number that is growing, and that is the cruelest face of the renting drama: 15% responded that they were evicted because they could not afford the rent increases.
«Among the responses surveyed, the vast majority (97.8%) believe that the only ones who benefit with DNU 70/2023 and its consequent elimination from the Rental Law are the rentiers and the real estate market,” say Inquilinos Agrupados.
And the crisis has already transcended a generation: 41% of tenants stated that their parents are not owners.
Return to the old people’s house
With rents through the roof (300% increases were recorded in the first quarter of 2024), a social phenomenon began to grow: those who return to live in their parents’ house.
The social phenomenon is repeated in many other people who have jobs and medium or low incomes, who had to seek refuge in the family home from the uncontrolled increases after the devaluation of December and the DNU 70 of the national government that repealed the Rental Law and went on to “liberate” the market: now it is all an arrangement between private parties. Owner-tenant. A relationship that is already known to be asymmetrical.
Facundo S. was renting in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Villa Pueyrredón, near Agronomía. At the beginning of the year, the value of the apartment went from $50,000 to almost $200,000. The expenses he was paying were already at $35,000 and were increasing. Everything was going up, except for his income. Although Facundo works almost all day as head of purchasing for a restaurant firm, in January he was forced to make an uncomfortable decision: he returned to live at his parents’ house..
«It was crazy, 250 thousand pesos per month plus taxes, Basically all my salary was going to go there, that’s why I decided to return to my family.. “In addition, they asked me for surety insurance, now they don’t want any more proprietary guarantee,” Facundo told Time.
Since January, Facundo moved his belongings to a room in his parents’ house in Colegiales. He contributes to the common expenses, food and sustenance for his pet, a small cat. Only then does he have enough to occasionally go out for a beer or share a meal..
«I don’t have to pay rent, that gave me a greater degree of enjoyment possibilities, to go out and have a beer with someone, no luxury, in some sense I feel that I have the privilege of having a roof over my head, something that many people don’t. has”. But on the other hand, he feels the sensation of a step backwards in his independence: “a person aspires, at least, to live alone, to support themselves, to have a dignified life, it is an important setback.”
Tenants in trouble
The uncontrolled increase in rents has other aspects: retirees who go to live with their children, families who move to more distant neighborhoods or cities.
«Tenants cannot pay the rent, and in the face of renovations and the excessive prices that are being asked, the option for those who can is to return to live with their parents.“, noted some time ago Tamara Lescano, member of Inquilinos Agrupados.
He says that the consultations regarding this situation multiplied: “it is very distressing, even colleagues from the group had to return to live with their family, in a room with children and their partners, because they could not afford the new rent values».
It exposes cases of tenants who are promised a renewal for a certain amount and at the last minute the owners or real estate agencies ask for much more money or break their promise. With decree 70/23, the difficulties were exacerbated. «Deregulate the adjustments within the contract, the terms can be whatever the rentier comes up with, then Uncertainty and fear of not being able to pay it later are generated..
