A ranking system that puts the tenants' rights debate on a spectrum, from renter friendly to landlord friendly.
RentCafé created a ranking system to rate states by whether their housing laws favor renters and landlords. The ranking system was built by focusing on "10 common aspects of the landlord-tenant relationship, which include security deposits, rent increases, the warranty of habitability and eviction notices," according to a post explaining the rankings, written by Nadia Balint.
Vermont is the most renter-friendly state, according to this ranking, while Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Arizona, D.C., Maine, and Alaska appeared near the end of the renter-friendly end of the spectrum. On the other extreme, Arkansas and West Virginia are the least renter-friendly (also known as landlord-friendly, depending on your perspective). Louisiana, Georgia, Wyoming, North Carolina, Idaho, Ohio, Mississippi, and Colorado also populate that end of the spectrum.
RentCafé also created an interactive map to showcase the score of each state.
The article also includes a section devoted to how the local culture in each state played out in the development of tenant protection laws in each state.
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