TOOLS FOR TACKLING CORPORATE LANDLORDS

The report argues that corporate housing investment, particularly by private equity firms seeking high returns on short timelines, leads to rent increases, maintenance neglect, and instability for tenants. It proposes a toolkit of regulatory measures: landlord registries to uncover beneficial ownership behind shell LLCs, licensing systems to potentially cap the number of properties owned by a single entity, and proactive inspections to ensure habitability before occupancy. The document highlights Minneapolis's use of licensing to force corporate landlord Progress Residential to adopt strict tenant safety and maintenance conditions, and Toronto's use of a registration and grading system for rental properties.

• Private equity firms are identified as particularly harmful corporate landlords because they target high returns of at least 15%—roughly double other asset classes—within a short exit timeline of 3-5 years, leading them to maximize revenue by deferring maintenance and using 'junk fees'.
• At least 1.6 million housing units in the United States are owned by private equity, though this is likely an undercount. Certain cities show high concentrations of investor ownership: over 65,000 homes in Atlanta, and more than one in five homes sold in Richmond, Virginia, Jacksonville, Florida, and Philadelphia.
• Landlord registries are proposed as a tool to combat the use of shell LLCs by requiring the disclosure of 'beneficial ownership', allowing governments to identify behavioral patterns across a landlord's entire portfolio.
• Landlord licensing can be used to cap the number of properties a single entity operates. While banning property ownership may violate constitutional rights, some jurisdictions may legally deny additional rental licenses to landlords exceeding a specific unit count threshold.
• Proactive inspections, where units are cleared for habitation prior to occupancy, are presented as superior to complaint-based systems because tenants often fear retaliation or relocation when reporting issues.
• In Minneapolis, a licensing and proactive inspection law since 1991 allows the city to revoke a landlord's entire portfolio license for up to five years for persistent noncompliance. In January 2023, the city used this leverage to force Progress Residential to meet conditions including a 24/7 tenant hotline, a ban on acquiring new properties for six months, and the disclosure of all LLCs.
• Toronto employs a proactive rental inspection program that requires landlords to pay a per-apartment fee and post 'restaurant-style letter grades' in building lobbies to increase transparency for tenants.

APA

Bankson, M. (n.d.). TOOLS FOR TACKLING CORPORATE LANDLORDS. Private Equity Stakeholder Project. https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Corporate-Landlords-Report_v2.pdf

Chicago

Bankson, Madeline. TOOLS FOR TACKLING CORPORATE LANDLORDS. Private Equity Stakeholder Project, n.d. https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Corporate-Landlords-Report_v2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Bankson |first1=Madeline |title=TOOLS FOR TACKLING CORPORATE LANDLORDS |publisher=Private Equity Stakeholder Project |url=https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Corporate-Landlords-Report_v2.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{banksonndtools, author = {Bankson, Madeline}, title = {{TOOLS FOR TACKLING CORPORATE LANDLORDS}}, institution = {Private Equity Stakeholder Project}, url = {https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Corporate-Landlords-Report_v2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }