A Michigan graduate student has taken to TikTok to express her frustration after rent for her two-bedroom, two-bath apartment allegedly increased by $585 in just two years.
Posted by Bri Barte (@bribarte), the video shows the poster tearfully explaining that her rent increased from $1,640 to $2,225 from August 2021 to January 2023. She says she and her boyfriend were given two updated leases to implement these increases, with one being backdated and requiring them to backpay the additional rent.
@bribarte I hate it here
♬ original sound – Bri Barte
The Daily Dot has reached out to @bribarte via Instagram direct message regarding the video.
Housing price increases over the past two years have impacted several metropolitan areas in the U.S., largely driven by remote workers moving to more rural or suburban areas during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Bloomberg report.
A report of housing market trends from Redfin shows the Ann Arbor housing market specifically saw around an 11% increase in housing costs year-over-year from 2021 in December, which is outpaced by the rental increase @bribarte said she received.
Some viewers said they’d had similar experiences, with up to $1,000 added to their rent at the end of their lease term.
“My apt raised the rent by $1K when the lease ended,” one commenter wrote. “We are a country of nomads now – you’re not alone.”
“First of all that is insane in two years,” another user said. “I think my rents gone up $70. There has to be something. You are getting bent over and not in a good way.”
“My rent for my three bedroom 1 bath apartment in southern Oregon, went from 680 to 1610 in one year,” a third claimed. “Soon as our governor passed a rent control bill.”
