The constant outrage over and focus on month to month increases in rent and rent increases overall is leading to calls for rent control and other measures to penalize landlords for rent increases. This misses an important point. Landlords make rent increases and pace them out over time based on various factors.

When rents don’t go up on a regular basis and follow the needs of maintaining and operating a building, landlords can sometimes end up having to play catch up with rents, and this can lead to larger one time increases. On the other hand, landlords can often push off increases in rent, and over time make smaller increases.

Let’s take an example of a unit that signs first year for $1,000 rent.

In year 1, tenant pays $1,000 per month, for a total of $12,000 that year.

Now the situation changes. On the left is a landlord that raises the rent $50 yearly, for the following two years. On the right is a landlord that skipped raising rent after year one, only raised rent at the end of year two.

The tenant on the left has only about 5 percent of a rent increase, which sounds nice. Over three years, the tenant pays a total of $37,800.

The tenant on the right has a big 10% rental increase at the end, which sounds rough, but they actually pay less over the three years, for a total of $37,200 for the three years. That’s $600 less!

Here is that same chart but the landlord who was even more lax on the right. Again, in the last year shown they pay the same amount as the tenant with the yearly raises, $15,600 that year. But the tenant on the left paid $9,000 more than the tenant on the right over the lifetime of the tenancy. The tenant on the right just paid a single 30% bump instead of a little over the years.

I remember a horror story about a person who lived in Ballard for 20 years in an apartment and never got a rent increase, and then had the rent doubled all at once. Here’s a chart showing the amount of deferred rent on that apartment over time and how much that saved the tenant.

Over time, because the rent never went up, the tenant saved, in theory, a hundred thousand dollars over the life of that tenancy. Mike Scott putt this effect into a graph.

When put all together, rents go up and they go down over time. Landlords and tenants are buyers and sellers in a market. Sometimes landlords make good deals and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they raise the rent too much and see their vacancy rate go up. Other times, to avoid the potential of losing tenants, the defer rents or even lower them by offering a free month to a tenant who is considering signing another year long lease.

The tenant landlord relationship is like any other relationship between buyers and sellers. Landlords want a steady stream of income, no trouble, and minimal maintenance costs. Tenants want a place to live that serve various needs and that they can pay for. Each side makes a deal. When rents go up steadily, it isn’t because of landlord greed, it’s because tenants are competing with each other for a limited supply of units.

The truth is most landlords, including me, don’t want to raise rents dramatically; it’s a good way to lose tenants that otherwise are providing a steady stream of rental income that covers costs and maintenance.

If suddenly some outside force like City Hall controls rents, this relationship is gone. I won’t be as free to decide how much rent goes up or down. I’ll have to raise rents regularly to be sure I keep up with everyone else and my operating costs. I won’t be able to hold off increases, and then catch up later. Sure, for some people this will be more predictable, but it takes away the real savings that can be passed on by holding off on increases or coursing them out. Deferred increases of $50 or $100 add up over time. That’s money that’s in my tenants pockets for tuition, childcare, or whatever.

Putting caps and controls on rents might seem like a good idea, but it takes away choices and, in the end, will only cost tenants money and landlords flexibility.

Jenefer Monroe is a Seattle landlord with a small number of rental properties and tenants. Most landlords in Seattle own and rent 4 units or fewer.