The District Court of Appeals in Florida’s Fifth District ruled that a rent control measure shouldn’t appear on ballots on election day, according to the decision released Thursday.
What You Need To Know
- The rent control measure was allowed to go on the ballot in August
- A judge reinforced the decision in September
- An appeals court ruled that it shouldn't go on the ballot
The measure, which would have limited rent increases in certain apartments to 9.8% for one year, was approved to appear on the ballot in November.
After the Orange County Commission voted 4-3 to approve the measure, the Florida Apartment Association and Florida Realtors moved to block the decision in court.
Judge Jeffrey Ashton in the Ninth Judicial Circuit in Orange County denied the motion for a temporary injunction. He noted that the ballot measure was “contrary to established law,” but argued that the residents should still have the right to vote on the proposal.
The appellate court ruled that Ashton erred in his judgment, arguing that the rent control is outside of the law, and that it should have been removed in his decision handed down in September.
“The trial court correctly concluded that the Association had a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of its... challenge to the County’s rent control ordinance and the corresponding ballot summary,” the appeal court ruled. “But it erred by allowing the matter to remain on the ballot for the people of Orange County to vote on an unconstitutional ordinance described by a misleading ballot summary.”
The ruling granted an injunction for the ordinance, but didn’t word how the decision should be enforced.