After filing to evict Florida tenants, Blackstone subsidiary dramatically increases rents

There is a disturbing pattern in Blackstone-owned rental properties in Florida. In at least 33 cases over the last year at properties owned by Blackstone’s single family rental subsidiary Home Partners of America, Blackstone filed to evict the tenant and then shortly after, sometimes the following month, listed the property at a substantially higher rent, ranging from 9% to 38% higher.[1] See below list.

In nearly three dozen cases, following eviction filings Blackstone has listed properties for rents much higher than overall market rents have increased.

For instance:

• In Bradenton, there are three properties where Blackstone filed to evict tenants and then listed the properties for rents that were 16% to 38% higher than for the previous tenant.
• In Apopka, there are two properties where Blackstone filed to evict the tenants and the following month listed the properties at rents more than 20% higher than they had been.
• In Apollo Beach, Blackstone filed to evict two tenants in October 2022 and then in November listed one property with rent 22% higher than it had been and in December listed the other property at a rental price 15% higher than it had been.

Since 2020, Blackstone has been on an aggressive buying spree, expanding its residential real estate empire, adding over 200,000 housing units to its portfolio.[2] Blackstone now owns over 300,000 housing units, making it the largest landlord in the U.S.[3]

Until August 2022, Blackstone had a voluntary eviction moratorium for tenants who were behind on rent. Since then, Blackstone has initiated a wave of evictions in a number of states and counties throughout the U.S. For instance, Blackstone filed over 350 evictions in Florida between August and November 2022.[4] If this trend was present at all of its properties, that would mean that Blackstone would have filed to evict thousands of tenants in the last six months of 2022 alone.

Blackstone’s head of Americas real estate Nadeem Meghji said at an internal company meeting late last year that there was a “terrific” future for Blackstone’s real estate operations thanks in part to its plan to resume evictions. “[W]e’re also seeing a meaningful increase in economic occupancy as we move past what were voluntary eviction restrictions that had been in place for the last couple of years,” Meghji said.[5]

Blackstone’s Home Partners of America Florida Evictions and Rent Hikes

*From Zillow.com, accessed April 26, 2023

**From https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/ , “Median Rental Price Over Time,” accessed May 12, 2023

[1] Pre-eviction rents based on rent listed in eviction filing. Listed rent based on zillow.com listing.

[2]https://www.breit.com/portfolio/

[3]https://www.breit.com/portfolio/ lists 290,000 units owned by BREIT. There are additional properties that Blackstone owns that are not included in this, such as Stuy Town in New York City that has 11,200 units. National Multi-Family Housing Council lists MAA as the largest owner of rental units with 100,000 units, but Blackstone owns almost three times as many. “2021 Rankings, NMHC 50 Largest Apartment Owners,” https://www.nmhc.org/research-insight/the-nmhc-50/top-50-lists/2021-top-owners-list/

[4] Florida county court records, accessed January 11, 2023

[5] Robin Wigglesworth, “Blackstone’s plan to juice REIT,” Financial Times, December 7, 2022,

https://www.ft.com/content/d02a59fb-493a-427a-849a-9acbd576cdbf