NORTH CAROLINA — A national report called for stronger tenant protection laws after finding states with the largest concentrations of private equity apartment ownership do not sufficiently guard against exorbitant rent increases and poor maintenance practices. This includes North Carolina.
READ MORE: National analysis shows private equity owns 20% of NC apartments, thousands in Wilmington
Private equity firms use loans and pooled capital from investors to buy up companies, real estate, and other assets before selling them to make a profit. The Private Equity Stakeholder Project released a report earlier this month finding private equity firms own at least 20% of apartments in North Carolina, including thousands in Wilmington. PESP argues the firms’ growing housing ownership has exacerbated the affordability crisis.
“Private equity firms have invested most heavily in apartment complexes in the Sunbelt states, which are also many of the same markets with the largest concentrations of corporate landlord and private equity-owned single-family rentals (SFR) homes,” PESP indicated in the report. “These Sunbelt states are among those with the weakest tenant protections and the states with the largest population growth from 2020 to 2024.”
The group cited RealWealth’s 2025 list of landlord-friendly states, which put North Carolina in the first position. The report noted North Carolina allows landlords to set and adjust rents without limitation due to the absence of rent-control laws, accepts security deposit charges of up to one-and-a-half times the monthly rent, and lets landlords initiate the eviction process with a five-day notice if a tenant is late on rent.
PESP advocates for legislation to cap corporate ownership of residential housing and prevent anti-competive price-fixing, including recent bills introduced in more than a dozen states. The group’s policy recommendations include granting local governments the authority to require emergency repairs, limiting annual rent increases, establishing penalties for retaliation against tenant advocacy, and requiring full disclosures of property ownership.
Similarly, the North Carolina Tenants Union supports enacting a “Tenant Bill of Rights.” It includes strengthening habitability requirements and preventing health hazards, such as extreme temperature.
Habitability requirements recently gained attention in Western North Carolina after tenants were charged full rent despite losing access to water and power in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The union argues enforcing tenant rights provided by state law can be difficult due to legal expenses and the fast pace of the eviction process.
“It is a landlord’s responsibility to provide a habitable environment for a tenant,” NHC Rep. Deb Butler said.
Butler co-sponsored a bill earlier this month, H.B. 879, that would mandate rental property owners provide air conditioning capable of maintaining reasonable temperatures.
“Gone are the days when you could survive a coastal North Carolina summer without air conditioning,” Butler said. ”Without air conditioning, it’s just not habitable for the majority of the year.”
Efforts to enact similar bills in other states have failed amid opposition from apartment industry lobby groups; a 2024 Reuters survey found around half of U.S. states require landlords to maintain existing air conditioning units — including North Carolina — but none require it to be provided.
PESP argues the powerful lobbying influence of private equity-funded groups — including the National Apartment Association and National Multifamily Housing Coalition — has contributed to insufficient tenant protections. Port City Daily reached out to the Apartment Association of North Carolina, the state affiliate, and NCTU, for comment on the report but did not receive a response by press.
The lobby groups’ members include private-equity-backed Greystar — which manages thousands of units in the tri-county area — and real-estate software firm RealPage. The firms are defendants in an ongoing Department of Justice lawsuit alleging their coordinated price-fixing distorted markets and artificially raised rents.
The National Apartment Association and National Multifamily Housing Coalition sent a letter to the White House last month requesting changes to a broad range of federal rules and programs affecting housing providers.
The groups applauded Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte’s recent rollbacks to tenant protections for multifamily properties receiving government-backed financing through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The withdrawn requirements include 30-day notice of rent increases, 30-day notice of lease expirations, and a five-day grace period rent payments.
A 2022 ProPublica investigation found large private equity firms often use Freddie-backed loans for apartment complex purchases before increasing rents and selling them for profit. Tenant groups advocate tying tenant-protections to government-supported loans overseen by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The agency regulates government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the country’s 11 Federal Home Loan Banks.
Pulte, Trump’s appointee to lead the agency, has fired the majority of Fannie and Freddie’s board members and appointed himself chair of each organization. He is the grandson of the founder of PulteGroup Inc, the third-largest home-construction company in the country with a large presence in the Cape Fear region. Its single-family communities include Ocean Pointe in Bolivia, Herring Shores and Mallory Creek in Leland, Southport Meadows in Southport, Solserra in Shallotte, Del Webb Ocean Isle Beach, Carolina Shores in Calabash, and RiverLights.
The FHFA director reported receiving more than $5 million in dividends from investment in PulteGroup in his 2025 financial disclosure. Pulte agreed to resign from leadership positions in the family’s investment firm, Pulte Family Office, and its private-equity affiliate Pulte Capital Partners, upon his confirmation.
Pulte Capital Partners has spent millions to buy homes built by PulteGroup, which is publicly-traded, and rent them out through affiliate firm Pulte Capital Rentals. According to his ethics agreement, the FHFA director will continue to have ownership interests in his private companies and remain a managing member of two holding companies.
