this post was submitted on 31 May 2024
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You can actually be a good landlord. In theory. But at the point where you actually become a good landlord, it's more of a public service than something you actually make money on.
Why is that a but? They're still a landlord, right? I really don't get the attempt of separation of the same thing.
Because most people don't get into real estate to do public good. Most people get into real estate, become landlords, to make money off people's need for land and housing. It'd be like trying to whitewash criminality because vigilante heroes exist. Yeah, vigilantes might exist and are technically criminals, but that's not really the core conception of "a criminal".
Because if you're a landlord as an individual, a a human being, you're not what people mean when they say "landlord". You rent property - you can do that with a conscience, but that doesn't deserve the title of landlord
The term "landlord" refers to people who own homes as a business - people who create layers between them and the people they affect, bureaucracies or sheer numbers they can min-max without guilt.
That subtle difference is everything
How do you call an individual that rents you a place then?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/landlord
I really don't see the distinction. And while I'm not a native speaker, I've never heard nor think this is a common distinction or understanding.
Landlord is singular. It does not sound like a company or manager.
Context matters - the person I rent from is my landlord, but that person is not primarily defined as a landlord. They rent out a couple properties, but they have a job - being a landlord is not their career
You can call them a landlord (and they can call themselves one in certain contexts), but in the larger systematic context someone who rents out a room obviously is categorically different.
The line is blurry, but honestly I don't think it matters if you rent out your basement, your old house, or even a few houses. At some point it becomes a full time job (for someone), and that's where I think the line is
And as far as companies, the landlords are the ones who own the company holding ownership.
It can also refer to the company itself as it's a person legally (unfortunately). It's not used that way in everyday conversation
But in everyday conversation it's normal to refer to the manager of the management company as your landlord, which is often an employee of a company that oversees bookkeeping and maintenance hired by the actual owners
Ultimately, I think it's important to fight for this distinction because language changes with use. By dragging in everyone who owns a second property or rents a room, we draw a line on the wrong side of working class people and their family who aren't the problem