this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2024
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A Boring Dystopia
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Ive lived in a lot of rentals. The ones owned by single owners instead of a company were much worse at doing repair work. Not saying big landlord companies are good, cuz they're not, but being able to immediately get a repair man is a good thing. I just dont think the average landlord who depends on rent to pay bills are wealthy enough to eat repair costs so easily.
I've had the opposite experience. The mom and pop landlord did most of their own maintenance and the guy would take time off work to come fix stuff. Whereas the larger property management companies did everything in their power to not fix stuff.
Yeah, if it's their full-time job that's one thing, but if it's a side hustle they're passionate about, it can be a very good experience.
It might be the difference of location. I live in the south where there are probably less restrictions and more regulations.
Ive also had bad experiences with landlords doing their own work, for example i had a small fire in a light socket, called 911 and they came and checked and unplugged the light. The flame went out on its own. So the landlord came out theirself and "repaired" it. Two weeks later it happened again. There was a fire Marshall whatever that is there and told us there would be an inspection in a few weeks. The landlords had a company come out that time and they replaced every light fixture in the house.
Like anything else, there's a ton of variation in quality. Finding a good landlord is just as important as finding a good apartment. Talk to the other tenants before signing anything, look up reviews, etc.
I've had pretty good luck, probably because I do my own due diligence. Good landlords exist.
You sound like you blame renters for choosing shitty landlords when there is no way to verify who is or isn't a good landlord.
There's a difference between blaming renters and suggesting that renters could do a better job. I outlined specific ways I've used to avoid bad landlords: ask tenants and look up online reviews.
Bad landlords should certainly be held accountable by the law. However, that honestly isn't very practical because your average tenant doesn't want to be a part of that drama, so they're more likely to just deal with a bad landlord and vent on social media or whatever.
My whole point here is that good landlords exist and they can be found, it may just take some extra effort on the renter's part to find them.
So you're like some paid itern at a housing company. Because you just come off as a shill whos willimg to over look people's life's going to shit.
It's just that I don't think the high cost of housing is purely the landlord's fault, that's just shooting the messenger. The actual reasons vary by area, but I think they can be broken down into a few categories:
Landlords are only relevant to the final point. They still are relevant, and there should probably be some changes to local landlording laws in many areas, but they're not the biggest cause for problems.
What are you going on about..... it has been shown that landlords have been artificially raising rent for nothing other then pure greed which hurts every day people and only benefits the rich.
They're a business, so they'll charge what the market will bear. Forcing them to take less profits will lead to less pressure to produce more housing, which hurts the supply problem.
Look at places like San Francisco that have rent controls, zoning laws prevent new housing construction, and limits on profits discourage investors from pushing to change those zoning laws. They also encourage people to keep their housing, since leaving then vacant may be preferable to getting a new lease if they need to leave the area for a while.
The proper solution to greed is to increase competition. For the housing market, that means zoning changes to promote higher density zoning paired with transit, and restrict new lower density housing. That way more people can actually use transit routes, which means less need for roads, which means more room for housing in cities and less tax dollars spent on maintenance.
No dude high rent is bad for almost everyone. People cant buy houses because most of them are owned by big corporations that squeeze every cent out of people.
I agree, I'm just saying attacking landlords is attacking symptoms, not the root cause. The root cause is lack of supply for affordable homes, and that's a more complex issue largely stemming from COVID-related supply disruptions.
I've had both. I'm the end they're represented by people. Some apartments had good apt-managers and a property company that invested in maintenance. At least one was cheap on maintenance and tried to screw me when I got injured due to such. Their insurance company was surprisingly decent and compensated me reasonably.
I've had landlords that were similarly awesome. Usually a basement suite or an old person who rented out to students, and I got lucky with my choice of roomies. I've also run across the cheap bastard variety, and some that were downright sinister with some ego thrown on top.
Thing is, the number of good landlords seem to have decreased over time. Most cited a bad tenant experience. Some were older and couldn't keep up with it. It feels like the "fuck them, they're probably just out to screw me so I'll screw them first" mentality is growing on both sides of that fence and I'm the end it's the decent people who end up screwed they most (on both sides).
Yeah, the idea of rent being required to pay for the property is stupid in general, and should not be allowed, but it seems various financial institutions do calculate that in among the variables for lending.
In the past, I did have a small 2bdrm not too far from a university. After I broke up with my partner at the time, I rented out the room but the non-bedroom areas of the house were common, so it felt more like a roommate situation (we also hung out together, had meals, etc)
Part of the money I got - which wasn't huge - went into saving, and part of that saving was the "oh shit fund". A few times, the "oh shit" moment was stuff that broke. down around the place, special levies by the strata, etc.
Anyone who is renting out a full place and not setting aside maintenance/repair money is an idiot or an asshole. Probably both.