Why are Landlords Hated So?
| . Posted in advice, best landlord practices - 40 Comments
On the list of hated or mocked professions, surely landlords rank with attorneys and used car salesmen. But we provide shelter. Alongside food, shelter is the most fundamental of all human needs. Shouldn’t we be treated like those who provide food, like the neighborhood grocery store?
Grocery stores are not regulated in the way landlords are regulated. If an indigent, hungry person walks into a store and starts eating, they will be callously thrown out onto the street or arrested. If an indigent, unsheltered person squats in a building, they will become a “tenant-at-sufferance” and only a court action will be able to remove them. This difference is key to changing housing policy in Massachusetts. It’s worth our time to understand the differences between shelter and groceries. Let's consider Tina Tenant and how she might view the two.
First, rental real estate appears to highlight the disparity of wealth. In a grocery store, Tina Tenant is focused on items that individually cost roughly one dollar, like a can of beans. The millions of dollars of inventory piled around her are completely unseen (in this case, she sees the trees but not the forest). Her landlord, on the other hand, is clearly a person who has money. The cost of her apartment must have been one hundred times greater than the cost of anything at the grocery store. And her landlord has more than one apartment. The landlord's mortgage and tax obligations, meanwhile, are entirely invisible.
Second, unlike the can of beans, Tina's apartment rent is set to be a large percentage of her income. Her landlord wanted to rent to someone who would spend one third of their income on rent (or less). One-third. No such calculation enters the grocer’s mind. The can of beans are priced at cost plus some margin. They’re not priced at her income less some margin.
Third, there’s the perception that the landlord doesn’t do anything to collect their large rent. Tina can see the hard work that goes into stocking and running a grocery store. Like many of us, she has even worked in a grocery store. But Tina has never been a landlord. She never got the midnight call about the bat in apartment 4B. She hasn't paid a mortgage, real estate taxes, or home insurance. And when the handyman came in to fix the sink yesterday, she was at work and didn't see the epic three hour struggle with a messy sink, old plumbing, and missing parts.
Fourth, the landlord industry is not yet consolidated and professionalized. Unlike grocery stores, which are all large corporations that have almost entirely driven the mom-and-pop grocers out of business, Tina's landlord is like fully 71% of the owners of private rental housing: a mom-and-pop operation. Small companies lack the rigor of process, the resources to deal with disaster, or the training to offer “customer service.” Tina has little assurance that her requests will be addressed professionally. There are almost no unprofessional grocers nowadays, but there are plenty of unprofessional landlords.
Fifth, there’s a sense of entitlement. When Tina holds a can of beans in the grocery store, she knows there’s a cash register between her and the exit. If she takes it without paying, it will be theft, and palpably so. It isn’t hers until she's past the cash register. But looking around the walls of her rented home, her home, can you blame her for feeling it somewhat belongs to her? If she later becomes unable to afford it, surely some leeway can be granted?
Finally, shelter is an intangible, an abstract notion. Tina cannot hold it in her hands, read its label, smell it or taste it. In general we all have a hard time assigning value to abstractions. Abstractions also tend to take lofty places in our minds. If I said, “Shelter is a human right,” you might disagree but you wouldn’t label me insane. You would easily spot the flaw in my logic if I started talking in concretes, like “This can of beans is a human right.”
So as you can see, landlords are not like grocers. Apartments are very different, economically speaking, from what we buy at the grocery store. Politically speaking, we are hated because we are at the shoreline of income inequality. And we work a job that few have ever worked or take the time to understand. By being aware of why we're perceived differently, we will be better positioned to ask for the reasonable reforms that are so badly needed.
We're changing the perception with the Certified Massachusetts Landlord™, the first state-specific professional designation.
In my experience as a tenant in the past all my landlords were superior classless scumbags. They are the lowest of the low. I hate them dearly! They all have the same distinct scumy look in their eyes. I hate then till no end
Thank you for sharing the results of your comprehensive survey of all landlords everywhere! Fascinating! In all seriousness, though, we’re sorry you’ve had bad experiences. We’ll bet your past landlords weren’t MassLandlords members. If they were, you can email info@masslandlords.net and we can see what’s going on.
I am one of the ‘good” landlords who treats their tenants well and am extremely fastidious about maintenance and repairs. I live in one side of a duplex in Watertown and rent the other side, and because it is my home, I have performed major renovations (siding, windows, landscaping, heating, electrical), and refresh the paint frequently. I have had some good tenants in the past, but am finding that the quality of applicants is declining, both in terms of income/credit qualifications and demeanor. I had a young couple recently who were well-qualified, but nonetheless bullied me and were very difficult to deal with during the 2 years that they stayed, although they did pay their rent. After they bought a house, they rang my bell and basically told me what a lousy landlord I was (duh – then why did you stay 2 years?). Too bad I didn’t check out their Facebook page first, because I later found out that they belonged to some “haters” organization, and had a lot of anger against the world in general. Yes, I did get the rent, but they were very stressful to deal with. So, it just goes to show you that even when you treat them well and behave professionally, it’s no guarantee that they will treat you in the same manner.
I hate them too. The reason why landlords aren’t like people who sell you food is because they don’t actually provide you with anything. They only exist to extract as much money from their tenants as possible. They squat on a piece of property they probably inherited or bought during the last housing crash and now they’re making a passive income off of people who have to work for a living. They’re literally parasites.
Incorrect. Landlords provide shelter, water, and safety in your possessions, regardless of whether or not you have saved up enough money in life to afford your own home. That’s a wonderful thing.
I think most people hate landlords because most landlords (not all) are scummy people or people who view the transaction in an entirely business perspective; I have to come home from work every day and LIVE here. When you don’t keep it maintained beyond the bare minimum, when you don’t do anything about other obnoxious tenants, when you take weeks to return calls for repairs, etc. that impacts my day-to-day life. My lovely last place they used the cheapest drywall and cheapest paint possible. My place reeked of chemical smell for well over a year and they refused to do anything about it. Why would they, they get no money from me having an enjoyable life or comfortable home.
In states I’ve lived that allow a landlord to require a security deposit, good luck getting any of that back, let alone with interest, even if you make the place spotless upon departure. Landlords know that you’ve got to move to another job in another city or state or across town and likely don’t have the time or resources to bring them to court over it.
Good luck getting most landlords to do any quality-of-life repairs or renovations, only those that meet the bare minimum for building code; you can hear your neighbor breathing? Too bad, insulating the walls doesn’t improve their bottom line so that ain’t happening.
Market rates went up 20%? Well cough up or hit the curb. Yeah, I get it, who wouldn’t want to optimize the return on their investment, but at the end of the day you just get to type in a slightly higher return on your spreadsheet while I now have to pack up all my things, try and find a reputable moving company, apply for new housing, likely move further out of the city, figure out transportation to and from my job, etc. etc. That’s going to cause resentment, justified or not.
ah, landlords. The “blessing” I never asked for. Landlords seem to think of themselves as a necessity in life, but they aren’t. They are just a middleman between me and the bank. The one who outbid me on the house because they knew they could throw their credit and cash reserve around. Landlords are part of the cesspool of investment buyers who hyper-inflate the market; no different from flippers, or foreign buyers. You have no stake in the community, most don’t even live in the same state/country of the property they own.
Let’s not kid ourselves, Mr. Landlord, your first and primary goal is to make money on a property you couldn’t afford and over-paid for. You aren’t doing it for the community and you certainly aren’t saving me from myself with phrases like “I maintain the property” and “I provide shelter.” No, you purchased an asset that somebody will need in their day to day and sold it back to them at an inflated price.
Ok fine, I pay the landlord and the landlord makes their profit. Hold on there, Scout, who told you it would be that easy? Instead you get a landlord breathing down your neck like you are a child. Hey Mr. Landlord, I live here and pay my rent, when I leave the house for good it will be left in the same condition as I received, if not better (still a POS, though). You are not welcomed to enter and inspect as you see fit and throw a hissy fit because i have a couple dirty socks on my couch or you don’t like my decorating style. That’s what my security deposit, monthly rent and final inspection are for. For you see, on move-out you can assess damages if you think I’m genuinely at fault and, if I refuse to pay, legally take me to court! crazy, I know. I certainly don’t want to go to court and do want most of my deposit back so i’ll try to do my best to make sure, again, when I leave your house is probably BETTER than when I moved in. Nope, no go! you think my security deposit was free money you could use to improve the house when I move out! You get that new fridge on my dime, thanks Mr. Landlord (so now I’ve bought two fridges since i’ve been here)!
then on move-out you have the gall to charge me for the broke washer/dryer that didn’t work when I moved in, the outdated leaking fridge and the broken dishwasher all of which were at least 15+ years old (the fridge being from the 80’s) that I told you multiple times needed to be fixed or replaced because of their age. Your solution? tell me to go stuff it and buy my own and set yours aside, ok fine! done! I could understand, replacing your crappy appliances, that you were told 3 months after I moved in were not functioning correctly, would cut into you lining your pockets so that’s a no-go on that! A wise financial move on your part, Mr. Landlord! Well now, I must have tested your patience because, you need to put your foot down! afterall, I’m just an entitled child you are giving the privilege to pay your un-affordable mortgage! Threaten me with eviction and rent increase if I ask again, good move Mr. Landlord, you are so savvy and keeping those scummy tenants in check.
inbeforethe “if you don’t like the prices in X move to Y.” See, I need somewhere close to my family, friends and work. Apparently, I’m the bad guy for wanting to live, and own, in the community where I work and have roots. But, Mr. Landlord, keep keeping on. Keep patting yourself on the back for making the world a better place by keeping families on pins and needles and communities in broken disarray. You’ve earned it buy taking on that silly mortgage that you could never afford and pass the buck to the one who actually needs the property. Don’t fret, you’ll get your money. Go buy yourself a Benz, you’ve earned it!
In the end, landlords are not needed, flippers are not needed, real-estate investors are not needed. All you are, Mr. Landlord and CO, are leeches banking on the fact that everybody needs a roof over their heads. The idea of earning that money, by maintaining your property, is almost criminal to expect of you.
I love how much the comments showed how hard this article backfired. Farmers take a modest profit and do work to provide the food. Landlords follow the same concept as domain trolls. Rarely do they do any work and they play a zero-sum game with tenants to force up rent as high as possible.
Not sure how you managed to get into your head you were doing God’s work. For shame you parasite.
No. Just no. I’m a tenant in Vancouver, WA who had to relocate from Portland, OR because of extremely high and nonsensible rent prices. Tenants have no rights in comparison to landlords. This article sounds whiny and petty, like we tenants are just a thorn in your foot. We have nothing. You raise rents faster than our wages. You set the prices. We have no choices. So don’t play victim here, especially when my generation is being crushed by student loans, taxes, and unachievable high costs of living. The current generation of landlords took advantage of times when property prices were a fraction of what they were, and one day you’ll pass it on to your kids. My generation can’t save for a house, so we have no base to build on. We are going to continue being your slaves until we can’t afford it anymore.
So in sum, NO. Stop whining and take responsibility. If you think your situation is too hard, don’t rent your property anymore.
Oh My God, these renters are so bitter against landlords, they are mostly jealous they can’t afford their own place.
Plain and simple… If you can’t afford the area you are trying to live in, then you should move to somewhere you CAN afford, and stop taking it out on the landlords of areas that command high prices. Many landlords have struggled to even own a place in a high priced area, so why are you surprised at the cost they are charging you?
The bitterness, and the jealousy is REAL with renters and landlords, I am a landlord and I know it very well. I do everything the renters request within reason, and I give them privacy and a great place to live. So shut up, pay up, and live your life.
There’s a reason landlords are looked at as SUPERIOR to the renters, it’s because WE ARE… You guys are renting from us, YOU need from US… And YOU expect from US. You are needy and rude to us. And you think your rent means you own the place and can do whatever you want including being rude to us, no.
Renting is security, and being able to build up on the property, and we are lucky as landlords to do that, however the amount of bullcrap we have to deal with renters Almost makes it not worth it… but in the end, all that matters is the goals of the landlord and why he’s renting. So realize that renters, it’s true you are just worthless overall, because there are many renters to come along, and if you are a bitter and rude one, you will just enjoy your crap life and move on, while we get good renters to replace you. Good Riddance !!!
Personally I have been harassed by landlord after landlord. I have been illegally evicted twice, and the second time I couldn’t do anything about it because I was still suing the first (and I won). In the second instance the apartment was burglarized two weeks after I moved in, during a holiday break, in a university town. They caught the people in the parking lot and I didn’t know them at all, but they blamed it all on me because I had just moved in. Even though nobody knew I lived there, and I had nothing to steal. They literally just bullied me out, then sold fraudulent debt to a debt collector despite the fact that they owed me money because i paid 3 months rent in advance.
Currently I am being terrorized by a “property manager” (I own the condo, but others rent). It really attracts some of the worst people, and they’re especially hostile to people who smoke tobacco even if it’s 100% outside.
I am sure there are very nice, benevolent landlords somewhere in the world. I haven’t really met any. The bad landlords suffer from extreme levels of delusional self-importance.
You’re not superior, bud. It’s not about the prices in my case, landlords are, more than any other type of people (exceptions surely exist) just the most sociopathic, lying, cheating, manipulative, and money-hungry reprobates in existence. It’s no coincidence that they have been universally reviled over the centuries, and the first to be systematically targeted for extermination in nearly every single violent revolution.
I have met so many landlords who wish they could destroy someone’s livelihood simply because they don’t like them, for any number of reasons. They tend to be some of the most judgmental people. Often they suffer from an extreme level of self importance, bordering on schizophrenic delusion.
If you could press a button for $1,000 and someone, somewhere would be violently murdered, but you wouldn’t be prosecuted or blamed for this, would you do it? Many landlords would start smashing it repeatedly. I know many landlords wouldn’t, and many non-landlords would. But these evil landlords not only have the power to ruin other people’s lives but a willingness to do it.
Once again, I will stress the whole **not all landlords** but this “Chris” character perfectly exemplifies my point. This guy certainly has no notable achievements in his life. That is why being a landlord is part of his self-identity, he feels pride about it, it makes him feel like he’s better than other people because there is absolute certainty no pride in the actual results in his life.
So his ego grabs on to that “well at least I own and don’t rent” as a life preserver that prevents him from drowning in his own misery. The actual sad part about it is that he wouldn’t be so miserable if he stopped feeding the beast to appease his own vanity.
Landlords are parasites and seem to forget who pays their bills and mortgages – the renters! YOU need the renters because you buy properties you can’t afford and you rely on the renters to pay for it. But being a family at the mercy of a landlord is not only demeaning it is insecure as they can be forced to uproot family and move simply because the landlord wants more money, sells the property to wants their brother to move into it. If it weren’t for landlords more people would be able to buy homes – and I agree with others, get a job and earn your living instead of leeching off of those who don’t make enough money in one lifetime for a down payment (which is much higher now thanks to investors and speculators and now foreign investors who all want to make money doing nothing but owning homes that were never meant to be part of an investment portfolio). And that whine about all the “work” landlords have to do to pay the mortgage and insurance?? LMAO! You wouldn’t be able to pay that without the renters money! Lol and stand there for three hours while the plumbing is fixed?! Come on, no landlords are present during repairs! if anything the tenants are forced to deal with that. Once, one of our tenants couldn’t afford her rent… instead of making her life more frightening than it already was, my grandpa went over to her home and gave her $40 and 2 bags of groceries. Then the family forgave her for that months rent. My grandpa was the last of the good guys of landlords (and he still died a millionaire so it’s possible to be a compassionate and kind landlord, just most of today’s parasites are not renting out homes to help others but simply to make money for nothing). Quit flattering yourself, landlords, you are not superior.
businesses wouldnt be able to afford the plot of land they’re on if it wasnt for people coming in and buying groceries either. i “landlord” to my old college roommate. we graduated last may and i bought a $250,000 house that we both live in. im looking to get a second roommate to help pay the mortgage even more. we’re not parasites, we just found a good way to make passive income to offset the cost of the mortgage
It seems to me that tenants should not be resentful to landlords just because tenants feel frustrated with their own inability to comply with their responsibility.
Life is not easy in fact. Life is very difficult for landlords and tenants too.
Believe it or not. Now everything is very expensive taxes ,mortgage , contractor service, rents etc.
Employee salary is low and that is why people now a day feel frustrated due to the fact they cannot accomplish their wishes.
Landlord and tenants need each other and there should not be resentment.
Landlords or Rental providers is a business like any other business. Economy is determining how low or high the rent should be. Tenant cannot pretend to have free lunch and not to pay rent just because they cannot afford it.
Tenant should know how much can afford and get a rental that they can afford it.
People should live according to they can afford and not to exceed their expectation.AL
I am a small landlord as well as a full time employee at the same company for 28 yrs. I have been royally screwed by a tenant who moved in ( great credit score and references) and stopped paying after 4 months as he decided the rent was too much and i didn’t deserve anything as I was too “rich”” and didn’t need the money (so far from the truth) took me 5 months to get him out. He trashed the just renovated apt and we had to pay him to leave ..all in all with lawyers fees cost me close to 20000….crappy tenant but i have other tenants who are awesome..my point is i don’t paint everyone with a broad brush and take every person as an individual… I respond immediately to all complaints and concerns and have worked with tenants over my 25 yrs through every imaginable situation… I rarely keep. Security deposits even when my property is damaged and people leave their crap in my basements …. just not worth it … i still exchange xmass cards with some tenants 12 yrs later as well as remain facebook friends..there are good and bad in every profession…
I’m sure you’re not a good landlord since no landlord is good. Y’all are parasites that inherit wealth and charge ridiculous amounts of money for a crappy place.
I’d like to first say that landlords DON’T provide housing. Over 1/3 of them don’t even OWN the property-and even more contract maintenance calls. They also don’t provide anything but a service. And no one is JEALOUS that you can afford housing (funny that’s even an argument though seeing as the main point about not being able to furlough rent during a global pandemic was “but we have mortgages,” meaning y’all can’t afford the property either and are entirely reliant on your tenants.
As for the late night calls- MOST maintenance isn’t even done by a landlord. It’s done by a maintenance man that the tenants pay the salary for.
Let’s talk about why no one can afford property anymore because that is the exact reason everyone hates landlords. You create a false housing shortage and drive up prices. You wait for the housing market to crash and buy up as many properties that would be affordable as you can.
Landlords have the easiest job in the world, it’s so funny to me that this article makes it seem like their job actually requires hard work
“there’s the perception that the landlord doesn’t do anything to collect their large rent. Tina can see the hard work that goes into stocking and running a grocery store. Like many of us, she has even worked in a grocery store. But Tina has never been a landlord. She never got the midnight call about the bat in apartment 4B. She hasn’t paid a mortgage, real estate taxes, or home insurance. And when the handyman came in to fix the sink yesterday, she was at work and didn’t see the epic three hour struggle with a messy sink, old plumbing, and missing parts”
This is so funny. Does anyone honestly think they could call up their landlord at midnight to let them know there are bats in the unit and actually expect that they would respond?? Of course they wouldn’t. My landlords can’t even bother to exterminate the mice in my unit for over a month. I pay my rent on time every single month, I keep the unit very clean and do a lot of the basic maintenance and repairs myself since I prefer things working than broken. Also, the details about paying mortgages, real estate taxes, insurance, etc… since when is paying bills a job??? I, just like everyone else in this world besides these entitled parasites, have an actual job just so I can pay my bills! Is that all they do? Also in the last detail about the “three hour epic” with the plumber– THE PLUMBER WAS THE ONE DOING THE WORK! Can we just stop and remember that? Of course this is hypothetical but the landlord is just paying someone to do the work and guess where the money to pay the plumber is coming from? The tenants!!!
I also say all of this with a background in managing tenant-owned and operated housing. The main costs of running a house are the mortgage, taxes, insurance, and maintenance. Most landlords charge wayyyy more than the combined cost of these listed above and do everything in their power to skimp on any maintenance, repairs, exterminations or any sort of improvements to their units. Most landlords just want to take as much money from their tenants as possible and play dumb when they are actually required to use some of this money to fulfill their duty of providing decent, safe, healthy housing. Landlords will always hit you with the “I’ll get to it when I have a chance” as if tenants can say “I don’t really want to pay the rent right now, I’ll get to it when I get to it” because we’ll get evicted!! But what happens to the landlords? Who has the money to take every scumbag landlord to court? I sure don’t but I know one thing for sure which is that landlords don’t know the first thing about hard work!
Lol, majority of landlord haters acting like infantile children who have zero understanding of economics and etc… They are are standing on the wrong side of the inequality shore.
Despite what they think, landlords provide absolutely nothing to society. Instead, they prevent access to affordable housing for many people and they drive house prices up for working people wanting to buy their own home. As stated many times in the comments, the amazing thing is that landlords are effectively asking the tenants to pay for the landlords’ mortgages whilst the tenant has no right to ownership of the property! All of these practices embody the very definition of a social parasite and should have no place in a healthy capitalistic society. It is important to note that the practice of being a landlord is a vestigial part of a feudalistic societal system which ended several hundred years ago.
Property ownership law therefore needs to be changed as soon as possible so that it is adapted to today’s capitalistic society. Quite simply, ownership of any residential property has to be restricted to one residential property per adult person or per family household. The excess, and that will be mostly those properties owned by landlords or rental agencies, has to go on the housing market and if there are occupying tenants in these properties they should be given a preferential offer of purchase. These measures would not be too complicated to put into place and housing prices would soon fall into line with their real supply and demand.
A lot of landlords seem to think they are hated purely because of envy by tenants who are not fortunate to be able to purchase their own home. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am lucky enough to have a reasonable job with a salary which allows me to pay for my own home in a quite an expensive part of the world. I would not describe myself as “rich” by any means, but where I live I am considered to be a “high earner” in terms of income from my job and almost every week I am contacted by “financial advisors” who always ask if I am interested in investing in “buy to rent” properties. If I did this, it would give me a considerable reduction in the income tax that I pay. However, each time I refuse their offer as I simply do not want to be such a parasite to society and I detest the concept of a tenant effectively paying a mortgage for a property which they cannot own.
So, landlords are hated essentially because they are parasites to working people and not really for any other reason. I guess the kind of person who voluntarily becomes a landlord today will have many accompanying social defects but these would not be the main reason why they are hated as a landlord. As stated above, property ownership laws need to be changed as soon as possible. The COVID 19 crisis is an economic disaster for so many hard working people. However, one development of this crisis could be a mass rental strike on an international level across western societies and this could become a real lever to change the current laws for property ownership. In the not too distant future, I sincerely hope that the practice of being a landlord will cease to exist.
Resentful people hating on landlords are treating the housing supply like it is a fact of nature. That a house is no different from a tree, a rock or a mud puddle. With absolutely no thought into how the world actually works and why there is a supply of high quality housing (relatively to any time in history) at all.
Everything from even the cost of loans, what the bank provides, to the role of speculation, interest, all is treated like a form of parasitism when all the thought and cognitive load put into such actions is no longer required by tenants, they end up perceptually bound and limited to see what it is that is making their way of life possible.
How will the home builders employees be paid without capital and credit when the builders themselves will be paid last at the end of a job when they earn product sales revenue? The credit provided based on savings invested into building homes.
The landlord is just one set of investors into the housing market that helps to put that capital to work and keep the supply of new homes increasing. Even when they are purchasing existent properties, they are freeing up the equity from other home owners who can then reinvest in building property elsewhere.
Without landlords where would any short term housing be possible? Do people not realize what a boon to their productivity and earnings this is in the long haul? Allowing people to move to where the jobs are, where the schools are, and live temporarily without needing to tie themselves down to a mortgage?
The supply of homes on the whole would be less and the cost of housing would be higher than the profits earned by landlords. This is proven basically everywhere that severe rent control policies have been applied and enforced.
The sheer economic illiteracy masquerading around as moral righteousness here is absolute pathetic. Not saying that there are not individual land lords who are probably complete twats, no different than any other group of people, but to lump them all in on the worst representatives is just evil plain and simple. Every bit as irrational and murderous as racism or any other arbitrary collective hate.
I don’t even know where to start with some of these tenants comments. Let’s take repairs for example. I do ALL of the repairs on my rentals myself. When a tenant calls I respond immediately. In the last few months, I replaced a leaking toilet, hired an exterminator, repaired a garage door, replaced a gate near a bedroom window with a fence to make a female tenant feel more safe. Not to mention Christmas presents. My homes are in a highly sought after area and I charge roughly $400 below market even though I could easily demand more. Now I won’t return the favor and paint all of my tenants with the same broad brush. Most of them are fantastic and they usually leave to buy their own homes. But I have had my share of destructive morons who let their “emotional support animals “ piss all over the whole house costing me thousands to replace carpet and seal/repair subfloors to get rid of the smell- and then act indignant when I made them pay for the damage. I’m sure there’s scumbag landlords as well. Funny I never rented from one and I rented into my early thirties.
Landlords are a solution in search of a problem. In all my years on planet Earth, I’ve never met a fellow Earth monkey who couldn’t justify receiving money. Landlord logic: I took out the mortgage, got the attorney, drafted the lease, called the lawn guy, unclogged your toilet, and now I should be able to mine margins from your rent payments off this government sanctioned monopoly into perpetuity… And I was here first… and capitalism… and property rights… and blah, blah, blah!
Theres a huge crisis happening right now. Rent is climbing beyond the 1/3 income of most people, and were entering another economic crisis. My question as a tenant to landlords, is how can we help you keep rent low? I realize a lot of tenants are extremely frustrated, the idea of escaping rent to buying my own home is a huge jump, is very easy to become angry at landlords when it seems like if I can’t find a housing siutation that will work, is that I will become homeless. I know landlords feel like they are providing shelter, in a sense its true, but the culture of landlord and renter we’ve created is actually making people homeless. Its competitive, expensive, and theres no safety nets for people who live unstable lives. People who live unstable lives I would define as people with expensive health conditions, trouble finding employment, high anxiety, this ofcourse manifests as ugly things that landlords dislike, drugs, messiness. Nobody wants to be a bad tenant, but the terms of living in this cultures is very difficult. Its only getting worse. With climate change we can expect more houses to be destroyed in fires and floods. This will make rent increase, but because of the recession jobs are not keeping up, and the demand is always increasing as more people reach the age of hating living with their parents. There are no easy solutions here, I’ve thought about proposing Landlords to do mortgage strikes in solidarity with Tenants striking, I mean obviously the banks are screwing us both riight?
I would like to focus on that point, becuz we are all frustrated of playing this game, and would like to live in a world where we have stable housing and less homelessness crime and cohesive communities. How to do we obtain that when we hate eachother?
Ive been on both sides, IMO they don’t provide anything they only leech from others. Sure they claim to provide housing but if the renter is paying the mortgage, insurance, taxes and repairs all bundled together and disguised as “RENT” what exactly is the landlord providing that the renter cant? Renting in most cases is designed to make renters pay for everything so the landlord essentially has no risk, the landlord gets the loan, the bank owns the property, the renter pays for everything in the form of rent and the landlord pockets his fees like a sleazy middle man.
As a landlord I perform my own maintenance and repairs in a timely and professional manner. Additionally I upkeep the property to the satisfaction of my tenants.
You think I’m a leech for providing you access to my high quality property with hundreds of my hours invested into it and lots of my hard earned $$?
Don’t get mad at me because you can’t afford a home or don’t want to purchase one because of location and job instability in your life. Don’t like your landlord? Leave. Find a better one.
Here’s a nugget of wisdom. Most landlords are assholes and lazy because they’re not doing their job as a landlord. Also all the regulations on getting people out who aren’t paying force me to be strict on getting people out that are stealing from me when they don’t pay as agreed.
Like much of our society there’s room for improvement and it shouldn’t involve allowing people to steal value from another. Regardless of how they earned the value.
There are many reasons why landlords are dispised by the vast majority of people, but I simply think that to be ‘that’ money hungry is morally lacking, desperate, anxiety ridden, and basically quite sad really. Landlords all fall into one catagory, and that is ‘uncontented’.. many landlords will scoff at this, but in reality they have become landlords to make money, because they are/were not content with what they already had/earned, they like to pretend they are good and vituous landlords that ‘look after’ the tenant for doing all but the most basic of repairs/maintenace, but why do they shout it from the roof tops about how ‘much they do’…. it’s to feel validated, again down to a lack of contentment and self confidence. Any landlord like the one above called Chris that genuinely thinks they are ‘better than’ the tenant, is 1) deluded… but more importantly 2) totally and utterly insecure and emotionally immature… they may not really realise it, but they are. Tenants should not be envious of landlords, in truth I dont think many (if any) are envious of landlords…. when it really comes down to it tenants (and anyone else on earth that isn’t a landlord) should actually pity landlords. We should pity them for being so greedy, being so scared (think about it for a while), and for having very little in the way of ethics. Greed and desperately trying to validate your actions is a really unatractive and pathetic trait…. as I said, pity these people, they are never going to be genuinely and truely happy, no matter what they have. The other thing for tenants to consider is that generally tenants are much much.. mentally tougher than landlords, if a landlord was in the same position as the tenants that they are demanding money from, most of them.. if not all, would simply buckle under the pressure.
Landlords are parasites of the society and they leech money from working people. It is a modern form of feudalism in disguise. If you are a landlord and tell yourself that you are doing a “wonderful thing”, then you are delusional. If you were so wonderful, the majority of people wouldn’t hate you so much, would they? Landlords are greedy and habitually “save money” by disregarding all sorts of valid complains from the tenants about essential repairs in the rented apartments.
Woow I can’t believe all this hate and resentment for the past 30 years I have been a landlord and it’s been a horrible experience.i have been shot at stabbed twice while trying to collect rent on the west side of chicago I have tried everything to be liked by my tenants talked to soo many most would ask me how did you get all your properties it’s got to be handed down no way you could of bought all this stuff on your own that’s the kind of stuff people would say to me for the past ,30 years honestly I wish I would of never got into this business but when I was a young man people would say young man invest in real estate and when you get old you will have somethingوbelieve me I got nothing from no one my old man was a loser he resented even feeding his kids would sleep all day never really worked and funny thing my mother was no better did nothing for themselves or their kids so when I hear all these people with this crazy hat against landlords now I understand no matter what a property owner does he will be hated you see if your a guy with stocks and well off nobody hates you because no one knows but when you own property you stick out like a sore thumb people see the perceived wealth and you become a target of their crazy hatred I’m really happy I found this page today I realize now why I’m hated Soo much for many years I would ask myself why are my tenants soo hostile to me no matter what I do for them forgive rent when they get loan them money when their broke I have even bonded them out of jail yes jail but a little time passed and their back to their hate I guess owning property makes you a target a scapegoat by the way one of hitler’s main justifications for hating jews was because many of them were business owners and landlord read his writing about ” THE PARASITE JEW LANDLORD ” same thing these folks are saying well to my fellow landlords and those who own property find a way of not letting anyone know that you own anything because it looks like the american people went from a people who believed in property rights ingrained in our constitution and culture it’s over when I see mobs of people now standing in the street carrying signs that sat ” CANCEL RENT, RENT IS A HUMAN RIGHT,WE WONT PAY ,just know these vicious haters are coming after you one day simply because you tried harder risked more and put yourself thru the meat grinder just to try to invest and make a life but hey like hitler said first the property owners next the business owners and last the merchants once we kill them dirty money hungry jews we will be happy and free my god it’s happening all over again god help us all
There are several stories of bad & good landlords. But good deeds take time to spread. As tenants, every time we hear such stories, it confirms the fact that we have no control over our home. Even if we have a decent landlord, it serves as a reminder that we can be evicted from our house at any time due to the desires of another person.
Sometimes you deal with good landlords and sometimes bad, but it doesn’t state that all landlords are bad.
Housing is a human right because Cities and municipalities have criminalized self sheltering. It is illegal to live in a tent, shed or any place not meant for human habitation. It is illegal to sleep on a bench or sidewalk. It is illegal to camp in your car, and in some municipalities, RV parks and Trailer parks are illegal, denying not only free sheltering, but cheap shelter as well. It is illegal to make a campfire to warm yourself or to heat food. It is illegal to be homeless, so we are Forced to use the rental market. This leads to the exploitation of the poor by everyone, not just landlords, but by the cities ‘social services’ medical and legal sectors too.
The increases in disease and crime Directly Benefit those in the municipality that profit from crime (police) and disease (doctors) and building shelters and ‘low income’ housing (non-profits and charities get increased funding when homelessness increases). Also, in addition to gouging people for rent, the wealthy enjoy a steady supply of drugs and sex provided by those struggling to make the rent.
Housing is a human right but no one says you have to force the landlords to rent to anyone. Just decriminalize urban camping. Decriminalize the survival mechanisms homeless people use. (Why is it a dog can poop in the park, but a human cant?) Allow people to camp on ANY piece of public land. If people find the sight of the homeless objectionable, (or if they wont pick up their own poop), maybe some market savvy capitalists will figure out how to solve the problem?
The right to housing comes as a consequence of societies taking away peoples right to self shelter.
You forgot one of the biggest differences between landlords and grocery stores: If your grocery store starts treating you badly (overcharging, giving you poor-quality products, or even just providing an unpleasant shopping environment), there’s essentially no barrier to just leaving and taking your business elsewhere. Moving house, on the other hand, is a pain – so landlords know they have a LOT of leeway in how poorly they can treat their tenants before the tenants get fed up and leave. Maybe not all of them use that leeway, but they all can, and many do.
You don’t “provide shelter.” (Developers and builders do that.) Rather, you HOARD shelter so that people who are less well off than you are can’t have it unless they pay you whatever inflated price you want to charge. In any other sector of the economy, that’s called “price gouging.”
I’ve been a renter for over 30 years and have seen good and bad landlords.
First, the better shape a property is in and the gentler it’s treated by tenants to begin with, a landlord will look better simply because they aren’t being tested in any way. Tenant is happy stuff isn’t breaking down, landlord is happy stuff isn’t getting destroyed.
In that situation, a GOOD landlord will leave well enough alone and not choose to jack up the rent just because they can when the lease is near expiring.
A blood-sucking vampire, however, will not only increase rent, but they will also have begun the whole transaction by insisting on non-refundable “administration” fees at the original lease-signing, that play psychological games that make it unattractive to have to go through the whole process again.
A blood-sucking vampire will put the rent at a price that, if it was a normal mortgage, would be an 8 year loan.
A blood-sucking vampire will only allow pets when the tenant is willing to pay a $300-$500 non-refundable pet fee on top of an additional 300+ per year.
A blood-sucking vampire will offer a lease that charges renters for what state lawmakers intended to be “normal wear and tear,” and force you to go to court to enforce the law.
Finally, a blood-sucking vampire will hire a property management company to do all the above asshole work for them, so they can enjoy their passive income.
Generally all the things most shitty landlords do is predicated on the idea the tenant WILL trash the place. And if that’s the supposition, it can only be surmised the landlord’s sole reason is economic and anything about providing a community service is pure, self-serving BS for the country club.
My boyfriend is a landlord and he has a few landlord friends.
It is true that they are parasites. They really do believe that the relationship between tenant and landlord is symbiotic. They can and will tell themselves anything in order to solidify their belief that they are not a societal problem, but in fact a necessity. When in reality, they don’t work. They coast off the free time their tenants provide. They provide nothing to society. There is a system that allows them to exploit poor people and the working class. Just because it is legal they think it is ok. Think waitresses, bartenders, tech students, service industry workers who don’t qualify for mortgages regardless of the fact that they can afford them. They are told their income isn’t consistent enough for a 600 dollar mortgage, so they have no choice but to go out and spend 1000 on rent or go homeless which is illegal and can be fatal. It is this ridiculous reasoning that causes landlord hatred. A bartender should qualify for a home the same way a manufacturing worker can. The legality of this social system is veered towards keeping landlords with a vast supply of tenants to choose from, and keeping the tenants ability to rise out of their situation that much harder. How can someone save up for a house in today’s economy all while paying double for their landlords mortgage? All so the home owner aka landlord doesn’t have to get a job like the rest of us. I am saving up for a home and I work full time. It’s not easy working this hard for something a landlord uses as a stream of income. Sure. I might rent out a room or two in the future to help me save money, but I’d rather landlording be abolished so that the supply of homes on the market surges enough to make them affordable again. All the landlords would have to get jobs which would also help with any worker shortages. I’d rather see young and poor people get provided housing by the government than see our government send trillions into oil wars. It’s an extremely exploitative practice from a feudal era. Even the name landlord is medieval. It should not be in practice anymore. Our taxes should be sheltering our youth and our poor, so that they may have the foundation needed to become the very people society needs. It is a societal mechanism that is targeted at people with one aim in mind: Keep people living paycheck to paycheck stuck paying rent. It is damned near IMPOSSIBLE to get out from under that crushing situation that many tenants are in. The system has beyond failed and it’s coming to the point of boiling over.
Quite a few LLs- some, anyway- rent out homes that they’d originally bought for themselves. At least, it’s true in my case. Didn’t know I was going to have a second property, didn’t inherit orvanything.
I am a capitalist. I’m self employed repairing, building, and selling computers. I rented my first 2 bedroom apartment in 2001 for $350 a month. That building, built in the 60’s, was PAID FOR long before I moved in. The same 2 bedroom apartment that has been PAID IN FULL and undergone ZERO renovations is renting for $1200 a month. If this isn’t predatory I don’t know what is. My wife and I were lucky enough to be able to rent a 3 bedroom mobile home from sane relatives for $300 a month while we saved for our down payment on a home. In 2018 we purchased a 1200 sq ft. 3 bed 2 bath home on a 1 acre waterfront lot in a non HOA neighborhood established in the 80’s for $155k, refinanced after 2 years when interest rates dropped, and now have an $800 a month mortgage. We are incredibly thankful that we escaped rent slavery when we did.
I stopped reading when the article tried to compare being a landlord to running a grocery store. Being a landlord isn’t like running a grocery store, it’s like an opportunist going into a grocery store, buying all the food, breaking it all up, and selling each little piece at a premium to people who need to eat but can’t otherwise because somebody bought all the food from the only grocery store in the area.
Of course, the store restocks, but due to the price gouging from the opportunists, they can charge more for the food and get away with it. Some people are able to take out a loan to get the food from the store but not before the opportunist swoops in and buys all the food again using the profits from their last escapade.
Landlords do not provide housing, they scalp it.
BRAVO Dante …
Landlords manipulate opinion… and badly
I like the guy who starts with “… I have always been a good landlord… then starts with a terrible story about tenants. Landlords love passing for victims… of the poor
Grotesque people.
This is hilarious.
If a landlord is profiting, the tenant CAN afford to buy the place. landlords take advantage of the system to exploit the less fortunate.
it’s basically credit score arbitrage. This is why renting from a large corporation is almost always better than renting from an individual. Large companies understand this, individuals tend to be a-holes who think they are smarter than their tenants.