Current Events > Being a landlord is the ultimate scam.

(+) Yeah! (+)

hockeybub89 posted...

We pay all bills and are responsible for like 95% of upkeep on our house. Still dropping 4 figures a month on rent for the privilege of having walls.

I know that's completely normal. Just seems like the world is ridiculous.

The world's more cruelly mean-spirited than ridiculous, really.

fan357 posted...

Guys why isnt everything free >:(

I have never met a person who actually thinks everything should be free, not even on the Internet. This strawman is so stupid.

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Thighon posted...

The world's more cruelly mean-spirited than ridiculous, really.

Cruel is definitely one way it can be ridiculous

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I suppose that's true

Landlords are literal leeches who sit on their asses making money off of people's need for a roof.

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It's always amazing to see any lack of nuance, as if there cannot be both good and shitty people in the same "profession."

nemu posted...

It's always amazing to see any lack of nuance, as if there cannot be both good and shitty people in the same "profession."

I think its real naive tbh and doesnt speak to life at all

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nemu posted...

It's always amazing to see any lack of nuance, as if there cannot be both good and shitty people in the same "profession."

It's inherently exploitative. If their lack of a profession is by it's nature bad, then of course that makes them bad. No one is saying that a landlord is incapable of doing good, just that being a landlord is enough to be a shit. Like with cops.

TL;DR: Landlording is the catalyst for a range of societal and economic woes. There are more than a few ways that this is viewed as bad by many people.

2 examples for now:

Many consider it morally corrupt to charge people for shelter purely for profit. As shelter is considered a need and requirement for life, profiteering off of it should not be something favored by society. Many people view essential needs as something that could or possibly should be provided, or, at minimum, not something people should be permitted to use as a means to "leech" off of other humans. The reason this should be frowned upon as a "role" individuals are allowed to perform is not only the moral aspect of preying on human life, but also the fact that landlords often have a very "fuck you, pay me" attitude when it comes to rent-seeking. This is strongly evidenced by current events, when many people are low on income or otherwise displaced from work due to a pandemic (in other words - not their fault). It's not uncommon for people to be getting harassed or threatened by landlords with eviction and potential homelessness right now - be sure to factor in that many places may not be allowing new tenants currently or hiring, so rehoming or finding work may be difficult and homelessness would be likely. The worst part is that this is not a new behavior from landlords. Many behaved in this fashion prior to current events. We just get to see it more now because of the high number of people unable to pay.

The second and more economic reason, when keeping in mind the predatory nature of landlording ("fuck you, pay me"), is the coupled predatory nature of corporate run institutions a la banks/lenders ("fuck you, pay me or I take everything you own now and in the future or I put you in jail."). The reason your landlord is so predatory is likely because they were also preyed on. Lenders keep giving out high-risk, debt based loans. So the landlord is buying a house/apartment with money they don't have, and therefore ABSOLUTELY rely on rent to keep paying off the bank. This should also be frowned upon and has a direct line of effect on those they prey upon, and those their prey are preying on. It's a nasty cycle. How does this reflect the landlord issue rather than banking? Simply, it permits the existence of landlords, landlords in situations like this are nothing more than middle men between tenants and banks who truly own the property.

An argument would be: "But listen, if I spend my hard earned money- assuming I'm NOT taking out a debt based loan- on a building, I should be allowed to do with my property as I please. Besides, it's not like I force people to rent from me. They want to!" Here is why that's a weak argument. First off, I guarantee if you ask people if they'd rather NOT pay rent. They'd say yes. Second, they HAVE to pay for a livable space in nearly all instances. You can't just start building a home wherever you please for free - at least speaking as someone from the US. Third, you purchased property with the sole intent of profiting off of human basic needs. Gross.

This is where there comes contention among some leftists of many varieties; Where do realistic acceptable property rights begin and end? Should we secure basic needs for all people? How do we resolve this? Free housing? Community developed? State developed? What about covering costs of homebuilding and allowing self-build or people hire it out? What if we remove land rights and just divvied it up? Do we first tackle things that support landlords like lenders?

These examples ignore a huge amount of additional issues across the full range of social, economic, and political issues regarding renters, rights to life, trade, monopolizing violence, property, prison industry, and so on. Lots of reprehensible "systems" can be traced back to this topic, and nearly all of it relies on some person charging others for shelter.

If you'd like to read a little of what Marx had to say: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/rent.htm

It's such a garbage practice, even liberal economists recognize it as a type of market failure that should be eliminated as much as possible. Not that liberal politicians actually do anything about it, it's just funny that it's such a glaring flaw in the logic of capital that even the priests of capital can't really cover it up.

Even Adam fucking Smith was against rent-seeking.

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Thighon posted...

It's inherently exploitative. If their lack of a profession is by it's nature bad, then of course that makes them bad. No one is saying that a landlord is incapable of doing good, just that being a landlord is enough to be a shit. Like with cops.

Every interaction that involves money is exploitative in some sense. You're just putting this strange standard on housing because it's an easy target for ire because there are definitely very shitty landlords out there.

Your rage against the little landlords (your typical attorney or doctor who saved money and now owns 1 or 2 extra houses he rents and maybe makes 4K profit out of the two together) while forgetting about or giving a pass to the companies that build huge multi level apartment buildings to rent them out

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SPE posted...

Your rage against the little landlords (your typical attorney or doctor who saved money and now owns 1 or 2 extra houses he rents and maybe makes 4K profit out of the two together) while forgetting about or giving a pass to the companies that build huge multi level apartment buildings to rent them out

I can't speak for everyone in this topic, but when I complain about landlords, I'm speaking exclusively about the ones that own big complexes since those are the ones I deal with most at work, not random shmos who rent out a house.

Honestly, I always assumed when people bitch about landlords, they're referring to the former, not the latter.

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

It's literally the scalping of land and shelter. No different from people buying up a bunch of PS5s and creating artificial scarcity and then selling them at triple the price. Hell, at least the PS5 is actually yours.

You're literally paying monthly for something you don't even get to keep.

@RchHomieQuanChi Scalping relates more to selling land just like it would selling PS5s. Owners renting their homes out would be like PS5 owners renting out their consoles. Don't you agree

sLaCkEr408___RJ posted...

@RchHomieQuanChi Scalping relates more to selling land just like it would selling PS5s. Owners renting their homes out would be like PS5 owners renting out their consoles. Don't you agree

Yes, we agree. Landlording is even worse. Shelter is important for survival, while a PS5 is just a luxury toy. The people upset about scalping PS5s should be exponentially more upset about landlords.
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eston posted...

That doesn't sound like absolutely nothing to me

He inherited his father's oil investments

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bump

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Definitely some new and interesting takes on this subject today

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Shablagoo posted...

No it wouldnt because people need a place to live and a small number of humans compared to the total population control all the land and property.

it should be outlawed

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My girlfriend is a landlord and she didn't raise the rent once on her tenants for the 5 years they lived in her house.

But yeah, she's the ultimate scum by default. Right?

DDirtyDastard posted...

My girlfriend is a landlord and she didn't raise the rent once on her tenants for the 5 years they lived in her house.

But yeah, she's the ultimate scum by default. Right?

Where are these landlords who don't raise the rent every single year? I've never met one.

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DDirtyDastard posted...

My girlfriend is a landlord and she didn't raise the rent once on her tenants for the 5 years they lived in her house.

But yeah, she's the ultimate scum by default. Right?

Why take it so personally? Read post #59, no one is calling your girlfriend scum.

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Orlando_Jordan posted...

Where are these landlords who don't raise the rent every single year? I've never met one.

My girlfriend's rent has gone up $25 every single year in the 7 years she's been there. Small house in a small town.

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