• Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, I’m sorry, but I really want people to think about what a rental world looks like if people can’t be evicted.

    Really think about it. What incentive does someone have to pay rent? None. You’re essentially telling landlords that if they get an abusive tenant who refuses to abide by the lease terms they signed in good faith, they have no legal remedy and cannot control their property any more.

    In such a world, why the hell would anyone invest in rental housing? Why would any sane investor build a new apartment complex or rehabilitate an existing one? Why would they seek a new tenant rather than just selling everything to some faceless megacorp which can afford to amortize out the risk or redevelop apartments into condos? And yeah, you might think, hey, property values will drop and people will buy rather than rent. But not everyone’s going to be able to buy, and if we lose access to rental housing because it’s gotten impossible to evict tenants regardless of the reason, it’s going to really hurt anyone who needs or wants to rent, as well as provide a major barrier to private investment in constructing new housing.

    Some of these landlords have been stuck dealing with abusive tenants for years without access to the law for recourse. Maybe the tenant is paying zero rent, but demanding that the landlord maintain paying large sums for upkeep and utilities. Maybe they’re harassing the landlord or threatening their neighbors. We have no idea what’s going on, and there are often very good reasons why someone gets evicted. Shit, maybe it’s a shared housing situation and they’re sexually harassing another resident.

    Ending the eviction moratorium is a good thing, because if it doesn’t get ended, then it’ll be the end of rental housing availability. The entire system will collapse. And maybe that system needs some reform, but letting it collapse isn’t a good end.

    • Fraylor@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      It’s almost like this shit shouldn’t be an investment at all.

      • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Someone needs to build and rehab rental houses and put up with tenants. No one is going to do that for free.

        • Fraylor@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Doesn’t need to be free, it also doesn’t need to be profit either.

          • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Without profit, you’re asking for them to sell their labor and expertise for free. Profit is the compensation people gain for the risk of making an investment, for the time and expense of doing what is necessary to manage and actualize that investment, and their expertise in knowing how to do so properly.

            • Fraylor@lemm.ee
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              1 year ago

              Well, expertise is a very, very generous term to use for landlords in any way, shape, or form. And let’s be real, for how much profit they make off of the labor of other people, them having to break a nail wouldn’t kill anybody.

              • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                Depends on what they’re doing. Rehabbing a house that has been trashed or abandoned and doing so in a safe and efficient manner takes work and expertise.

              • Maalus@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Have you ever been a landlord? It feels like you haven’t, and are just repeating buzzwords like “they dont work but get money!”.

                • Grayox@lemmy.ml
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                  1 year ago

                  Sure sounds like you have… have you tried getting fuxked lately?

                • lingh0e@lemmy.film
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                  1 year ago

                  I have not been a landlord, but I’ve dealt with many… and the amount of sympathy I have for them has decreased exponentially.

        • Prandom_returns@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago
          1. The state
          2. The state.
          3. Not for free, but the state.

          Just like social housing. But for everyne.

          If you want to own a home, buy it from the state.

          If you can’t afford it, rent it from the state.

          If you want to buy it, but can’t afford it, do the bank thing, but with the state.

          • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, uh huh, okay. So go do that if you really think you can come up with public housing that isn’t a fucking nightmare. And if you think you can get it passed. Until then, the rest of us have to live in the real world.

            • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yeah, uh huh, okay. So go do that if you really think you can come up with public housing that isn’t a fucking nightmare.

              The FHA is already involved with lots of real estate transactions. The VA already provides some of the best loans in the country to military personnel. Just because you cannot envision the state being involved in housing without it turning into housing testaments from USSR doesn’t mean it’s not possible.

              • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                Yep, and the great thing is that people have other choices, too. I’ve got no problem with FHA, VA, USDA loans.

              • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                You want the state to have a monopoly on rental housing and the sale of houses. That’s what I read.

                • Prandom_returns@lemm.ee
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                  1 year ago

                  That’s correct. How is this “social housing nightmare”? Instead of the bank owning your house, the state will.

                  • Cleverdawny@lemm.ee
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                    1 year ago

                    Sounds awful. I don’t want ownership of my house to be exposed to malicious politicians and underfunded, incompetent bureaucrats following Byzantine regulations.

    • Astroturfed@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      In principal, yes you are right. However, everyone knew it would end eventually. These people still owe their landlords the money. They will have their credit ruined, have an eviction and not be able to rent again. These are serious consequences. I doubt there’s a ton of people who just chose that for no reason.