I’ve been in both sides of the relationship, and I want to start with my observation that bad landlords and bad tenants and rare. Most people aren’t predators, aren’t retaliatory, and generally act in reasonable ways. Some don’t, and the best we can do is not let them spoil it for the rest of us.
As a renter, I tried to leave units at least as good as I found them, and as a landlord I find most people do the same. Once out of a dozen places I lived, a landlord acted unscrupulously. And, as a landlord, I’ve had one renter trash a property. That seems like an expected amount of hassle to me. But the risk is very much asymmetric — I lost a week of pay to the landlord, but repairing the damage by the tenant cost me a year of rent.
In the US I don’t have a right to shelter, and while that may be awful in some respects it works for the most part. Hundreds of millions of people get shelter. But to be honest, I’m on the edge of getting out of being a residential landlord because of the increased regulation. While I agree with the ethos, the reality is that it increases my chance of being damaged financially regardless of my ethics/behavior.
Not sure what my real point is other than “don’t be awful”.
On a different note, I find the hypocrisy from some folks in this topic frustrating. They advance exploitative approaches to commercializing SaaS while decrying landlords doing the same. I don’t see a difference. We literally use the term “multi tenant”.
> On a different note, I find the hypocrisy from some folks in this topic frustrating. They advance exploitative approaches to commercializing SaaS while decrying landlords doing the same. I don’t see a difference.
You really don't see the difference? I'll help you out: one is a basic (and at the moment, scarce) necessity, the other is a unnecessary luxury.
So the most basic sufficient shelter delivered in the most cost efficient way is the “need”? No, human dignity needs to be respected - but what does that mean? Does the shelter need to be where people want it, regardless of the cost? That’s where tradeoffs start to happen, and at some point those tradeoffs culminate in a market and that market is made up of tenants and landlords.
Being awful is a problem, be it in housing or SaaS.
As a renter, I tried to leave units at least as good as I found them, and as a landlord I find most people do the same. Once out of a dozen places I lived, a landlord acted unscrupulously. And, as a landlord, I’ve had one renter trash a property. That seems like an expected amount of hassle to me. But the risk is very much asymmetric — I lost a week of pay to the landlord, but repairing the damage by the tenant cost me a year of rent.
In the US I don’t have a right to shelter, and while that may be awful in some respects it works for the most part. Hundreds of millions of people get shelter. But to be honest, I’m on the edge of getting out of being a residential landlord because of the increased regulation. While I agree with the ethos, the reality is that it increases my chance of being damaged financially regardless of my ethics/behavior.
Not sure what my real point is other than “don’t be awful”.
On a different note, I find the hypocrisy from some folks in this topic frustrating. They advance exploitative approaches to commercializing SaaS while decrying landlords doing the same. I don’t see a difference. We literally use the term “multi tenant”.