A Boring Dystopia

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Rent is theft (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 days ago by zedgeist@lemmy.world to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world

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[–] jj4211@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There are a few fundamental things a landlord provides:

Avoiding cost of transitioning a property. Government, insurers, and lawyers make transitioning ownership of a house expensive. That by itself erases about a year of typical 'equity' gains. If you have to mortgage, then net loss is likely over the first couple of years. If you know you will leave in say 4 years or less, this has value.
Ease of leaving. If you own, you can't just immediately cash in and move out with the proceeds. If you have to move, you get stuck having to pay for two residences until you can manage to offload.
Potentially access to rent a home when no one will loan you money. On top of being only there for college, when I started renting I had no history, so no bank would have loaned me money anyway, certainly not at a reasonable rate. Sometimes landlords will have as strict a credit requirement as banks, but it's at least more likely to find a willing landlord than a bank willing to risk the loan.

This comes together for renting making a whole lot of sense for people on a remote work assignment, college students, and seasonal occupants who need a residence for a few months or a couple of years. Also for people who have just moved out on their own and need a residence while they get some credit history under their belt, hopefully being in a situation like university where the need is short term as well.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago

Avoiding cost of transitioning a property.

Landlords don't do this. You're describing the rental management agencies/staff, which do not actually own the property.

Ease of leaving.

Landlords don't provide this, either. Again, you're describing building staff, not the property owners. And you're describing it within an artificially calcified market, with prices that prohibit people from easily transferring their positions.

You're also ignoring the reality of rental contracts, with all sorts of deposits and fees tied to move-in/move-out, particularly if you're operating outside a long-term rental period.

Potentially access to rent a home when no one will loan you money.

Landlords don't provide access to real estate, they deny access to real estate. In some instances, they can exploit a scarcity of units by collecting application fees without ever renting the unit.

This comes together for renting making a whole lot of sense for people

You're describing an artificial scarcity of housing created by speculative investment in vacant properties. The "renting just makes sense" argument falls apart when you realize the cost of these units is often several times the market cost of the property itself.

Turn the administration of vacant units over to the public sector with a mandate to fill units at-cost and the monthly rate for all these units craters.