in reply to Deceptichum

Some hoard, some invest. They rent it out at at exactly what it's worth by definition (ie what people will pay for it). If you think being a landlord is easy and a money maker, then become one yourself and win. Oh, you don't have the capital to invest, and if you did you'd rather spend it on other things? Well, yes, the landlord had to find the money to buy the property and not spend it on other things in order to be able to rent it to you.
Of course there are some shitty landlords, just as there some shitty tenants. And it's really important that landlords are regulated. But a lot of people would be totally fucked if they could only stay somewhere if they could buy it.
in reply to Deceptichum

This entry was edited (3 months ago)
in reply to RedSeries (she/her)

Never been a landlord. I own now (well the bank does and I pay my mortgage), but I've spent my time paying rent. I found a place and paid the askiging amount as it was worth it to me And when the landlord upped the rent unreasonably, I told them to fuck off and moved. True, I haven't been poor by many standards. And I'm sure it sucks to not have enough to pay for necessities. I would want the government to provide a safety net, but I think if everyone just gets everything handed to them, we'd be a lot less of a productive society. And that's bad, as a productive society increases quality of life for all.
in reply to CannonFodder

but I think if everyone just gets everything handed to them, we'd be a lot less of a productive society.


That's what we call a personal opinion that has absolutely zero shreds of historical evidence. AKA a YOU problem.

You think this because that is what you imagine that you would do, and are projecting it onto the rest of us. The rest of us aren't lazy like you want to be.

in reply to AngryCommieKender

My laziness is immaterial. I'm not a landlord or a renter. But communism isn't very successful really. Most places that tried it are dirt poor and don't have enough housing and what they do have is pretty shitty. And most are bringing in some sort of 'competitive market place'. And corruptions is a huge problem (even worse than in capitalist states). China is the big example here and Cuba is another.
in reply to CannonFodder

But communism isn't very successful really. Most places that tried it are dirt poor and don't have enough housing and what they do have is pretty


In the 1970s, the Soviet Union was building over two million housing units per year, more than any other developed economy in the world.

China is the big example here and Cuba is another


China literally executes corrupt politicians, what the fuck are you talking about

in reply to CannonFodder

ie what people will pay for it


If you need a place to live there is no thing as "what people will pay for" because people will pay whatever as long as they can afford it. And they pay because what's the alternative? Live on the street?

The only "fair" rent price is the one where the landlord doesn't make money from it and no, taking enough to pay for the mortgage is still making money.

in reply to Goodeye8

Yes, people need a place to live. Just like they need food. But if one landlord is greedy and asking too much, then there should be others that you can turn to.
If being a landlord was so profitable and had no risk, then more people would build houses and rent them out. There would be a buyers market and the price would drop due to competition.
How much should a landlord get back from their investment? It's hard to define exactly because of risks of extra expenses, value drop, damages, changing legislation, etc. So how else should we determine it fairly other than a free market?

If the likely profits are not worth the risk to invest in housing to rent out, then there there will not be any more rental units made.

in reply to CannonFodder

in reply to Goodeye8

So you don't just want free housing, but you want it in the downtown core? But you don't want the people that make the housing to make any money? What about the labourers who build the house - should thay be forced to do it for free so you can have your free house? And what about everyone else who wants to live in that area, but there's not enough room for everyone - why should you get it over them even if you don't contribute anything to society?
in reply to CileTheSane

That is a good argument. And overall it's been shown that having free healthcare saves money in the long run and leads to better quality of life. As would free basic housing probably. And free food. And free phones/internet. I am personally quite in favour of UBI which covers this. But at some point people are disincentivized to work / be productive. And that's a problem because humans are rather lazy when they can be. And we need people to be productive so that we can produce housing, food, healthcare, phones, internet, etc. Clearly things are out of whack now with housing costs too high compared to salaries. But I just don't think going full communist would work.

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in reply to CileTheSane

'Full communist' as in everyone gets everything for free from the government. Like free healthcare, housing etc. if you don't want landlords but people can't afford to buy, the only other option is free stuff from the government.
I like the idea of UBI at a fairly low rate - ie just enough to survive ok - and with no clawbacks (for a certain level) - that way people have a safety net and aren't beholden 100% to employers, but are incentivized to find a job however small to improve their lot. It would be good for people's mental health. It encourages an upward spiral, and employers can't be completely shitty.
However you still need landlords - they offer rental arrangements for people who can't buy.

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in reply to CannonFodder

You're steering the discussion elsewhere but to answer your question, affordable housing can be achieved through government subsidies and yes, that would includes free housing. If you're worried about freeloaders the subsidies can be contribution based. A part of your income goes the universal housing fund and with that fund housing projects can be either partially or fully subsidized.
in reply to Goodeye8

Many people cants get a mortgage as they cannot afford a down payment and/or they are too much of a credit risk for the bank. So they cannot buy a house. A landlord buys the house using their own down payment and assumes the risk and then provides an arrangement where people who otherwise could not get somewhere to live, now can rent on a monthly basis. Without the landlord, people who could not buy a place to live in would have to live on the streets. So the landlord plays an important roll unless you're ok with poorer people having to live on the streets.

Red Whacker doesn't like this.

in reply to CannonFodder

You just pretty much described them as a necessary evil and hardly a benefit to the people who can't afford a house. They will have a roof over their head but that comes at the cost of accumulating wealth as a noticeable part goes to paying for the rent, wealth that could go towards buying a home. I'm not going to pat landlords on the back for essentially exploiting people who are already having it rough.
in reply to AngryCommieKender

That's simply not true. Landlords try to militate the risk as they're not idiots. But they can certainly lose off a rental unit. If tenants don't pay rent the landlord gets no income, but they still have to pay their mortgage. A landlord can sue a non paying renter and go after guarantors, but that's costs a lot in legal costs and doesnt help if there's no money to collect. And housing prices can stagnate or even drop, so there is plenty of risk. In general any investment comes with risk, the bigger the potential return, the bigger the risk or more loss.

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in reply to AngryCommieKender

Most landlords are leveraged. The house they rent out is collateral against the loan they used to buy the building, which they also had to put up cash deposit, If there's suddenly a big expense ( new roof needs, etc), or a tenant just doesn't pay rent, they still have to make payments on their load. If they can't afford to, the bank can foreclose on the house and take ownership of the house - the landlord loses everything including their initial cash deposit. If they also live in the property, they literally are risking their home too. Being a landlord is a business and like any there are risks. A super rich landlord, or mega corporation that buys properties and rents out has less risk as they can handle short term losses for potential longer term gain.

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in reply to CileTheSane

That's my point. Go ahead and get a mortgage from the bank. You'll need a deposit of course and a decent credit rating and income or they reasonably won't trust you with their money. If you don't have those things, well, that's why we need landlords - someone to put money up and take the risk on your behalf.

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in reply to CannonFodder

I think it defies common sense, but it sounds good if you only think about it for 10 seconds.

Your position seems to be such that many people, like me and probably some of the other commenters, should have to work until the day we die. We have been working full-time our entire adult lives. We're somewhat educated. We're doing the best we can, but there's no way we could possibly afford to purchase property. So when we get old and gray, when we're 85 years old, maybe you're going to see us working the door at Walmart because there's no other option under your system. And who's benefiting from us paying rent our entire lives? Landlords, but more specifically very rich people who invest in real estate. In other words, they are stealing our retirement to get richer when they're already filthy rich.

And that's not the kind of society I will ever support because I don't think the filthy rich bastards deserve any more money than they already have. They only get it by taking it from us and we need it more.

Class warfare.

in reply to fodor

We can't force labourers, engineers, supplies to make houses for free. And people shouldn't have to work past retirement age. So we need higher old age security / social security retirement payments.
I agree that the system is currently pulling way too much money to the top. Of course it complicated as the billionaires aren't actually spending much more personally that the multi millionaires - their money mostly is invested in stuff - their worth is just numbers on a computer. The delicate balance on inflation is based much more on the daily spending by the (lower) middle class population. If we instantly distributed the billionaires' money to the working classes we'd cause huge inflation that would negate the benifit.
in reply to AngryCommieKender

I don't need a made up storey to know that things would be better if people were nicer to each other. Being nice so that a sky fairy doesn't torture you for eternity is ridiculous.
I would love it if we could live in a state where everyone worked hard for everyone else. But there's too many people who are lazy and take advantage of other whenever they can. So we need a framework of regulations to make society function, and we need motivation for people to be productive and pull their weight when they can.
in reply to AngryCommieKender

The reference to providing for one's children was in relation to to comment about inheritance. Bitching that someone has it easy because they inherited wealth is saying you don't think people should be able to inherit wealth which is saying parents shouldn't be able to leave money and look after their own children.
And I don't disagree that empty houses are a problem - they should be taxed to the moon. And a lot of cities have started doin that now. Maybe that will relieve some pressure on the housing / renting market, which is good.

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in reply to CannonFodder

I see the downvotes and am choosing to extend the olive branch instead: I understand your perspective about how people who could not afford to buy a home would be shit outta luck, but this perspective limits itself to the boundaries imposed by the capitalist need to commidify basic human necessities. Homes should be guaranteed for everyone. Yes we have the resources and yes it is possible to do. In fact, all the empty homes already exist to house everyone in the states. It has nothing to do with 'good' or 'bad' landlords, the concept of a landlord is directly opposed to housing all people, as they are financially incentivized to maximize rent and to keep a pool of unhoused people in society with which to maintain the threat of homelessness. There is no invisible hand of the market.
in reply to AngryCommieKender

Charity is voluntary taxes. I understand that the idea of taxes is that it forces everyone to pay their fair share. And I get that. But people advocating for higher taxes seem to usually be wanting other people's taxes to go up, but not their own. A lot of people are struggling these days and can't afford higher taxes.

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in reply to CannonFodder

Thanks for proving beyond the shadow of a doubt that you also don't understand the economy. Charity is not voluntary taxes. Charity is keeping money in circulation, just through different channels than normal. Taxes is removal of currency from the overall system. We literally used to burn the currency that was collected. Taxes are an anti-inflationary device that ends the government fiscal cycle.
in reply to CannonFodder

In most western countries (EU aside), governments have central banks capable of literally minting an unlimited amount of currency. The US government can create an unlimited amount of US Dollars, Canada with Canadian, UK with Pounds, Japan with Yen. If the government can, by definition and at a keyboard stroke, create as much currency as it wants, it becomes self-evident that the purpose of taxation cannot be the funding of the state, because the state can get an unlimited amount of funding without recurring to taxes.

Taxes are a form of money destruction, i.e., removal from the private sector. This serves anti-inflation purposes, but also can be used to redistribute wealth (by destroying more currency from individuals with more wealth than others), to discourage behaviors (destroy currency when consuming unhealthy products such as sugar of tobacco through specific taxes), and also importantly, to enforce the usage of your currency (if people are compulsorily and regularly taxed in one currency, they need to earn that currency, and if they don't they'll be subjected to penalties).

in reply to Socialism_Everyday

That's one way to look at it, but not how the accounts are drawn. If they are creating more than they are 'destroying' then is that really destroying anything? Regardless, to control inflation, or to balance budgets, it's part of a complex system that balances resource availability, and promotes productivity.

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in reply to CannonFodder

That's one way to look at it, but not how the accounts are drawn


The accounts ideologically being drawn otherwise is purely political, and the fact that neoliberalism propagates lies about the way taxes work is a tool to serve the powerful. If people realize we could just create money to make state-funded job guarantees with low risk of inflation, capital is fucked.

it's part of a complex system that balances resource availability, and promotes productivity


Austerity policy has kept Europe at essentially 0 net growth on average since 2008. That doesn't look too productive to me

in reply to SpiceDealer

Yes that would be nice. But someone has to build the housing, maintain it, etc. or should the labourers who build the houses have to work for free? it seems that apart from going full communist, what we really need it more competitive housing options. Like smaller apartments with just minimal necessities in a location that is on cheaper real estate but has transit. Somewhere that people can use as their human right to basic shelter as it's very affordable or fully government sponsored. That would take the pressure out of the housing market at allow rent of nicer places to drop a bit.
in reply to 🍉 Albert 🍉

The system is made (in theory) to promote productivity. We work to build stuff that other people need and our quality of life as a group goes up. People need housing, so someone can figure out how to build housing and sell it at a profit. That makes them productive and they do well and they provide a necessary service. If it's not profitable, they won't do it. And there won't be houses for people to live in. Conversely, kidnapping people is unproductive and unfair. So as a group we've made it illegal. Things like universal healthcare have actually been found to be productive my most countries. As have social assistance programs. It would be nice in some way to include housing and food and phones and internet access in that, but people really do need to be motivated to work. We need people to be productive or else we won't have the housing, phones, food, medical services available to anyone!
in reply to 🍉 Albert 🍉

Landlords don't just take in rent as profit. They have expenses for maintenance, property taxes, insurance, etc. if you could buy a house presumably you would so as to avoid having to pay for a landlord to get his cut. But renters usually can't buy, so the landlord fronts the money for the house and takes on various risks. There is, of course, a change for them doin that. That's the only way renters can get housing, unless governments just give people stuff for free.

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in reply to CannonFodder

People love to say that we have to have landlords because otherwise no one could rent. Great! So then, let's have not-for-profit landlords or public housing.

Also, here is a basic refresher on "what something is worth". If you're drowning and someone offers to sell you a life vest for your life savings, then you might pay it so that you don't die. Immediately after that you would pass laws to prevent them from ever doing that kind of horrible shit again. At least, you would do that if you had an ounce of empathy... Do you?

in reply to fodor

But there are many independent landlord options. The pricing is based on the market and not a instantaneous mark up. If being a landlord meant you couldn't make any money on your investment, why would anyone do it? Public housing is very different. That's getting the government to pay for it. Sounds great, except it's not 'free' - the tax money has to come from everyone else. If everyone got their house for free then everyone would have to pay in the cost of their house. But if you can't a afford to rent, you can't afford to pay that much in tax, so instead you want other people to pay more. But most people are stuggling now, even if they can afford to be in a house, so how can they afford to also pay your rent? Why is it fair to ask them to?
in reply to CannonFodder

Less than a fraction of a percent of the entire planet's population have more money than there are fish in the ocean. Tax the absolute fuck out of them including all of the money they have tied up in investments and stocks and we'd have enough money to take care of everyone's needs.
This entry was edited (3 months ago)
in reply to Ryanmiller70

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in reply to CannonFodder

The current discussion is on housing of which we have way more than enough of. You ask who would pay for it if we eliminated the need for landlords and my answer is the obscenely rich. We can easily house every single person in the world and still have housing left over. The reason we don't is cause of greedy assholes caring more about profits, however small they'd be, than other humans.
in reply to CannonFodder

The pricing is based on the market


Market value is based off of demand. People purchasing extra homes to profit off of increases that demand and therefore increases the cost.

But most people are stuggling now, even if they can afford to be in a house, so how can they afford to also pay your rent? Why is it fair to ask them to?


Tax billionaires.

in reply to 🍉 Albert 🍉

Being a landlord can be a real job - if you have enough properties to manage, there are endless repairs or grievances to deal with. There's government regulations, there's tenant vetting and legal stuff. I wouldn't want to a landlord because I would hate to deal with people complaining over stupid shit, not paying their rent on time, etc. But we really do need landlords or else there wouldn't be any way to rent an apartment. And many people can't afford to buy a house.
in reply to CannonFodder

"We need dragons because knights need to kill something!"

That's what you just said. If people can't afford housing then the economy needs to be adjusted. This wasn't an issue anywhere in the world before capitalism. Prior to capitalism there were poor people, but if they needed a house they just built one on the commons as a community for the person in need.

in reply to AngryCommieKender

So the dragons are housing and the landlords are the knights? But we really do need housing, so you're analogy doesn't make sense.
And of course it's been a problem before capitalism. There's often been times when there aren't enough resources to house everyone regardless of societal organization. And yes, a reorganization or at least a major adjustment of our current is needed. But just throwing landlords out doesn't make sense. If we banned renting out houses and apartments today, there'd be a shit ton of people without somewhere to live.
in reply to CannonFodder

If all we did was to ban landlords there would be no homeless people in the US, or I suspect any developed country, as the ratio of homes that have sat empty for more than one year to homeless people is currently about 35:1 in the US. These homes are everywhere in every major city and small town.

If we went a step further, we could be like 3 of the literal poorest former Soviet block Eastern European countries where 92% of the population lives in extremely nice government housing where the rent is capped at something like 2-5% of your monthly income.

Oh and you got it backwards. The housing is the knights. The landlords are the imaginary thing we do not need

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in reply to AngryCommieKender

If there are empty houses because that currently makes financial sense to sit on the real estate without renting, then if we banned landlords, presumably all that housing would then sit empty. All the homeless would-be renters would now have to find money to buy. Maybe the government would back their 99% mortgage. And the ex-landlord house owners sitting with those houses would wait to sell at a decent price.
Or we just go full communism regarding housing and the government becomes the landlord dragon who doesn't charge much, but doesn't have enough money to upkeep the apartments.
in reply to CannonFodder

Why would you want to destroy these people who have worked hard all their lives?


He says unironically while justifying milking millions of hard working people of housing that should be theirs.

If your neighbours were given the opportunity to work hard to own their property why shouldn't the renters?

This entry was edited (3 months ago)
in reply to CannonFodder

lol "what people will pay" = "what it's worth by definition"

you are joking right? trying to make fun if landlords?

because hoarding, limiting supply will artificially rise the prices of a necessity.

it's pure evil, and with no moral justification besides you being selfish.

Imagine being thirsty in a desert, and I have gallons of water, but you and everyone else will die without it. I could give you all some at the cost of whatever it costs to distribute. or I could be a lazy fuck, and only give water to them highest bidder, they'll trade all their income for something I made artificially expensive.

then pat myself on the back because I save some people from thirst, and let the "ungrateful" die.

in reply to 🍉 Albert 🍉

in reply to CannonFodder

Then you start to get rent payments from your tenants (usually). It covers your mortgage payments, your insurance and legal fees and property taxes and maintenance costs mostly


Your tenants are paying more in order to cover the costs of you being a middle man here, yes. Nowhere in that list did you say anything a landlord provides, they just insert themselves in the middle, raise the cost, and pretend that doesn't make them a parasite.

But at least you housed three families for your effort.


No, you didn't. You denied housing for three families and the equity they would have recieved if you didn't exist.

in reply to CannonFodder

Landlord aren't hoarding


then you continue to describe why they are hoarding properties without providing any benefit. just being a greedy parasite. all you did was make someone else pay your mortgage. which you get to keep and once it is paid they still pay straight into your poket.

I know tapeworms who are better for society than landlords

in reply to CileTheSane

You (and many others here) seem rather confused. Landlords aren't stopping anyone from buying a house (with a mortgage or whatever) unless they can't afford a down payment or can't candle the financial risk. So landlords make it possible for people who can't buy to have a place to live. The landlord invests their own money and assumes the risks and proves a simple rent arrangement that people who can't buy can use to have a place to live. Yes, the landlord takes a cut, as they have to put up their own money and take a risk. But if they didn't take a cut there'd be no point in risking their investment and going through the bother of it all. And if they didn't do it, people who couldn't buy a place would be totally screwed.

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in reply to CannonFodder

The existence of Landlords raises the cost of housing, and then they justify their existence by saying housing is too expensive for people to afford. It's tautological.

Meanwhile the people paying rent clearly can afford it, because the can afford all the expenses of the house + the extra fees involved for someone being a landlord + the landlord's profit.

This entry was edited (3 months ago)
in reply to CannonFodder

in reply to Getitupinyerstuffin'

The problem isn't with the amount of work they had to do to buy the housing, the problem is with the dynamics the relation between a private landlord and a tenant create.

For a landlord, the primary interest when renting a flat is obtaining profit. This immediately implies that, by default, rent caps are against the interest of landlords, creation of public affordable housing is against the interests of landlords, and laws difficulting or eliminating evictions are against the interests of landlords. All of these measures would be massively beneficial to tenants, which most working class people are, and they're not implemented in order to maintain the profit of a select minority of owners that extract wealth monthly from them without providing any service.

in reply to Getitupinyerstuffin'

in reply to Getitupinyerstuffin'

I will not disagree with the fact that I am indeed very stupid.

But yes, if you own a house there is a very high probability your parents and grandparents also owned a house.

You seem to be taking facts very personally. I however do my best not to take facts so personally.

No one is saying that if you own property you are in the top 1%, that you are somehow the enemy.

But you do maybe need to work on your empathy skills and understand how other regular folks are living, folks just like you.

Edit: It’s something close to half of folks who live in poverty in the United States…. Just an fyi

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in reply to BannedVoice

The solution is collective ownership of housing. Housing is a right, as much as healthcare or education, and centralizing and socializing housing would ensure affordable access for everyone, as it has historically.

Housing could be owned by unions, by local councils, by the central government or by all of the above, and then rented at maintenance costs to tenants under no threat of eviction. This was the case in the Soviet Union for example, and led to the total elimination of homelessness and to the average rent costing 3% of the average monthly income.

in reply to BannedVoice

Back in the 19th century, Henry George suggested to solve this with a very high land value tax.

The idea, in a nutshell, is that a good chunk of the worth of a property is not the building itself but the land it is built on - and that component does not come from the landlord's investment, it comes from the community's effort. Take that away, and housing prices will dramatically drop (or at least - stop rising so steeply) because real estate will no longer be such an attractive investment avenue, since most of the value that comes from the land will be taxed away. The part that remains - the value of the building itself - is the part that landlords really do have to build and maintain themselves.

I'm usually skeptical about economic ideologies that claim to be both morally correct and utility increasing - simply because I've never seen an economic ideology that doesn't claim to be both these things. But here I think Georgism did manage to show a direct link between the two, so I'm more inclined to believe in it.

in reply to Deceptichum

I had one slumlord out of like 3 landlords... dude kept my deposit despite the reason I moved out being upstairs neighbors were cooking meth. Police were watching the place to build a case. Others charged like tax/cost of upkeep plus 30%. My last apartment was $600/mo in 2006 with garbage/water/electric/gas. Also replaced my water heater within 16 hours. Not all landlords are dicks, just most of them.