Yup

Every landlord I've had has been "nice" and "friendly." Unless you need something or they're not happy with something you did.

I realize that I may be in the minority here, but I used to be a landlord. I never charged full market rate, and I always took care of my tenants. I never kept any security deposit money. One tenant had a breakup, and I showed up that evening with a locksmith to change her locks so he wouldn't be a problem. That cost me some money but it didn't cost her anything. I mean, they're paying for service you need to provide service.

That's not landlord/tenant that's just people/people.

Who wouldn’t put their income before your wellbeing when push came to shove?

But also many of them will make someone homeless just because they couldn't provide an extra ten percent of profit this year.

So yeah.

Almost all people will put their own well-being above yours. This isn't a trait exclusive to the upper-class.

My landlords wife yelled at the plumber for sealing our bathroom wall back up when the shower spigot was still leaking, and then her husband comes in and says "honey stop we don't need to pay to fix the valve if we don't have to". So my shower still leaks and they really fixed nothing because they didn't want to spend $1000 (less than half our rent) to redo the shower.

More descriptive title next time please :)

That's true of literally any transactional relationship. Everyone is trying to get as much as they can for as little as possible. Including employees trying to get as much pay for as little work. It's normal.

They are also a bad person

That's just a good thing to remember in general: no matter how good of a relationship you have with someone, whether it be a coworker or a friend, at the end of the day, most of them will put their own interest over yours.

Some of them won't, but they are rare.

True story.

For those interested I recommend Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. An amazing breakdown of the history and why. Eye opener at the very least.

Edit: Curious: Why the down votes?

And so will you.

Image Transcription:

X/Twitter post by user 🎇 K8 is a Danger to The Republic 🎇 @K84UnitedLeft reading:

"The point of class analysis isn't to say that your landlord is a bad person, it's to say that your landlord has class interests that directly oppose your own.

"They might not treat you like shit, but when push comes to shove they will put their income before your wellbeing."

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There sure are a lot of landlords on Lemmy.

A reasonable opinion on twitter? Is this from 10 years ago?

Where are all these single owner landlords? Everything here is owned by management companies and the 'landlord', more propertt manager, is an employee who gets a free rental unit to live in while they have the job.

Even the best monarchs do not justify monarchy; it is a position inherently created for abuse. You may have a good king, or two, or ten - even kings who WILL put your wellbeing before their own interests - but invariably they will always be outnumbered by those who seek the position for the sake of abuse, or who succumb to the structure of the position which encourages abuse. Likewise with landlording. The problem isn't with individuals, the problem is with the system.

Can anybody link me to educational resources on class analysis?

Especially those pertaining to the United Kingdom, such as the big northern working class cities like Manchester.

I'm struggling to understand this. What class of human puts other people before their own income? I'm not a landlord and I'm not putting my income in jeopardy to help a hobo out.

The point of individualistic free market deal making is that it forces two people to find an overlap in their interests, then hold each other to operating within that overlap.

According to the theory of class interests, deals only happen when someone is being bamboozled. According to the theory of individual interests, deals happen when two people find an overlap in their interests.

I rent my house to a woman who worked as a server in a restaurant until Covid. When restaurants were forced to close she offered me half of the rent as that was all she had. I told her to keep it, not worry and stay safe. This was when there was still a lot of uncertainty. After 3 months she started paying me again without me asking. Do you think I'm a terrible person?

Of all the anti-landlord arguments this has to be one of the dumbest. Of course a person is going to try to protect their income. I'm not a landlord but I'm not going to let anyone jeopardize my job.

"They might not treat you like shit, but when push comes to shove they will put their income before your wellbeing." Yes, you know, just like any business. Just like you do for them. Would you pay them extra rent to improve THEIR wellbeing? No? Why would you expect the opposite?

Just because you have a more personalized relationship with your landlord than the McDonalds down the street, why would you expect that they let you stay in their house for free when you lose your job? Do you expect McD's to give you a free meal if you walk in after you've lost your job? For a month? For 6 months?

I own a 2nd house across the street from mine that I rent to my parents. After I pay mortgage, taxes, and insurance, I probably lose about ~$100 each month in that arrangement. (This is cash flow. Increasing equity means I'm making money overall, but not a ton). I charge them $3000 per month which is actually below market rate here and they have good retirement savings so they can easily afford it.

If they were a normal tenant and they quit paying mortgage I would lose $3k out of pocket each month. $18k if they didn't pay rent for 6 months. $36k if not for a full year. For my parents I would just eat those costs. It would hurt, but I would get by. Do you all expect that I should do that for any random person I'm renting the house to? Should I also continue working for my boss also if he quits paying me? Do you pay rent for your neighbor if he loses his/her job?

I really don't get the landlord is evil view. The landlord has an asset (a building and property) and they're renting it out. It's a business, just like if they're a restaurant or a construction company. Unless they have a monopoly on the land and buildings in your area, I don't see how they're any more evil than the other businesses you're dealing with every day.

There shouldn't be a conflict. We should want new landlords to enter the system and provide cheaper housing.

Cheaper housing aligns with renters interests.

There is no limit on the amount of housing that can be built.