this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2024
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[–] howrar@lemmy.ca 38 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I mean, this is how businesses work in general. If you don't buy their products/services, then they wouldn't be able to continue providing them.

I understand that we're trying to draw attention to exploitative landlords, but if anyone can afford to keep their property regardless of whether or not you pay rent, it's the exploitative ones.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 29 points 3 months ago (48 children)

The problem is that landlords don't create value, they seek to endlessly profit off of one time labor. Rent-seeking creates no real Value of any substance.

[–] Antiproton@programming.dev 15 points 3 months ago (6 children)

That's the naivete of the Internet talking. Of course landlords create value; they do so in exactly the same way lenders create value: they absorb risk by amortizing upfront costs and charge a premium to do so.

If you didn't agree that it's an ethical way to participate in the economy, say that. Don't try to pass off a moral judgment as an objective truth.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 20 points 3 months ago (2 children)

There's no Value created by risk, that's an ad-hoc justification for profiting endlessly off of labor performed one time long ago.

[–] PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee 3 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Houses are not "one time labor.". Housing requires constant scheduled maintenance and upkeep over time.

Not to mention the financing required to pay for it all,which is normally spread over 30 years.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 10 points 3 months ago

Building a house is one time. Maintenance creates Value, yes, but one only needs to compare the cost of maintaining a house with the cost of renting it to see that the vast majority of profits come from rent-seeking. It's non-productive extraction.

[–] desktop_user@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

car and house Insurance both provide value by reducing the capital investment required to continue having an item, landlords reduce the upfront cost of housing by charging a continuous fee instead of a lump sum.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 19 points 3 months ago (6 children)

Insurance is perhaps the peak of Financial Capital masquerading as Value.

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[–] Catsrules@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 months ago (4 children)

They do create value. They provide maintenance free housing as well as short term housing (short term as in 1-3 years.) Not everyone wants to stay in the same location for 5+ years. If you move around alot It you want to rent is usually the better option.

Now sure you could argue they are over charging for that service but that doesn't mean they aren't providing value.

The only reason why we are having issues is because there is a housing shortage that is raising the price and large companies have taken advantage of this by buying up all the houses at the crazy price and renting them out at crazy rent prices eating up the market for actual people to want to buy a house.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 months ago (2 children)

They do create value. They provide maintenance free housing as well as short term housing (short term as in 1-3 years.) Not everyone wants to stay in the same location for 5+ years. If you move around alot It you want to rent is usually the better option.

The ability to rent is useful, but the idea that endlessly profiting off of the same property and doing minor maintenance is creating Value is silly. There's no Value being created through simply owning something. Maintenance creates Value, yes, but that does not make up anywhere close to the profit of landlording.

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[–] roguetrick@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago

No. It's not large companies. It's a sickness inherent in the system and exactly what this is taking about. The only service being provided is leveraging their own credit to get a mortgage from the bank and then paying that mortgage and taxes with rent. They do that because it will decrease supply and increase value. And that's a parasitic practice done not just by large companies by any means. In my city they even subcontract for maintenance and also pay for that out of the rent. If we're doing this shit, why exactly aren't we just letting the renters own their equity for paying the goddamn mortgage. It's a disgusting system.

[–] SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 3 months ago (7 children)

They provide maintenance free housing...

Keep in mind this isn't always the case. Landlords where I used to live are increasingly requiring tenants to pay for some maintenance costs. A past landlord had us pay for anything $300 or less.

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[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 3 months ago

Robbing tenants of potential equity is not a service.

[–] howrar@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

In theory, the value they create is in handling all the home maintenance. Of course, many of them don't do their jobs in practice.

[–] GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml 11 points 3 months ago

I'd articulate my stance slightly differently, but "handiwork" and even "property management" are real jobs that produce value, but neither of those are "being a landlord", as evidenced by the fact that the more successful and/or lazy landlords hire managers, etc. and let the "passive income" roll in. The fact that they can outsource even the relatively small amount of labor sometimes associated with their occupation and then still profit endlessly shows that they have a very parasitic social position.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 7 points 3 months ago

Maintenance creates Value, yes, but landlords aren't maintenance services, they extract by far the bulk of the profits off of owning the home itself and renting it.

[–] omarfw@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

none of them maintain their properties

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[–] OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 months ago

I mean, this is how businesses work in general. If you don’t buy their products/services, then they wouldn’t be able to continue providing them.

Of course people can simply refuse to buy housing and end up on the street, which isn't dangerous or criminalized or anything/s

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