CAPITAL

LANDLORDS AND TENANTS AS ALLIES

Landlords and Tenants: the Same Bed of Roses

      The term used for groups that try to help renters defend themselves against oppression is usually "tenants rights" organizations.  The term used for the people whose assaults necessitate these actions is generally lumped together as "landlords".
      The reason for this is that the perpetrators tend to meet some of the bare qualifications to technically use that term.  They definitely have acquired part or all of the obligations of a mortgage debtor in terms of loans, and as such get classified as "owners".  This gives them the legal right to make certain decisions concerning and demands of the residents of the buildings in question.  However they are "landlords" in name only, because that is where any similarity to real ones ends.
      They are more like real estate "trashers" or "slummers" than they are legitimate owners.  These bullies are just in it for the quick profits they can squeeze out, and then they are gone, leaving the pits, rinds and stains for the next owner to clean up.  They have no interest in the clientele, the buildings or the community. (For more detailed information of the differences between the two, please see the lists on Bad Unscrupulous Landlord Imposter (aka BULI).)
      In order for any liaison to be effective, the parties must work together.  The results have to be mutually beneficial to both sides.  It is, in effect, a partnership that is created.  For either side to be adversarial towards the other compromises their relationship.  That in turn diminishes the benefits either one of them can achieve.
      Although there are always a few bad apples in any random group of people, just like in any other relationship, they are the exceptions, not the general rule.  Owners and renters alike suffer from those exceptions, so naturally they need to try to screen them out.  While landlords have created a way to better avoid bad tenants, more of them are becoming increasingly aware that their business results will improve without what are sometimes erroneously referred to as "slumlords".  Therefore both parties have perfectly valid reasons to want to keep them out of the local rental arena.
      So if you are thinking in terms of landlords versus tenants, you are not seeing things from the proper perspective.  They are simply different sides of the same coin.  The real problem is landlords and tenants versus those predatory pretenders to that throne.  Their prey may have a bigger chunk bitten out of them, but the legitimate property owners are not exactly free from tooth marks either.

      The Bad Unscrupulous Landlord Imposter (aka BULI) hurts everybody, even people who are not involved in the apartment rental business.  Most of the attention is given to the tenants, and rightfully so because they are the victims who are the targets and suffer the direct hits.
      But owners are victimized, too.  They are treated with suspicion because they are also "landlords".  Their reputations are damaged by the actions of the few predators.  Their property values are diminished, and consequently their rents as well.  The neighborhood is run down while crime and vandalism increase.  The quality of renters is lowered which also costs them more in upkeep and maintenance.  Woe be it to whoever acquires a recently juiced building in the wake of a departing property trasher.  Any actions implemented by authorities to help residents reflect poorly on all owners, as if they were all in it together.
      Even those who neither rent nor own rentals suffer some of the same consequences as the real landlords.  Both are also hurt by the artificially inflated real estate prices when the BULIs work together to drive up sales and rent profits.  As realty inflates, so does everything else, with personal income taking last place.
      Unfortunately, up to this point, other than not becoming one of the bad ones themselves, there has been no way for either party to actually make any direct contributions toward stopping them.  Now there is a plan for solutions to this problem that is being developed. (Please see Tenants Screening Landlords [not done yet] and Prosecuting Bad Landlords for further information.)
      It will require some concerted effort on both sides to make it work.  But landlords and tenants need to be working together as allies, not adversaries, in the war against a common enemy.  By achieving a cooperative unification to accomplish this task, the long term results will be well worth it for all involved, except maybe for the BULIs.
      Bad Unscrupulous Landlord Imposters are the thorns in the bed of roses.  It seems that every garden must have its "snake".

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OTHER PAGES ON THIS WEBSITE:

Learn what it's all about on our home page.
What is C.A.P.I.T.A.L.?

Meet the real enemy; find out if you may become a victim.
Bad Unscrupulous Landlord Imposter (BULI)

See how they run; here is what you can expect from a key part of their illegal profiteering.
The Greatest Racket Ever Told

Sometimes it's good to laugh at a bad situation.
Why not have a few at their expense?
If fat jokes could be defined as ''belly laughs'',
what would you call bad unscrupulous landlord imposter jokes?
(For the answer, see ''Our Hotlinks'' in the panel at the left.)

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