My landlord doesn't do that, they have a property manager that does that stuff. Ive never even seen my landlord. If the landlord does it, then they are not doing landlording, they are being a property manager and landlord, but they don't necessarily have to, and one doesn't require being the other.

[–] mochisuki@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

That’s disingenuous. The property manager very much is NOT paying $30k for a new roof. The landlord is. The property manager just executes the maintenance plan the landlord is paying for.

The real problem here that these kinds of discussions usually miss is the system of laws that force everyone involved to treat housing as an investment. Housing is a necessity that the government should ensure availability of for all. Some countries get it right, like Germany where the laws pushed so much reasonably priced housing that rent isn’t even painful so tons of people don’t bother buying

[–] WanderingVentra@lemm.ee 2 points 2 months ago

Paying for a roof isn't work. It's not producing anything, transforming anything, or doing labor, and it takes no time. It takes 30 seconds to cut a check. And they're using money I and other renters have paid them because we can't afford a house, despite very much wanting to, because of how expensive housing is due to landlords buying up all the properties lol. You can tell it's not a real job because a lot of landlords have full time other jobs. Or it's why being a landlord is also a great way to get money for old people who can't work and maybe haven't saved for retirement nor have a pension.

I 100% agree that the problem is that housing is an investment. Real estate investors should not be buying homes to make a profit at the expense of available housing. I haven't heard how the situation is in Germany, but that's good. I heard Tokyo also does it right, where housing depreciates like a car, because they have so much.