The whole subject of paying rent has become more of an emotional issue this past 18 months than would would think about something so basic to human existence, at least in America.
For at least my life on earth, I’ve pretty much taking housing for granted. Not that it was all that easy sometimes I will admit. There were times in my younger life where I struggled to pay the rent, but there was never any time where I feared I would end up homeless.
Since I tend to be on the side of the downtrodden, and more than a bit liberal in my politics, I find myself somewhat conflicted now with the latest demands by more than a few that all rents be canceled, or that housing should be free to those in need.
The liberal side of me tends to agree, that everyone should enjoy a roof over their head, but the more democratic side of me insists that we do our best to contribute to our own upkeep, including paying the rent or the mortgage or whatever it is that is needed to be pulling on the same end of the rope as the rest of us going on this journey through life.
I must confess that I am a landlord. I’m not one of those profiteering mega-corporations that raises the rent at every opportunity while keeping repairs and living standards to the bare minimum. I have a single family home on my own, and my partner and I share ownership of a condominium, both of which are rented out to tenants.
I must confess that I am a landlord. I’m not one of those profiteering mega-corporations that raises the rent at every opportunity while keeping repairs and living standards to the bare minimum. I have a single family home on my own, and my partner and I share ownership of a condominium, both of which are rented out to tenants.
Our condo unit will soon come vacant for the first time in over four years. We have been blessed with a great tenant who did his best to maintain the unit, always paid the rent on time or early, and never complained when it took us 2 days to get a new air-conditioner, or a couple of days to replace the stove.
The house I own hasn’t had quite the same luck, the first bunch of tenants I had to evict, pre-pandemic, but it’s been rented now for nearly 3 years to the same family, and while they’ve not always been on time with the rent through this last year, they have always managed to get it paid.
We raised the rent on the condo once in 4 years, and then only by $25 a month, or just under 2%. I’ve not raised the rent on the house at all.
If repairs are needed, we get them done as quickly as possible. We are obsessed with the comfort and well being of our tenants and do all that we can to make sure that the house and appliances are maintained.
But, should either of our tenants stop paying the rent, it would not be long before we could slip into our own kind of crisis.
Neither of the properties has a mortgage, but the condo in particular has a fixed cost to own, based on the HOA fee that is due monthly, the taxes and insurance. The HOA fee that we pay is substantial, in relationship to the value of the unit, but it does include water, cable and internet and a very nice community pool and clubhouse, with the added security of being gated with limited access to non-residents.
Why should we be forced to keep paying for a tenants cable and internet and use of a nice pool if they don’t in turn pay the rent? Why should we dig into our meager savings to pay property taxes and insurance on a property that would no longer be returning value to us?
That is the part of me that is conflicted.
For all the parts of me that want my fellow humans to have as nice a life as they can, there is also a good part of me that says it shouldn’t be free. I don’t think John Q. Taxpayer should be on the hook either unless you are so disabled that you can’t even pick up trash on the side of the road for a few hours a week. Surely, most everyone can do something for their own upkeep.
In any case, whilst I still will label myself as a flaming liberal, pay your damn rent or go somewhere else.
