Are Landlords Really That Bad? 

Worth mentioning that many of the apparent "services" that landlords pay for (but don't provide, as this video covers) are themselves part of the scam. The company I rent from pays for each unit to be "professionally cleaned" before move-in, but the cleaning company they used for years was just an LLC owned by the property manager's wife. She would come in and do very minimal cleaning and then deduct an outrageous amount of money from the prior tenant's security deposit whenever her husband needed extra cashflow into the leasing company. The whole thing is indistinguishable from organized crime, other than that it's legal.

I have three sons in their twenties; we all live in London and I have seen some of the worst kinds of landlord-ism. One of my boys recently wanted to rent a flat with his girlfriend and because fifteen other people showed up to inspect the property the landlord suggested a "beauty pagent" - essentially they all had to submit a suggestion about how they (at their own expense) would improve the property if they got to rent it. One of my other sons has to pay six months rent up front; just because the landlord has the power to demand it. We need to end the scourge of landlordism now.

My favorite part of landlording, the build to rent sector and investment firms is that it is literally a callback to FEUDALISM--the serfs must live upon land of lords and nobles. It is one the most transparent representations of how our system has devolved and is hurdling backwards.

The term "landlord" in itself already sounds incredibly feudalistic. And people see nothing wrong with it.

“They don’t fix the sink, they hire….” Nah sometimes they don’t do that either. Or change carpet, replace ACs that are ancient, remove mold if they can help it, or really absolutely anything a proud homeowner would do with their home.

When I heard over 20 years ago about house flipping, I knew we were headed for a rent crisis. If the roof over your head becomes the equivalent of a lottery ticket, then we are in dystopia, folks.

A friend of mine had bedbugs in her apartment. So she contacted the landlord asking for pest mitigation. The landlord refused saying that it was her responsibility. She sent a link to the state code that requires landlords to pay for pest mitigation in cases of bedbugs. The landlord conceded. She won! Except, she didn't. The day of the scheduled treatment for bedbugs came and went and no treatment was done. And the next day she received a notice of eviction for 'failure to properly prepare the dwelling for pest mitigation'. And she literally has no recourse. The law says landlords can cancel contracts and evict for just about any reason they can come up with. That was her payback for standing up to the landlord.

My rent went from $1575 to $1800 last summer. At the same time, the landlord stopped sending landscapers and stopped doing quarterly maintenance. Less work, more profit. I truly wonder if I’ll ever be a homeowner

"just buy your own home it's so easy!' I literally had to save for a *decade* after college, living in what was basically a cheap poorly maintained hole of an apartment, pinching every penny, before I could afford a down payment on a house in one of the least desirable neighborhoods in my city. And I consider myself extremely lucky since I was able to get my foot in the door just as mortgage rates bottomed out in late 2021. I couldn't afford my house if I bought it now. *It should not be this convoluted or expensive to obtain a basic human need*

Landlords don't only screw over individuals and families, they also screw over small businesses. If your favorite mom-and-pop store suddenly disappeared, it was probably an unaffordable rent hike.

Personal rent story and why I was homeless for 7 months. I moved to Colorado for college, got a studio apartment on campus. Semester came to an end, and I needed to find somewhere to live. I found several rentals for $800-900/month that I could afford, however, I wasn't making enough money. They all wanted me to be making about 2.5 - 3x rent. So, when my lease at the college ran out with the end of the semester, I was put out on the street. I ended up spending $1500+ a month living at a motel that offered weekly rates for 7 months before I was finally able to find a place to rent.

I have, currently, the best landlord I've ever had. This is my second year renting with him and he did not increase the rent between leases. He takes care of all but the most complicated maintenance issues himself (he is an engineer of some kind) and usually promptly the same day. The maintenance he performs is generally a complete replacement of a broken piece of equipment (e.g. part of the belt on our garage door opener broke and he looked up the problem, bought the part, and replaced it). He seems to genuinely feel guilty any time he has to enter our apartment for any reason (even when invited in). None of these things are listed in our lease agreement, which means he is essentially doing them purely altruistically. I know it sounds like I am arguing against the premise of this video but I am absolutely not. I think he genuinely does these things, in part, because he is a good person and he knows that the economic relationship we have should not be this way. He is also an older man, and I think he has a lot of pride in this apartment and thinks of it both as an investment, and as a place that he might live some day if circumstances change. Let's just say I have not been so lucky with other landlords.

Don’t forget that if you ever get an eviction in your record it’s almost a guarantee you will be homeless for the next 7 YEARS. I’m just able to start my life at 34 because my mother got an eviction while my name was on the lease. It’s insane.

I think a great first step would be to ban corporations, especially foreign ones, from owning ANY residential property in your country. I don't think someone's grandma/aunt/whatever renting out an extra home or a person who is local and owns a couple houses or apartments that they rent is a problem (for the most part) but corporations deciding they want to be our landlords is fucked

Please do a Part 2 where you show off successful examples of public housing from around the world, and how they operate. I'd love to know more about that example from Vienna. I know Japan has interesting housing policies, as does Singapore. People really need to SEE how it could be better. Love the content, as always. 👍

When my brother and I were little, our parents gave us piggy banks. They told us this money would be for a down payment for a house, or a bunch of other things. By the time I was 18, ans ready to head off to college, I had somewhere around $1000. I rented a crappy 3- bedroom apartment with two friends. Each tenant had to pay first month, last month, and a security deposit in advance. My entire life's savings was gone in one day to pay for that.

You may have indirectly mentioned this already: "landlording" is one reason why housing is so unaffordable in the first place. You not only have to compete with other people who NEED housing, but you have to compete with every real-estate "investor" who DOES NOT need housing. The fake competition drives the prices up. Renters are performing a service to the landlord, not the other way around.

Beautiful video. Last year a landlord made my girlfriend, me and my 1 month old baby homeless simply to make a profit off the property… This year, my parent’s landlord is doing something similar by moving them out of a house they’ve been in for 8 years only to move them into an old shack of a house (also owned by the same landlord) My experience completed my radicalization and my parents situation secured it. As it turns out (to no ones surprise) even if you have worked hard for years or served your country, you are cast out as nothing but a commodity into the free markets ruthless claws.

One of my favourite landlord excuses is how they call themselves "risk takers". Then they start banshee wailing when something like the eviction moratorium gets in the way of their "hard-earned" money.

I have become a bigger fan of a graduated property tax. That would mean the more property you own, the more you pay in taxes by percentage (just like the more income you earn, the higher your tax rate).

Landlords are hilarious to me. My friend owns 3 properties. She hears about an issue for one property a month, and every time she has to do something it's the hardest thing she ever had to do. Once a month and the issue is mostly them calling you, you look at the issue, try to call someone, they fix it or not and that's it but it's the hardest thing you do as a landlord. What's more confusing to me 2 of the 3 were given to her by her parents.

This video brings to mind related problems when it comes to having somewhere to live. Not only is paying exorbitant rent treated as "normal", but we're also being sold ideas like "van life" and "the tiny house movement" by being told that these things are paths to freedom, rather than realizing that they are symptoms of a deep systemic problem. (This applies to the "gig economy" as well, but I digress.)

They had people coming into my apartment to do inspections way too frequently. I sent an email to the office to complain, and they replied that they have investors that required the inspections. In other words, I don't matter; I only live there and pay rent. It's the nameless investment firm that they serve.

Describing landlords as scalpers for housing is brilliant, really sums it up well

It is a really relevant video. I come from Almaty, Kazakhstan. Right now there are many people fleeing from the Putin's military conscription for the Ukranian war. The greedy landlords in Almaty doubled rent prices in the first hours when the news about the conscription spread. And many of my fellow people accuse the immigrants instead of the landlords.

They don't even have to evict you to evict you. They can simply refuse to renew your lease when it's up. That's what's happening to me this November.

A lot of landlords claim they aren't in it for the money, just to pay off the mortgage and a little extra on top. Bullshit. You ever know a landlord to drop the rent when the mortgage is paid off?

More social housing is needed, and we need to introduce a kind of landlord tax which progressively increases with each additional property they own.

We need to get away from calling landlords "landlords" and start calling them housing scalpers

Imagine how dangerous it could be if we lived for everyone’s benefit?

I knew it was a scam when I worked for a property management in my 20s. I naively thought there was some formal regulation or price evaluation that they had to follow when deciding the rent for their apts, you know, to provide fair pricing, but Nooooo. When they had a 1BR come up, in a not so great neighborhood mind you, all they did was look at the rents of the 1BR around the property, then tacked on $200 MORE to the price, just to see if anyone would pay it. Which unfortunately someone DID. They were none the wiser that there was nothing significantly upgraded about the apt or bldg other than it was vacant. AND now the rent is up for that unit in that area, so other landlords can now compare and hike their prices up too. When I realized this, I knew then, as a renter, I was fucked. 😣 It’s impossible to keep up with that.

I know an almost retired couple that rents their old trailer. It cost about $430/month to rent a property. That’s money that’s just lost even to landlords

The Scalper analogy is something I never really thought about, but makes so much sense.

I'm lucky enough to have bought (well, mortgaged....the bank owns it) my "first, starter" home when I was 25. That was 22 years ago. My daughters are in their 20's now and trying to figure out housing because nothing is affordable. One just bought a derelict house 2 hours away because she's handy and will make it livable with sweat equity. The other is finishing university and trying to figure out how she's going to stay sane living with her parents until she's 30+. None of the rental realities my wife and I experienced growing up exist anymore. I'm seriously considering taking my meager retirement savings and using it to down pay / mortgage another 2 houses so I can be the landlord for my kids. I think this kind of thing might become more common.

I feel like many of our social problems stem from a system that treats corporations as individuals. Many of the behaviors that are slightly harmful on the individual level get amplified when powered by the resources of a corporation. First step I would make to solving this is restrict corporations from renting residential land. That would flood the market with homes as investment firms dump properties, and drive prices down. Individual land lords will snap some up, but a lot of individual people will be able to afford housing prices then as they drop.

Socrates made this argument about the parasitical nature of landlords over 2000 years ago in Plato's 'Republic'. He equated landlords to 'drone bees' or more specifically 'drones with stings' who are damaging to society, as opposed to the 'worker bees' who are productive. Absolutely disgusting and frankly quite depressing for humanity, that we are in the 21st century, yet we still permit and even applaud land-lording.

Rents are becoming more and more insane in Portugal (my country). A couple of months ago the Lisbon city government released their "affordable" rooms for college students. Each room came with a 650€ rent. The private sector is getting even worse, with beds (not a full room, quite literaly just a bed) being rented at 500€. So yes, landlords are really that bad

I used to rent with an Ex of mine, every year they would just raise the rent without fail, while doing little to nothing for the tenants.

4:43: "Landlords provide housing the way scalpers provide tickets: they don't."

Here in Florida, rents went up in some cities 30-45% in the past year alone! Absolutely disgusting.

Also, the high cost of rent keeps a LOT of people in abusive relationships, simply because they can't afford to leave.

The landlord/scalper analogy needs to be made more often. Just like scalpers, landlords are getting in between way of people who were going to transact anyway, and adding zero value in the process. I understand that there is a need for some of the homes to be rented rather than sold, say, to students or visiting workers, but in these cases we can have either a very strictly regulated rental market or, ideally, public provision of rental housing at little more than the marginal cost.

imagine socialized condo complexes and how much everyone would enjoy that

The best experience I've had with a landlord was when the landlord was the property owner, the super, and local. Suffice to say I don't think a person renting out property is the problem at large. Corporate landlords who never interact with the renters and provide no tangible improvements/reasons for increasing rent are.

When my partner and I (both in our 30s) moved in together this past summer, we were easily able to show a combined income of 6 figures and on average 4x-5x the rent on any place we were looking at. We were denied by all but one slum lord because she has a normal amount of student debt and I immigrated 12 years ago and don't have extensive enough credit history. We had to live in hotels/motels for over a month and pay out hundreds in application fees until we finally got approved by a notorious slum lord organization. Not to mention for some reason the day we started applying for apartments, i settled a debt and my credit score decreased by 2 points and didn't go back up until 2 weeks after we had moved into our den of compromise, and that 2 points was enough to disqualify me from approval for basically any apartment in our city, but still gotta pay that application fee to be told "no you don't deserve to live in a place you can afford." Because I settled a debt. At least that's what it looks like because redlining is technically illegal nowadays, but for all we know it could well have just been good old fashioned racism.

My grandfather suggested I buy a house to rent it out and I told him "No. I don't want to contribute to the problem." I'm fortunate enough that I live with him and don't have to face the crushing threat of homelessness at this time. And that I have enough buying power to slide into a home for the right price around here if the stars aligned - moving is more a matter of being my own man and living closer to everything I do instead of commuting from the furthest edge of town. The main problems as a first-time prospective buyer in one of the cheapest places in Texas and the USA to live (for now) are competing with corporate and individual landlords - all of whom look to make those properties rent houses and can offer fat stacks above the asking price. And the homeowners would be fools not to - BlackRock doesn't send in someone in a suit with a BlackRock nametag, they send someone in who looks like anyone else looking to buy a home.

In Finland at least I think landlords (called literally just "rent givers" out here and not a "lord" of any kind) do provide a valuable service. By law, they are obligate to take care of the apartment if there are any problems or in the case of normal wear and tear. Owning an apartment yourself comes with some risk, more things to worry about and more work. Renting is thought to be a form of luxury, where you can just live in a place without worrying about much and you are free to move at any time. Owning an apartment is "cheaping out" and making a commitment of living in the same place for a long time. You can get a two bedroom place under 60k euros and you are qualified for a loan with a bit over 1k euros / month income. If you lose you're job, then social security pays for the your place for you. But then again, Finland is a leftist utopia compared to USA

Exactly. The architects, bricklayers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, and roofers build the house; the landlord is literally just a parasitic role in the housing industry. We don't actually need landlords to provide housing, as they don't provide housing in the first place, the people that build houses provide housing.

Landlords were the reason why I lived with my parents when I graduated from college and why one of my favorite Japanese restaurants for the past 20+ years closed permanently. Landlords are the scourge in today's society

As someone living in one of the most expensive cities in the world, who has a slum lord who owns 3 properties in this city but still refuses to do BASIC maintenance (or threatens to evict you when you ask her to fix anything), I STRONGLY think local and federal govts must do something to regulate this nonsense. We have rent increase protections to an extent but landlords here are SO rampant in going around it (reno-victions and falsely saying they're moving in a family member are the most popular). Not to mention all the empty units that sit around so the investors/landlords just see their portfolios go up while the market has even less housing options as a result

There's also the fact that the speculative market created and feed by the existence of landlords is the thing that makes housing so expensive in the first place.

I'm a property manager for an owner of several units/properties here in New Mexico. She's one of the good landlords, generous, compassionate, at times more than I am. That being said, there is still an underlining...greediness. It's difficult to describe. She's one of the best bosses I've ever had, but... all of these properties are an investment, she's amassing great wealth. She's not providing housing out of the goodness of her heart. It's really difficult to cast her in the light of a greedy landlord. She's a mentor, someone that is patient and kind. But, when we've had conversations about empty units or my salary, I sober up and realize...it's all about $$$$!

"Landlords provide housing the way scalpers provide tickets" 🔥🔥

The area I live in is going through a housing crisis because of the influx of people moving here from all over the country. Our rents have increased so much, people are going homeless living in the parking lots of big box chains. My apartment's rent increase was so high, I had to move back in with my father. It went from $900 to $1700 in two years. It's absolutely stupid.

People renting in the 30s in room shares needs to be talked about more since this is where expensive rent prices are way too high to be able to just get a flat for a single person, maybe 2 bed is getting ridiculous. It is because the rent is too high with stagnant wages. I am so tired of room sharing, but I don't make enough to move onto a single/studio flat in the UK. ts just normalized people at my work, my friends all room share to not end up on the street.

An almost 19 minute video that can easily be summed up in 1 word: yes

I know hundreds of landlords and work with them on a daily basis. I’ve not watched the video yet but what always upsets me is that very few actually reinvest money into their buildings in order to maintain the value of the buildings and make life better for people renting. There are some that don’t overcharge and actually take care of stuff when problems occur. I think those landlords are pretty good actually. Just sucking money out of it sucks.

Small towns have their lords too. It's not only big corporations. Here in upscale costal southern California, the local fire chief's wife over the years has bought and today now owns free and clear approximately 30 rental homes. Paid off by the renters over the years. These homes today are worth 1 to 2 million each and rent for 4 to 5k a month. This little kingdom was built by cooperating between banks and the high ranking County officials. like the chief of the county fire department. Banks won't let you acquire home after home, they'll ask you to beable to make that payment without a renter. Only ordained special connected people get the opportunity to have it all handed to them, like the local officials here. And I'll bet in your town too.

Even being a drug dealer is more respectful than being a landlord. At least the drug dealers are doing something!

I live in such a social housing apartment in Vienna. Good quality, clean, excellent public transportation, all important amenities in walking distance, if any installation breaks, the owner (the municipality of Vienna) takes care of it for free, and most importantly, very affordable! It used to be even more affordable! Prices have risen sharply, as the town grows with urbanization and immigration. But compared to other major cities still coming out on top. Quality of life here in red Vienna is second to none

There should be a cap on how many residences are owned by landlords. Renting has its use: for short to medium length stays in a different city. Say for example you are working or studying in a different city for a few months to 4 or so years. But this is the minority of people living in a city at any time. Any locals or long term residents should be able to affordably buy their own homes so that they aren't ousted out of their home cities. This is why a cap on both number of landlord owned properties and rents is necessary. The landlords should also be local individuals, not corporations. I'm thinking, like you said, older folks who might lease out part of their property they no longer need

I remember a few years ago having the realization that I had spent over $100,000 in rent over a certain amount of time with nothing to show for it. With all of the talk about people needing to save, that sure does make it a lot harder to get the money for a down payment. Even if the cost of rent does not increase, these are some baselines for how long it takes to pay $100,000 in rent: $850: 9 years, 10 months $1000: 8 years, 4 months $1250: 6 years, 8 months $1500: 5 years, 7 months

Yea, most of this is super exaggerated. Everyone who complains about landlords have CLEARLY never owned a property. Owning a property is not "doing nothing". I own a modern, expensive home, and I've done tons of maintenance, pay for contractors, etc. All is time, labor, and money. A landlord provides all of this. Also, buying property is significant risk, especially not in "hot" areas. It's very easy for property values to go down...like right now, in a high interest rate economy. Landlords also provide "temporary" housing. If a tenant wants to live an area short term, they can actually do that without taking any risk, or paying for closing costs, etc. Oh, and tenants can be horrible. As a tenant, you can move in, and not pay rent for months at a time before finally getting evicted. Tenants can also completely destroy a property if they wanted to, only losing their small security deposit. God forbid you make a single point about any of this though. Pretty hard to say landlords do nothing. If they clearly did nothing, they wouldn't exist. You even said why they exist in the video - because renters can't afford to buy a house! In my opinion, it's just a symptom of a greater problem - housing getting to expensive to afford, wages not keeping up, etc.

Finnaly some one spoke about this. I'm so confused why is no one talks about this it litteraly causing countless people live in the streets.

Their "job" title LITERALLY has the word "lord" in it, referring to the old Medieval times of serfs and lords. So yes. Yes they really are that bad.

Another part of this: landlords hogging the supply isn't just about driving pricing upward, it creates a whole new barrier with competition. I am fortunate enough to be able to afford a down payment on a 1 or 2 bed in my city's local area. The problem is, landlords looooove to rent out 1-2 bed apartments. I used to be actively searching but I'd have to waive inspections, accept all kinds of odd terms, overbid, or just be excluded from bidding altogether because they're only accepting full cash offers (think 280k+) on the condo. I'd only have a few days to see a place and make a decision - not how I want to choose where I'll spend most of my life for the next 5ish years. So thanks to these rent seekers, even if you do have the assets, they can still screw you.

I’m a landlord and a renter. I rent my two bedroom house in Stevens County, Washington so I can rent a room in a home in SoCal. I’m breaking even. That’s the exchange rate. I am, at least, a conscientious landlord. I’m able to charge them well below the market rate because I was able to pay cash for the place. I’m hoping they’ll use the money they are saving on rent to save for a down payment on a home of their own. But with interest rates the way they are now, they’re still priced out of the market. I’m 62 and plan on retiring there. I’m in a unique position. I know this but I’m using it to help a young family get a foothold on something that still (thanks to “The Fed”and their nonsensical plan to drive down inflation) seems to be just out of reach.

Excellent video! I'm trying to buy my first house right now and it's sad how many homes are being bought up by "investors" to rent out (or flip) driving up the prices for people like me who just are trying to find a way out of the rent money void and be homeowners.

This video speaks hard to me. I'm a teacher in Phoenix and a touch over 50% of my take home pay goes to rent. Most of the rest goes to car payment, internet, insurance, and student loans. I should also add that I have a small 1 bedroom apartment that costs $1535 a month.

Imagine if, everyday, someone showed up to your local grocery store the minute it opened, bought everything in the store, carted it off to a warehouse, and told you that you could buy those same groceries from them now, at a 50% markup. The grocery store shrugs. This is perfectly legal, they say. This is the rental class.

Here in Japan we have apartments rented by the government. They aren’t tenants or low income housing, they are simply apartments that the government rents and your rent is determined by your previous years income and by how many people in the apartment were working last year. It winds up to be cheaper, but if you lose your job or you get a lower paying job, your rent doesn’t change until the next year. Meaning if you are injured and can no longer work in January, your family has to pay the rent as if you were still working until the next year. If you have a grown child living with you who works and then moves out, the parents have to pay the rent as if they were still living there until the next year. Not to mention how difficult this makes the first year of retirement for people who rent.

I'm so thankful that my parents let me live with them until I was 25, barely charged me any rent at all (£200 a month) and bought all the food and paid all the bills so I could skip renting altogether. I'm nearly 1 year into home ownership and I still count my blessings from my parents that it was even possible, BUT the house was/is a total wreck, the landlord that owned this place previously let it fall apart and didn't modernise it at all (not even putting in double glazing), I've managed to reclaim 2 full rooms and half of another two rooms, sinking so much into this place, I really do feel for people who are unable to skip renting it makes me sad.

I have a best friend who decided to rent a basement to live independently from his parents. The irony is that his landlord is very controlling and won't let him do much around the house and just as trapped as living with parents

My grandparents are technically landlords because my mom and sibling could never afford a house, but I get that they are an exception because they aren't actually profiting off of us. Also my grandpa literally designed and built our house on what was part of their feild.

"There's truly every flavor of landlord out there, not that I'm suggesting we should eat them of course" Yeah, only do that if they're rich.

Imagine how bad landlords are that even Adam Smith despised them and called them parasites

Apparently in Korea, you can usually pay the rent all upfront and they GIVE IT BACK at the end of the rental period. The landlords invest the money (which is insured), so the renter is only paying rent with opprotunity cost.

It dawned on me when the term "Passive income" was coined, there's a very real possibility it came from rent. Then I realized through rationalizing things... That's real estate. That's how the rich got their money. That's what the person giving you a tour of the house / apartment really is, or even just the middleman (agent). They are the landlord and they are the ones chilling on their homes while you do all the work. When I read about the poor man winning the lottery story, the dots connect, and I finally understand what separates us from the rich. The rich... leech from us. That understanding... actually got me to deep depression, until I try to cope to this day by working while living in my parents' house. I'm just glad I have any house at this point, and I hope for all the landlords out there to treat your renters like family. Every little kindness goes a long way, especially in this case.

No one person should be allowed to own more than 2 houses, and no corporation should be allowed to own any houses. this would aleviate A LOT of the problem

Your comparison of landlords to scalpers is great!

Hit the nail on the head right at the beginning. The issue isn’t the person, the landlord; the problem is the landlording, rent seeking behaviors that our society allows and rewards.

Making profit off of basic human needs like shelter and food should honestly be illegal. It is absolutely immoral and unethical.

I was fortunate enough to be able to buy a modest home. The rent I paid at my apartment was around $740 a month at first, but after three years of renewing leases, they were going to try charging me almost $1000 a month for that dumpy, little apartment. I said screw that, if I’m paying that much every month it may as well be a mortgage. Landlording truly is exploitive and predatory.

We should just [redacted] the landlords.

C'mon man, you gotta give a bit of the flipside to the landlord argument. Where should people live who don't have a parent to live with (or won't) and can't yet afford to buy (or don't want to buy). The usual answer is renting. If I own 2 houses, shouldn't I be able to charge someone else to live at one of my houses or charge them to live in a room at the house I live in? What about if I accept a 1 year employment contract in a city that is far from my current location? Renting for 1 year is a better idea than buying even if I could afford to buy. You mentioned free/low cost housing but who is going to foot that bill? Local governments? State governments? Federal government? We know the federal government is beyond broke, most states have tough budgets and many cities do as well. The city I lived in until 2 weeks ago, Madison, WI, is committed to building a lot of section 8 and/or low income apartments and those apartment complexes end up hurting the community as the police are there close to everyday. Not to mention the fact that these apartments end up trashed within a few years as people don't give a shit about property that isn't their own ESPECIALLY if they don't have to pay to rent it or pay for the damages. If you need further proof that low/no cost housing doesn't work on a large scale, look at Cabrini Green, Robert Taylor Homes or Pruit-Igoe. Now most cities don't build high rise public housing anymore but even the smaller scale housing complexes still have plenty of problems. In this day and age in this country renting is simply a necessary evil and (mostly) depending on location, it can range from relatively painless to completely awful. As far as landlords making $97k a year. I see your link references the US Census but following the link in your article gives no indication that is what landlords make. I'd like to know if that is gross or net income from rentals or if that is the income from another job in addition to their rental income. Even a landlord who owns a property free and clear is still going to have property taxes and maintenance to pay for. I can't imagine that a local guy who owns a couple townhouses would make anywhere close to $97k (after expenses) in rental income even if he didn't have a mortgage on them. This doesn't even take into account the risk that landlords take regarding their properties possibly being trashed or the rent moratorium where, regardless of ability to pay, many tenants simply got to live for free. Yes they owed backrent afterwards but the majority of landlords will never see that backrent get paid as your can't get blood from a turnip. For the record, I do believe there should be local control of rental properties. If an out of state property company owns an apartment complex, there should be a local representative that can address concerns and has the authority to implement needed changes. I know this is not always the case though.

Thank you for being one of the vanishingly few good political youtube channels

You really failed to make the distinction between corporate vs small time landlords. Painting all landlords in general with the GREEDY brush is unfair. Yes, corporate landlords are parasites and deserve all the hate. Small time landlords are generally regular people renting out their basements or part of their house to help cover SOME of the costs. As an owner of a small semi detached triplex, we both work FT jobs. The below market value rent we charge doesn't even cover our monthly mortgage. Partially because we don't want to be greedy jerks and partially because we'd rather charge less and have grateful tenants vs charge more and have entitled tenants. No, we're not neglectful landlords. We will fix anything that needs to be fixed and we keep our property in good condition. Owning a house is expensive. Even if the rent covers the mortgage, it's not just the mortgage you have to worry about. There's property tax, city utilities (water and waste), hydro and gas bills. Don't forget about the emergency fund for the inevitable repairs, broken appliances, etc. Need to fix the roof? That's 12k right there. While I get why you think landlords are a bunch of fat cats taking advantage of renters, I encourage you to try and see the other side too. Perspective is a good thing. For the record, I'm not saying renters have it easy. Renting can be a horrible experience and it shouldn't be. We've been there and that's why we try to provide a positive experience for our tenants.

Comparing a landlord to a parasite! Yeeessss!!!! That's absolutely what they are!!!!! Some of the worst people I've ever met were landlords!!!!!

Cutting out the middle man seems to be the bottom line whether you're talking about housing, healthcare or other life's necessities.

I currently pay 78% of my income on rent (used to have a higher income). Don’t want to move as my landlady is of the chill variety and only raised rent once very modestly in 8 years I’ve lived here. It’s a hassle moving but I’m more worried about renting someplace that raises the rent every 6 months by 20%, which I’ve had before.

As someone who rented from 2011-2021 and then bought a home for my family AND rental property, the only reason I was able to do so is because I added value to the marketplace through my work and got paid handsomely for it. No landlord screwed me over. I budgeted. I invested. Not everyone is willing to work their ass off or make sacrifices to own a home. Maybe the next video should focus on on how healthcare companies price gauge people into bankruptcy (and death) or, if you want to stay with housing, talk about more affordable housing in other countries where people can start a new (and sometimes better) life since everything seems so unfair in the USA.

I talk all the time about how landlords are crooks and ppl always say "my landlord is cool" and that absolutely isn't the point. My landlord is fine too but in my eyes, he's useless.

I worked for a wealthy landlord from NY for five years as his on-site building maintenance man, and I have horror stories. A few; He once purchased cyanide online and attempted to have me mix it with wet cat food because he had stray cats 'sniffing around his property at night.' I swiftly informed him this was illegal, and he backed off of the idea. Another time he had a tenant who was out on federal parole, and he got into with him, bih argument, my landlord emailed his parole officer and told him that he was doing drugs and violating his parole, made it all up. The guy just so happened to be breaking his parole, so he was arrested the next day. Landlord threw EVERYTHING HE OWNED into a trailer and took It to a local dump, nice TV, Xbox one, several games movies, food, you name it, all went in the garbage in about three hours flat. As far as I know the parolee is STILL back in prison, from that one incident. Landlord had a new tenant in his apartment less than two weeks later, which I always questioned the legality of.. He alsoused to intentionally wash children's chalk drawings off his driveways and sidewalks, as soon as it was drawn, it'd be gone. He also threw many children's toys away and straight up lied to parents asking him where they went, I watched him do it several times. He would regularly throw away holiday decorations and anything that stood out, he upkept his buildings like miniature concentration camps. He raised my rent three seperate times throughout the Pandemic, while I had a newborn daughter and I was working a full time job on top of being his on site worker. After the third rental increase I told him I had had enough and we parted ways, the very first time he ever laid eyes on my daughter after working for him day and night for FIVE YEARS, he scoffed and said "just an extra expense." I've found that the majority of landlords are just like him, not ALL, but _most_ . Money obsessed evil borderline criminal bastards who would literally stab you for an extra couple bucks if only they knew they'd get away with it. Be careful who you rent from. That guy was so dark and greedy that I honestly still look over my shoulder from time to time, just to make sure.. he was extremely angry when I finally called it quits.. 😲(thanks for reading. Sorry this was so long, but landlords like him exist and people need to know that.)

Thank you for spreading the word. Additionally, let's not forget corporations owning houses. A 1000 acre development was bought out to be turned into a rent-only community of 3000+ sq foot houses.

Landlord here... Actually I own one house that my wife and kids lived in for about 3 years before we moved. We thought about selling the house, but the amount we owes on the house and realtor fees would have meant we would have broken even. So we decided to rent the house at market rate. We had so many people wanting to rent our house that we were able to make out pretty well. The first renter...we had to replace the fridge and fix the AC. Keep in mind, we still have the mortagd. We currently are paying a mortage on the house we currently live in, while renting out the second home. Given how housing prices are going up year after year, we have decided to give our second home to our children when it's paid off so that at least they won't have to worry about shelter. The vast majority of landlords are like us. My wife and I work regular full time jobs and aren't "balling" off the rent. So I have to take some issue with Second Though that landlords are parasitic. The corporate landlords...that's a different story.

I’m watching this video while my 61 year old mom is buying groceries at the Indian shop. Rent is ridiculously high all throughout the United States 🇺🇸 and it is hard to find a one bedroom apartment anywhere for under $1,000. I’m so glad I live at home in a big house 🏡 with my family. We are blessed even though I have my own problems such as lack of social skills and a speech 🎤 impediment.

I’ve had some horrible landlords, and a few real gems. The bad experiences really make the few good ones stand out. I don’t have a problem with landlords that make a fair profit and provide a fair service (where things are repaired when needed and without too many restrictions). I do have a problem with the ones who try to squeeze every possible dime out of their renters and make people homeless if people refuse to pay the ridiculous rent increases. Like the people who own mobile homes but rent the lots they sit on… landlords can raise the rent to anything they want and if the owners don’t pay, the landlord can take their homes away. It’s disgusting behavior. Parasitic. Evil.

I live in social housing and I can tell you that, at least where I live, both the building I live in and the other social housing I've visited before are the only buildings/appartments I've seen in my entire life that conform to all legal norms I've ever heard about. Yet the right keeps saying that big government is bad and the State does everything wrong and we should privatize everything

I moved in to help my mom, who has a disability. Her lease is fixed, never heard of a fixed lease before. Long story short, the landlord didn't approve me living here, and gave my mother an ultimatum. Kick me out, or we both have to leave. WTAF? We could fight it, but my mother just can't and isn't up for that. So, I have to leave and leave my mother vulnerable. This is crazy! Fixed term lease? What happened to year to year!? Landlords can be evil, in fact.

A solution to this is Collective Buying, a tactic where everyone in the apartment can band their money together, & just buy the apartment complex from The Landlord outright, moble home parks have done this to avoid being forced out or made to pay high rent.