Why are landlords being so singled out?!?

Question

I have a hard time understanding why landlords are considered so different from other businesses and business owners. Even before COVID-19 came onto the scene, it has been a prevailing theme over the last year or two that cities and states are pushing more laws limiting the abilities of landlords to collect rent, evict tenants who don't pay, renovation and increase rents, and other regulations regarding how their business is operated.  Now with the impending crisis, rental property owners are being arm barred into dropping or foregoing rents and those who cannot or choose not to are being vilified by not only the public but even other property owners.

Some are in a great position financially that they can be very flexible and work with tenants which is great, but some others are not in as great a position and rely upon that rental income to pay the bills.  I think the majority of property owners are willing and want to work with tenants in whatever capacity they can or feel is necessary.  But to have such sweeping legislature and pressure placed upon property owners as a whole to give up some or all of their income for an indefinite amount of time is crazy.  It's like they think we are all wealthy, greedy and don't care about others which of course is completely false.  I love playing my part to provide a good home for others and I know many others do to. But at the end of the day, if bills can't be paid then there is no home for anybody.  Why are property owners so heavily singled out?

Scott Passman · Answer

@Anthony Wick I know landlords have been effectively demonized by the media for quite some time and there likely isn't much we can do about it at this point. As @Jay Hinrichs @Chris Baxter and @Bjorn Ahlblad mentioned the culture has shifted so far into an entitlement mindset and supposed haves vs. have nots that I feel like we just need to do our part to change that narrative locally.

However, what's really surprised me is the number of threads on here recently where quite a few people have been doing the same thing to other posters. I don't expect all sunshine and rainbows, but we get enough of this evil landlord crap from the media and the public we don't need to be doing it to ourselves as well.

Bjorn Ahlblad · Answer

We have been going through a very 'progressive' permissive time and social media helps. A lot of people are working for pretty low wages and are gaining voice; along comes a whole political agenda promising 'free stuff' and 'stick it to the man', activists jump aboard and here we are. None of this has logic or reason and it is mostly going on in lower class properties. Along comes this virus; and chaos!

Anthony Wick · Answer

@Scott Passman. It's out of pure ignorance. And you are correct, even some very successful landlords think all landlords should magically forgive some of the rent because "tenants are the landlords responsibility". Those landlords have forgotten what it was like to be new and still cash poor. And some of those landlords feel a moral sense of superiority over you and I. And the tenants and general population are also poor and paycheck to paycheck, so if you own multiple properties you are clearly rich. It's called victim mentality.

Chris Baxter · Answer

I think you answered your own question.... "it's like they think we are all wealthy, greedy and don't care about others which of course is completely false. "

When was the last time you saw a media piece about good landlords or about the function they provide in society?  It just doesn't happen.... instead, we hear sob stories about how tenants are suffering at the hands of their evil landlords and governments step in to provide 'protection'.

Tobey Porter · Answer

I think this is just a sign of the culture right now. There are so many instances where people are not held responsible for their own actions and this is just another example. For our personal finances, we have a 3-4 month emergency fund, not because we are “wealthy” and able to do so, but because we made saving up that money a priority so we don’t have to fear in hectic times.

My fear with a lot of the no-eviction legislation is even people who can pay their rent won’t, because there’s nothing their landlord can do to them at this point. Would it be nice to be able to cover everyone’s rent for the foreseeable future...yes. Is that a realistic expectation...absolutely not.

There should be lessons learned in times like these...building an emergency fund, for example. But how can that lesson be learned when the landlords are the ones being punished??

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

certainly the prevailing thought process in much of Oregon ..  ergo state wide rent control..

Jay Hinrichs · Answer

I think its important to also realize these are small business's in essence and investments wrapped into one.. so you have the business risk of government intervention ( we deal with this big time in the development world and on the investment side there is always risk when investing in anything that is to generate a return on your investment..   so the same folks that could careless if you lost 20% of your 401k could care less if you lose money on a rental or for us developers the city turns down our project and we lose 100s of thousands..

Public just does not fully understand all aspects of real estate.

Scott Passman · Answer

This is a great point and one I hadn't fully connected the dots on until now.  Over the past couple of years the biggest targets in the media have been police officers, CEOs and other corporate executives, landlords, and quite frankly religious organizations.  All of which have power and authority and are seen as limiting freedoms or having the power to "tell others what to do".

Funny how it's so apparent to most people that when parents don't set boundaries or discipline their children, they are setting them up to become unruly, lack core values, and have a lot of problems later on.  But when there are boundaries and natural consequences in the workplace or society in general, there is an outcry of limiting freedom and abuse of power. One of my favorite quotes applies here:

"Easy choices, hard life.  Hard choices, easy life".  When we always make the easy choices we usually lead a hard life.  But making the hard choices now (disciplined saving, eating well, exercising, owning up to problems and fixing them) leads to a much smoother and easier life down the road.

Karl B. · Answer

I think some people think landlords are greedy overlords who take their/people's rent money and get rich.

Landlords are in a position of power (we make the rules, choose tenants and can evict) and are in the same category as a boss or a police officer who can pull someone over and give a ticket.

And so some people dislike 'the man' (or 'the woman' to be politically correct).

My current tenants are all pretty cool - I always try to be fair to them and they seem to respect that and give me the same respect back. I fix things, do upgrades and do my best to bring new tenants into the building who will follow the rules and not cause disruption to the other tenants.

We've all noticed recently the media (in general as well as social media) seems to enjoy giving attention to the bad landlords (mainly the harsh letters some landlords are mailing to tenants) and that certainly isn't productive however the media/social media often tends to enjoy broadcasting negativity.

Max T. · Answer

Because housing is a basic necessity (food, shelter, clothing)

and now the progressives call it a human right.

Interesting that they are not also calling for free groceries and clothing... at least be consistent!

Why are landlords being so singled out?!?

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