Anonymous wrote:There's a landlord on the "why don't you buy a house" thread who thinks renters are "greedy" and have no rights. I'm so sick of this argument; I see it all the time on DCUM. I'm a renter, always pay my rent on time, and take care of the property I live in. I suspect the vast majority of renters do the same. In DC, there are more renters than homeowners. And yet this nonsensical attitude persists. I would say there are more greedy landlords than greedy renters. Thank god for rent control, that's all I can say.

You have the concept of rights wrong - particularly property rights.

As a renter, you don't own the property. The landlord does. As a tenant, your rights are spelled out explicitly in your lease.

If you're so sick of the concept, then buy.

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately most renters aren't as thoughtful as you, most could care less about the property and they simply make the area look bad. I live in a nice area with higher price homes and you can easily tell which homes are rentals. Sorry but it's true.

Renters, at least older ones, are typically either poor or have other troubles. The renters relying on government aid are the worse. Sorry but White Trash is alive and well in most communities.

I'd love to send you a picture of my street, where the two renters of six homes either blend in seamlessly or have a nicer garden than half the other houses. Your gross generalization about a particular group, your vehement insistence on knowing the truth via said generalization, and your use of the phrase "White Trash" all really combine to make you look like Captain Asshat.

I've been a tenant and a landlord. Bad behavior goes both ways.

Landlord here. I think a few bad apples (tenant-wise) spoil it, and those tenants know the system and move around a lot = lots of landlords get exposed to them. I base this off conversations with other landlords while in Landlord-Tenant Court trying to get judgments against tenants.

In my case, it was a SFH in Bethesda that rented for $3k+. Even at that price, the tenant wrote bad checks numerous times, and then once I insisted on cashier's checks, he still didn't pay. He knew the system. In MoCo, it takes 4 weeks to get a court date after rent is late, then 10 days for the eviction notice, then 4-6 weeks to have the eviction done. If the tenant pays _just_ the amount from that judgment, up to the day before eviction, the eviction is off.. even if all months since then of rent are still unpaid.

They know this and work the system. Eventaully it catches up (you can only pay your way out of 3 eviction orders in 12 months before it's automatic eviction), but if a tenant works it right, they can get at least 3 months of free rent out of you. It's not worth suing a tenant with no assets -- line up behind all their other creditors.

At the same time, I"ve had great tenants as well, who paid the rent on time and alerted me to any problems. I always corrected them within days (even for the bad tenant -- because they can otherwise stop eviction proceedings if the place is deemed unlivable).

Its particular to this area.

We lived in Southern California in an area where 75-80 % of the local housing market was rented out.

Its a provincial, small-town mentality which is one of those weird but true attributes of the DC / MD / VA area.

I'm also a landlord and renter. I have a condo that's underwater in Chicago and we rent a house here.

We moved here, like PP, for work. And we didn't plan on staying for longer than five years, but life happens. We are riding out our current lease and will probably buy in the next year.

I actually like renting because nothing is my problem. Something breaks. Landlord fixes it. I am dreading the eventual house we will buy and the weekends I will spend in home depot or lowes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well if OP is in a rent controlled apartment she is poor and getting a government mandated benefit from her landlord.

Does "poor" = "trash"?

Also, in DC rent controlled buildings are determined by the age of the building, not the income of the renter. Duh!

On DCUM, it does.

Anonymous wrote:There's a landlord on the "why don't you buy a house" thread who thinks renters are "greedy" and have no rights. I'm so sick of this argument; I see it all the time on DCUM. I'm a renter, always pay my rent on time, and take care of the property I live in. I suspect the vast majority of renters do the same. In DC, there are more renters than homeowners. And yet this nonsensical attitude persists. I would say there are more greedy landlords than greedy renters. Thank god for rent control, that's all I can say.

It really depends on where the rental is located, that is reality like it or not.

I am both a renter AND a landlord. We relocated to the DC area for DH's job. We know that we will only be in DC for max 5 years (we are currently in year 4), and that we FOR SURE do not want to stay here or retire here and want to return to the state where we came from.

I am pretty darn certain our landlord does not think we're trash and have no rights. We pay our rent 3 months in advance, and treat this home like it is our own. In return, he is kind, thoughtful and always goes out of his way to make sure we are happy. We also do not treat OUR renters like garbage. On the contrary- we are courteous, flexible, and jump at their every reasonable request.

Tenants have many rights. Landlords ignore them at their peril.

I agree with you, OP. Particularly as the "dream" of homeownership becomes more remote for more people - this terrible stereotype has got to go.

Unfortunately most renters aren't as thoughtful as you, most could care less about the property and they simply make the area look bad. I live in a nice area with higher price homes and you can easily tell which homes are rentals. Sorry but it's true.

Renters, at least older ones, are typically either poor or have other troubles. The renters relying on government aid are the worse. Sorry but White Trash is alive and well in most communities.

Anonymous wrote:Well if OP is in a rent controlled apartment she is poor and getting a government mandated benefit from her landlord.

Does "poor" = "trash"?

Also, in DC rent controlled buildings are determined by the age of the building, not the income of the renter. Duh!

Well if OP is in a rent controlled apartment she is poor and getting a government mandated benefit from her landlord.

Completely agree.

It comes from the "renters are poor" mentality, and is associated with the "poor can be exploited" concept.

All ugly and barbaric.

There's a landlord on the "why don't you buy a house" thread who thinks renters are "greedy" and have no rights. I'm so sick of this argument; I see it all the time on DCUM. I'm a renter, always pay my rent on time, and take care of the property I live in. I suspect the vast majority of renters do the same. In DC, there are more renters than homeowners. And yet this nonsensical attitude persists. I would say there are more greedy landlords than greedy renters. Thank god for rent control, that's all I can say.