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In Iceland, if the owner of a rented apartment would request key access to his tenants apartment, well… That would be considered "batshit crazy". But it probabl
by hugi 7y ago
In Iceland, if the owner of a rented apartment would request key access to his tenants apartment, well… That would be considered "batshit crazy". But it probably comes down to cultural differences, America is very authoritarian.
- thieving_magpie 7y agoFeudal and Authoritarian eh? Certainly not being dramatic over differing interpretations of property rights.
- lovich 7y agoA:the poster didn't mention feudalism B: >differing interpretations of property rights The American interpretation is authoritarian. Just because it has a negative connotation doesn't make it untrue. The landlords are renting out a dwelling for someone, and because they are the authority of that land they get to enforce rules on who has access to it. That is authoritarian
- sailfast 7y ago> But it probably comes down to cultural differences, America is very authoritarian. That has nothing to do with the property owner but "America" based on my read, but I do appreciate this interpretation of the OP. If that's their meaning, I could see why the word comes up.
- lovich 7y agoYou know, I think my interpretation was wrong after re-reading, but I dont think I would disagree still. America has a very strong cultural thread of authoritarianism. You see it in places like a cops word being given greater weight in court than a citizens, or how people treat rights as something the government has to give you rather than the government taking rights from you
- thieving_magpie 7y agoA: Yes they did. They edited the post to remove it after my post.
- sailfast 7y agoI think you might be conflating our current executive for the rest of America, which is 50 independent states operating together with a Federal government. Each state has its own way of doing things, and they're all different. Recent Federal pushes into authoritarian areas, while an indicator that things are moving in that direction, do not make the country as a whole "Authoritarian", let alone VERY authoritarian. We do tend to lean towards protection for owners of property, rather than renters of property (citation needed? In many states there are STRONG protections for non-owners even those squatting on land that is not theirs) That also severely limits the rights of the government to access the property without cause. That seems... decidedly _not_ authoritarian? But certainly skewed towards ownership.
- zifnab06 7y agoWhere I live (Seattle), a landlord can enter your apartment immediately if there's an emergency (ie something like it's an apartment and the downstairs neighbor reports water leaking from the ceiling), or with two days (48 hours) notice. My current apartment does the second one twice a year for fire alarm testing and, well, that's been it.
- balls187 7y agoOne day's written notice if it's to show the unit to a potential tenant.
- criley2 7y agoAmerica is not authoritarian so much as "pro-ownership" The idea that the owner of a building couldn't perform maintenance as necessary is shocking!
- looperhacks 7y agoThe thought that someone could enter the place that holds everything I own is more shocking to me. If my landlord wants to enter my flat, he can ask me and I'll let them in - I can't make sure that my landlord doesn't enter my flat.
- thatoneuser 7y agoNo but tbf you can point a camera at your door and Sue his ass off if he comes in without justification or permission.
- kojeovo 7y agoAlso an extremely American concept
- asveikau 7y agoI disagree with you. It is absolutely authoritarianism at the root of these issues. (As an American who has been observing this for some time.) A few hours ago I was summarizing this article to someone in person and concluded with "but this country is very authoritarian", the implication being that the letter and spirit of tennant laws are not widely known, and the more authoritarian cultural norms, biased towards landlords, end up as the de facto rules.
- romwell 7y ago"Pro-landlord" is not "pro-ownership", it's the opposite.
- criley2 7y agoOh sweetie, oh no... The landlord IS the owner. They are inseparable. You cannot be pro-landlord and anti-owner, or pro-owner and anti-landlord. "I'm pro-developers but against programmers!" "I'm anti-programming, but pro-coding!" Come on now.
- oh_sigh 7y agoWhat happens if there is a gas or water leak and the landlord needs to let repairmen into your apartment in an emergency? Do they just wait around until you show up with the key? Smash some windows or kick down the door?
- pkaye 7y agoIceland is small enough in population that the communities are small and everyone knows each other or has a mutual friend.