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I'm a little confused. If you owned the home or condo, you'd have to handle getting anything fixed yourself, including your water seeping example. So you have t

I'm a little confused. If you owned the home or condo, you'd have to handle getting anything fixed yourself, including your water seeping example. So you have to pay out of pocket for it, plus handle dealing with the contractor, etc. Why do you think that's a case against renting? If you have an unresponsive landlord, you can simply hire the handyman yourself, subtract the cost from your rent while emailing them an invoice, and dare the landlord to do something about it. You could even pay yourself a small fee for the time you invested in dealing with the handyman, time off work, etc. The landlord can't realistically sue you for such a small amount of money, they'd have zero case in court, and anyways the court system in blue states is very pro-tenant

joshstrange 5y ago
> I'm a little confused. If you owned the home or condo, you'd have to handle getting anything fixed yourself, including your water seeping example. So you have to pay out of pocket for it, plus handle dealing with the contractor, etc. Why do you think that's a case against renting? In that case I would have actually had it fixed instead of having to wear shoes in my kitchen for months. Also I budget monthly for things like this that might come up. I'd much rather manage that extra money (difference between mortgage and renting) than trust a landlord. > If you have an unresponsive landlord, you can simply hire the handyman yourself, subtract the cost from your rent while emailing them an invoice, and dare the landlord to do something about it. That's a nice story but it rarely play out well in practice. Time and energy are not free and I have better things to do with my time than try to claw back what I'm owed from a scummy landlord in small claims court or similar. > The landlord can't realistically sue you for such a small amount of money, they'd have zero case in court, and anyways the court system in blue states is very pro-tenant They can make your life hell in other ways or just refuse to renew the lease when your year is up. I'm not interested in moving every year until I find a competent landlord and I live in a red state.
- hash872 5y ago
  >Time and energy are not free and I have better things to do with my time than try to claw back what I'm owed from a scummy landlord in small claims court or similar I think you missed what I said. No courts are involved- if your rent is $2000, and the handyman was $1000, you send the landlord $1000 for the month along with the handyman's invoice. What are they going to do about it?
  - joshstrange 5y ago
    > What are they going to do about it? File eviction papers? Refuse to renew your lease? (though I understand this would probably not be an issue in this situation since you wouldn't want to renew) Ignore all future maintenance requests? Stop upholding other parts of the contracts? Try and tank your credit? The list goes on... I used to think like you appear to on this issue, but it's a different story when you are actually in the thick of it. Just like how people say "well that's against labor laws" or "your employer can't do that legally", it doesn't really matter for the person who needs that job to survive, they can only find a new job or put up with it, they don't have the money/time/energy to fight it. It's very similar to dealing with a bad landlord. I don't care about being right, I just want to be happy. Renting leads to unhappiness for me, it doesn't make how right I am, I still have to deal with the landlord's BS. At the end of the day "legality" is cold comfort if you have a toxic landlord.
    - hash872 5y ago
      Other than not renewing your lease, they literally can't do any of those things. (Your credit? You have to be a certified financial institution to be able to report things to your credit report. Fun fact, small claims court judgements are no longer reported on your credit anymore either). In a blue state if a landlord tried to take you to housing court for paying for a repair they refused to fix (obviously you have email documentation that you asked several times first), they would probably walk out of court paying a large fine. There's a whole parallel (landlord-hostile) housing court system. I think what you're missing is rather than taking anyone to court yourself, you control the cash flow (when & how much of a check you write every month), and they're the ones who have to do anything about it if they disagree. That's different from a labor dispute where you're the one getting an attorney, filing a lawsuit, etc. The broader point is that blue states are very pro-tenant, so you're starting off with an incredible advantage
      - joshstrange 5y ago
        I 100% understand how I might be in the right and win anything brought against me. What I'm trying to say is I don't want to deal with that headache or become an expert on how this works in order to win. Also, like I said before, I live in a red state and while I don't know exactly what rights a renter has, I don't want to know. I shouldn't have to become informed on this stuff when I'm doing everything right. Also just because something isn't legal, doesn't mean a landlord won't do it. I don't want to eventually win, I want to never deal with it in the first place.

joshstrange 5y ago

> I'm a little confused. If you owned the home or condo, you'd have to handle getting anything fixed yourself, including your water seeping example. So you have to pay out of pocket for it, plus handle dealing with the contractor, etc. Why do you think that's a case against renting? In that case I would have actually had it fixed instead of having to wear shoes in my kitchen for months. Also I budget monthly for things like this that might come up. I'd much rather manage that extra money (difference between mortgage and renting) than trust a landlord. > If you have an unresponsive landlord, you can simply hire the handyman yourself, subtract the cost from your rent while emailing them an invoice, and dare the landlord to do something about it. That's a nice story but it rarely play out well in practice. Time and energy are not free and I have better things to do with my time than try to claw back what I'm owed from a scummy landlord in small claims court or similar. > The landlord can't realistically sue you for such a small amount of money, they'd have zero case in court, and anyways the court system in blue states is very pro-tenant They can make your life hell in other ways or just refuse to renew the lease when your year is up. I'm not interested in moving every year until I find a competent landlord and I live in a red state.

hash872 5y ago
>Time and energy are not free and I have better things to do with my time than try to claw back what I'm owed from a scummy landlord in small claims court or similar I think you missed what I said. No courts are involved- if your rent is $2000, and the handyman was $1000, you send the landlord $1000 for the month along with the handyman's invoice. What are they going to do about it?
- joshstrange 5y ago
  > What are they going to do about it? File eviction papers? Refuse to renew your lease? (though I understand this would probably not be an issue in this situation since you wouldn't want to renew) Ignore all future maintenance requests? Stop upholding other parts of the contracts? Try and tank your credit? The list goes on... I used to think like you appear to on this issue, but it's a different story when you are actually in the thick of it. Just like how people say "well that's against labor laws" or "your employer can't do that legally", it doesn't really matter for the person who needs that job to survive, they can only find a new job or put up with it, they don't have the money/time/energy to fight it. It's very similar to dealing with a bad landlord. I don't care about being right, I just want to be happy. Renting leads to unhappiness for me, it doesn't make how right I am, I still have to deal with the landlord's BS. At the end of the day "legality" is cold comfort if you have a toxic landlord.
  - hash872 5y ago
    Other than not renewing your lease, they literally can't do any of those things. (Your credit? You have to be a certified financial institution to be able to report things to your credit report. Fun fact, small claims court judgements are no longer reported on your credit anymore either). In a blue state if a landlord tried to take you to housing court for paying for a repair they refused to fix (obviously you have email documentation that you asked several times first), they would probably walk out of court paying a large fine. There's a whole parallel (landlord-hostile) housing court system. I think what you're missing is rather than taking anyone to court yourself, you control the cash flow (when & how much of a check you write every month), and they're the ones who have to do anything about it if they disagree. That's different from a labor dispute where you're the one getting an attorney, filing a lawsuit, etc. The broader point is that blue states are very pro-tenant, so you're starting off with an incredible advantage
    - joshstrange 5y ago
      I 100% understand how I might be in the right and win anything brought against me. What I'm trying to say is I don't want to deal with that headache or become an expert on how this works in order to win. Also, like I said before, I live in a red state and while I don't know exactly what rights a renter has, I don't want to know. I shouldn't have to become informed on this stuff when I'm doing everything right. Also just because something isn't legal, doesn't mean a landlord won't do it. I don't want to eventually win, I want to never deal with it in the first place.