[quote=“guitargrrl”]I agree that there needs to be a variety of housing options, but as a landlord, the lower income tenants I’ve had dealings with have chosen to live like animals and treat my asset like garbage. It certainly doesn’t make me want to rent to people who have no concept of home ownership or respect for another person’s property.
My partner and I do not discriminate against lower-income folks and have rented to all sectors of Prince Rupert society, from doctors to single mothers on welfare, but time and time again, we’ve provided decent, clean, solid accommodations which at the end of a lower-income tenancy look like shit. Maybe that’s our fault for believing in the wrong people but it is starting to make sense to me to charge a higher rent from someone with a job and a sense of respect for personal property.
If I’m going to have to spend my time, energy, and cash to replace carpet, drywall, appliances, and broken panes of glass, pay the mortgage, and, don’t forget, pay high taxes and utilities, I am damn well looking to make a little profit. Money-driven? Maybe. Don’t forget that housing rentals are businesses, and I don’t need to subsidize anyone else’s life any more than I already do with my federal, provincial, and municipal taxes.
The previous poster’s comment about renters burning bridges is an apt one; if good landlords like myself hadn’t been screwed so many times by deadbeat renters, we might be less inclined to seize the current opportunity to make up some of our losses.[/quote]
Very well said and I agree completely. I’ve been a landlord in the past and have had to deal with nightmarish issues. I had to evict one tenant for various reasons including partying and being disruptive to myself and the other neighbors. Short after I served notice, I had to leave town for a couple of days and returned to find the suite empty, holes kicked in walls and fecal matter smeared on the remaining walls. A small damage deposit did not even come close to repairing the damage. It cost me roughly what I would have received in rent for a year.
Rent is also market driven and landlords are free to charge what the market dictates they can. It’s more than fair.