this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2024
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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (7 children)

I guess I'm the odd one out here, but squatter stories infuriate me. Signing a contract and then intentionally violating it is super unethical. The renting/income/ownership problem needs to be solved in other ways than letting people steal the property they're living in. Letting people stay in properties without paying significantly increases landlord risk and causes shittier contracts and higher prices.

Also, if someone jas an eviction on their record, getting another rental is way harder. It's good to discourage it so people don't end up trapped unable to get another rental when they're back on their feet.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A tenant who falls behind on rent isn't a squatter they are still a tenant and normal procedures already allow for removing the tenant in a reasonable time frame. The issue that obtains some places is that courts are too poorly funded and over burdened to deal with issues in a timely fashion.

A squatter is someone who moves in without paying. This gets ugly when as above court issus applies and squatter situations get in line with normal eviction.

WA instituted an expedited process that allows for removal of folks who were never tenants with just police so this doesn't happen.

That is a smart solution to actual squatting fully funding whomever handles your eviction cases is another.

If you want to take it to the next level look at Finland who almost eliminated homelessness by housing people who are temporarily in a bad way and Europeans generally providing support for those with health problems.

People who fall behind usually aren't stealing from the landlord and celebrating they are usually falling into a financial hole and living every day in increasing stress as they scramble for a solution. Ask me how I know.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

It's technically a tenancy dispute, but the actual problem is the same. Someone occupies a residence wothout permission. I agree providing tiny home style emergency housing is fine - there are plenty in my area and they are valuable for the community - but saddling landlords with higher risk results in worse rates (assuming no rent monopoly in the area) and agreements for the majority of tenants who are paying rent without issue.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

If you fault squatters in the midst of a homelessness crisis where upwards of 20 houses are left vacant for every unhoused person, you are either a landlord, or you have been oriented by the landowning class to ignore the massive economic and societal advantage that landlords have. To say that the issue comes down to squatters, and not to the hedge funds that are buying up streets-worth of housing at a time, is an affront to working-class people everywhere who are struggling more and more to obtain a home.

I say fuck yeah to squatters. Based. That is the "risk" that comes with being a landlord, and sometimes they strike out, so they can get fucked.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Signing a contract and then intentionally violating it is super unethical.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HumancentiPad

Meanwhile, Cartman's classmate and frequent nemesis Kyle Broflovski, who did not read the Terms and Conditions when agreeing to download the latest iTunes update, is pursued by shadowy agents from Apple Inc., who wish to perform several intrusive acts upon him, informing him that he agreed to them when he downloaded the update. Kyle attempts to flee the men and is incredulous when his friends tell him they all read the entire Terms and Conditions when they downloaded the latest update. Kyle seeks refuge at his father Gerald's law office. Still, the Apple agents taser Gerald, kidnap Kyle, and throw him in a cage with a Japanese man named Junichi Takiyama and a young woman who also failed to read the fine print of their purchased updates.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

I don’t think most people think “oh, some dude signing a contract and then violating it is super cool.” I think most people here realize that the working-class landlord who is renting out a single unit for a little extra cash is basically a unicorn these days and that the vast majority of rental units are owned by people and corporations who rent as their primary or sole source of income; and that the stories of renters deliberately destroying rental units are foregrounded by these large scale landlords as a tactic to erode public sympathy for renters. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, any time you have a system that can be exploited people will exploit it. What I am saying is that these situations happen far less often than ones like the linked article describes, where a tenant was evicted because they were told the incorrect court date.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

How about we just do away with landlords entirely and make every property by default mortgagable so that apartment dwellers at minimum wage can still recoup some of their monthly housing costs when selling the apartment. There's no reason this can't be done. Most cheap old low-end apartments are worth relatively little (dependent on location and other factors, but still). If the market was flooded with them due to redistribution of shelter and an end to landlording, the prices would drop much further, potentially making theoretical down payments comparable with the first month's rent + damage deposit. With the added bonus that no one steals your monthly payments. Housing co-ops are also great. There's just no reason for landlords to exist. Shelter is a human right, and there's no reason for a renting class to exist except to serve the interests of private landlords and enable the existence of a permanently impoverished working class.

[–] [email protected] 39 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Coming up with 20,000 dollars in a week isn't a middle finger to squatters, it's a complete lock out of the justice system to anyone who isn't rich enough to be a land lord themselves.

This is peak, "the justice system protects everyone equally" bullshit.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

People usually get evicted because they didn't pay rent for quite a while.

I don't think rich people have that issue.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Illinois is considered renter friendly. You only need to give a 7 day notice to pay or quit before you file an eviction for non-payment. You can give the notice if the rent is one day late. Not sure about TN but it's probably similar.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, my silly Euro brain didn't think it through.

Seems like Tennessee takes at least 4 weeks after being late on a single payment. They have to send a two weeks notice and then they can evict you in two weeks.

So it's more like two weeks until they can evict you, and two weeks to pack your stuff.

Rough

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Do you want mass migration out of your state? Because this is how you get mass migration out of your state.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

So long as businesses continue to develop capital projects that demand human labor, people will continue to migrate to the capital in order to secure livable wages. These policies are far more in line with a state that's actively gentrifying and wants to force low-wage residents out than one that's afraid it can't get high wage professionals to move in.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The low wage workers who they are trying to drive out make the place attractive to be a high wage earner. No high wage earner wants to live somewhere they can’t reliably order a pizza or go out for a drink, which is what you get if all the low wage people leave.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Except for the fact that most of the people who can't afford rent can't afford to move to another state either.

Plus there's the ones who can't leave because of family or work.

If moving both yourself and who/what you need with you was free, almost nobody would live in non-Nashville Tennessee.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"Lemmy progressive": I refuse to help fight this party's outrageous attack on the poor.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago

It is not his fight bro!

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago

Sounds reasonable, at least to the Elon Musk type of folk. After all, laws are made to accommodate the wealthy. Look at the wealthy orange felon/rapist - he is waltzing all around laws that would put you in prison for ten lifetimes.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Democrats will be blamed in 3, 2, 1…

[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 months ago (1 children)

So if someone wants a cash infusion, they can evict their tenants without notice and get a years worth of rent instantly? I'm sure that won't be abused.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Bonds are paid into court. They don't go directly into the landlord's pocket. Also nobody gets evicted without notice (and understand that notice is a term of art in this context--plenty of people get evicted without knowing about it or being actually made aware, but every state has a requirement that you have to do one of a limited number of things in order to provide notice to a tenant of an eviction).

This is a shitty law, but please don't make stuff up or draw assumptions to pretend it's worse than it actually is.

The problem this state (via the landlords' lobbying for this change) is trying to fix is the scenario in which an evicted tenant gets a sympathetic judge in a jurisdiction with a long docket backlog and basically gets to squat in the property rent-free for however long they can stretch out the litigation. If you're just now becoming familiar with the value of litigants dragging out litigation, well, welcome to 2024.

I know social media despises landlords (and there's very good reason to revile institutional real estate hoarders), but there are good public policy reasons to not want people squatting in properties rent-free, one of which is that if the landlord can't get a non-paying tenant off the property through legal means, they will pursue non-legal means instead. There are much better ways to accomplish this than the way TN has here, but shotgun evictions are something we'd really like to avoid.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It was never rent free. The system they got rid of said the court set a payment already. The idea that it was rent free is pure propaganda.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My brother in Christ, I have worked in landlord-tenant on and off for decades, and I've been on both sides of many, many evictions. If you think courts always exercise their discretion fairly and equitably, I have a bridge to sell you.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Being fair some of the time is still a lot better than, "fuck you, you're too poor for justice."

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago

The problem this state (via the landlords' lobbying for this change) is trying to fix is the scenario in which an evicted tenant gets a sympathetic judge in a jurisdiction with a long docket backlog and basically gets to squat in the property rent-free for however long they can stretch out the litigation

Classic case of the solution being many times worse than the problem.

Also, people too poor to afford rent don't tend to be able to afford dragging out litigation either. Lawyers are expensive and even if you manage to get pro bono representation, there's likely to be limits.

if the landlord can't get a non-paying tenant off the property through legal means, they will pursue non-legal means instead.

So the solution to landlords breaking the law to get rid of poor people is to make it unaffordable for poor people to contest unfair evictions?

Sounds like landlord logic..

shotgun evictions are something we'd really like to avoid.

Then take the gun away from landlords in stead of pointing one at homeless or soon to be homeless people.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago

Why nobody wants to work anymore?

[–] [email protected] 134 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Some attorneys say it's not practical, especially for tenants with overdue rent.

You don't say!

[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 51 points 4 months ago (2 children)

American "justice" system at work. This really makes my blood boil to read. I hope this law is overturned, it's beyond absurd - its also malicious.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago (1 children)

“Sure, I’ll overturn it. For money.” -judge, probably

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Being a judge seems like a pretty great deal honestly. I could use free luxury vacations and a 10 million dollar sinecure for my SO.

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[–] [email protected] 123 points 4 months ago (2 children)

more rules that only benefit rich people. slowly making being poor illegal.

totally makes sense for one of the poorest states

[–] [email protected] 38 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Disaffected poor racists and bigots will continue to reelect the people doing this to them.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago (3 children)

almost feels like victim blaming. theyre suffering under generational propaganda... completely brainwashed. how do you combat that?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago (1 children)
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