Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Coffee
Agree with PsycNet. The difference in the 'operating at a loss' as a landlord and therefore justifying max profits when times are good, is that the principle of the landlord / tenant relationship is a home to live in. Given that shelter is a basic necessity, it does start to get outside the ethical grey area when all the rents are jacked up to unaffordable levels. I don't think anyone would argue that costs should be recouped and maybe a little profit made, but the criticism here and the key wording is gouging.
Nobody forced you to own a property and rent it at a loss even though you were in fact building equity. Similar to NHL owners, sometimes they'll operate their franchises at losses knowing that the equity from purchase to sale may outweigh the money lost year over year and they'll be in good shape.
Gouging is the problem... if it wasn't a basic necessity it may not be a problem but when housing is scarce, what people are now forced to barely afford their power bill just so they have a home to live in because you made a questionable investment decision and lost money years ago?
However, I do totally agree with the main theme of that article countering Nenshi. It is partially on the city to provide cheaper housing and not every fataing area of the city needs to be revitalized and fancy.
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pretty unfair statement, it's also not the landlord's fault that you have made poor life decisions and now are unable to afford the current cost of living in Calgary.
seems like simply supply and demand here, and people trying to live above their means. FYI a search on rentfaster.ca shows nearly 100 places for rent today between 400 and 600 /month (400 min to weed out the garages for rent). nearly 400 between 600 and 1000/month. not really understanding what the problem is...
I say this as renter who's lease is up at the end of Nov. Expecting to recieve the new lease forms any day now. I would not be surprised in the least if my rent goes up by about 20-30% at which point I have 2 choices, pay it or move