Tenant Shocked To Learn His Roommate Owns The House

The cost of accommodations is on a steady, upward spiral, causing a lot of people stress, despair, and headaches. It’s also messed up rental costs so much that tenants often can’t even tell if they are getting a good deal or not. Stress can quickly turn into rage, however, with the brunt of it aimed directly at the person receiving the money.

One somewhat perplexed landlord shared his experience with a tenant and roommate that did not quite understand that it was his house. Despite the evidence and circumstances, OP ended up being yelled at and berated, so he turned to the internet for advice.

It can be hard to pinpoint every snowflake in the avalanche that is modern housing prices, but undoubtedly, one is Airbnb’ification of many, many properties. From a property-owners standpoint, it makes perfect sense. One study found that in Manhattan, an average, full-time Airbnb apartment could make more than double or even triple the income that a landlord could expect from a long-term tenant in the same period of time. Unless the landlord doesn’t have to deal with a mortgage, most have their own expenses that, unfortunately, continue to grow, so they are just as incentivized to keep the bottom line in mind. The spillover effect is felt by tenants through rent hikes. Another piece of research discovered that just a 10% increase in the number of properties being listed on Airbnb and similar sites has a direct correlation with raises in rent and property prices for all prospective tenants and buyers.

Since often enough leases last for years, or first-time tenants are coming out of college dorms with significantly lower costs, a person facing rental options in this day and age might find themselves in shock at the prices in front of them. It might also make it harder to appreciate a good deal, like OP’s tenant and roommate who perhaps could not imagine that other options in the area would really be that much more expensive. There is also a certain stigma against landlords, mostly due to the fact that this term encompasses everyone from OP, who happens to own a house, to massive conglomerates that own entire city blocks. As many of the comments suggested, the “regular” landlords are almost always using rent to cover the mortgages that they will be paying for the next decade or so. If anything, it’s the landlords that don’t even care about mortgages anymore that are the issue.

Unfortunately for OP, his tenant, or perhaps soon-to-be ex-roommate, placed the blame squarely on him, when the real issue is a massive shift in supply and demand of housing. Since the initial lockdowns of 2020, more and more people have been working remotely. With that came the slow, but sure realization that one didn’t need to be in the same city or even country as one’s workplace. People quickly moved to cheaper, sunnier, or more interesting areas, leaving thousands of offices empty. In the US, currently around half of all office buildings are sitting empty as no one needs them anymore.

One solution proposed by more optimistic folks is to just convert all these offices into apartments. While novel in theory, in practice, it just leads to the creation of a whole range of gray, soulless, and dystopian apartments for people to suffer in. Bored Panda covered some examples of this and why it really doesn’t work in an article that you can check out here.

There are better solutions out there. Some cities are cracking down on Airbnbs, either taxing them heavily, like Barcelona, which puts short-term rental properties into the highest tax category automatically. In London, landlords can only list properties for short-term rent 90 or fewer days a year, limiting its profitability and making “regular” rent more appealing. Palma de Mallorca has even taken the extreme step to just outlaw the practice altogether, as properties aimed at tourists end up causing a host of issues for locals.

Alongside the limits to Airbnb and its competitors, other cities have more innovative ideas. Portland has introduced new zoning rules by creating the Residential Infill Project (somewhat unfortunately shortened to “RIP”) which allows for denser housing than almost anywhere else in the United States. The result has been a reduction in red tape for anyone seeking to build apartments, which is the number one solution to a housing crunch. Seeing Portland’s success, Maine and California have passed similar laws as well, as both states suffer from shortages of housing, sending rents, if you’ll pardon the pun, through the roof.

Of course, the outburst at OP was not warranted at all, since he was being exceedingly gracious with the rent he set compared to the amenities offered. As Walter Map wrote in the 12th century, “No good deed remains unpunished.” Despite some relatives thinking his actions were questionable, it’s hard to see greed as his main motivation when the rent he charged didn’t even cover his entire mortgage, which, if unpaid, would have unhoused both OP and the ungrateful tenant.

The dynamics of relationships, whether between partners or between tenants and landlords, often involve complex negotiations and expectations. It's clear from both articles that managing conflicts in personal and financial relationships requires understanding and empathy.

To learn about handling difficult situations in everyday life, consider exploring dealing with challenging partner dynamics. This will offer you insights into managing conflicts and emotional responses.