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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 10th, 2023

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  • Thanks for the considered reply. I think we can agree that it’s a difficult balance between the incompatible interests of two parties who both want to live in one place. Maybe my take is too extreme, I’ve just seen enough of disadvantaged people getting the short end of the stick.

    In Aussie society, we tend to treat housing like other property, where the owner has ultimate control albeit bound by a contract and (IMO weak) renter protections. My view is housing is in a fundamental way a class of its own and should lean towards the resident who has the real interest in it rather than the owner who has a financial interest. That’s not to say the owner should be at the mercy of a bad tenant who is damaging the property or anything–the rules around upkeep and maintenance are not too bad. But around decisions of who gets to live there, the bias should be towards the person who has made it their home. If the owner wants to live somewhere else, then they can find somewhere else that’s available. They would even get the benefit of the timing being on their own terms, unlike an evictee. I’m sure there would be social and economic impacts from that.

    Anyway, I want to take a minute to praise the landlords that provide longer than required notice and any other assistance to the tenants they evict. Landlords aren’t all bad, it’s just a system that needs change.