Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site opus.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!hogpc!houti!ariel!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!hao!cires!nbires!opus!rcd
From: rcd@opus.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Rental Housing
Message-ID: <446@opus.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 12-May-84 02:32:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: opus.446
Posted: Sat May 12 02:32:47 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 7-May-84 00:39:24 EDT
References: <171@ccieng2.UUCP>
Organization: NBI, Boulder
Lines: 57

<>
>B) Housing may be a necessity, but if I own the apartment building, then it is
>MINE AND THOU SHALT NOT PROSCRIBE WHAT I SHALL DO WITH IT!!!!
Ah, America!  Land of freedom - and the more money you have, the more
freedom you can buy.  Why, for a down payment of only a few thousand
dollars, and payments of hundreds of dollars a month, you can buy the right
to privacy.

>C) IN EVERY CITY THAT THERE IS RENTAL CONTROL, statistics show consistantly that
>THE QUALITY OF THE HOUSING HAS DECLINED. Why? Because there is no longer an
>incentive to make improvements: you can't raise rent anyway...
But the subject was more a matter of rights of renters - surely the quality
of housing doesn't decline when you put minimum standards on the housing?

>>> Points to ponder:
>>> 1. Bill of Rights ... to be secure in ones own home 
>
>Absolutely! If the landlord USES HIS PASSKEY without the tenants permission, when
>the lease has not been violated, he should be sued, preferably for every penney
>he has. However, you cannot take away his key, because HE OWNS THE APARTMENT. If
>you break your lease he has right of entry!
Sure - go ahead and sue.  How much money have you got, and how much money
does he have?  Are you going to stay in the apartment owned by the person
you're suing, after he's broken the law and invaded your privacy once
already?  While you're holding down a job and pursuing that court case, you
can also go look for a new place to rent - and you may want to be careful
about letting them know you're suing your previous landlord...

>>> 3. Housing is a nessesity ... 
>So is clean air, clean water, a good job, etc. You can't have everything on a
>plate. This is a 'free market', at least where there is no rent control, and
>you are free to CHOOSE where to rent. I can't force you to be my tenant, or
>to remain a tenant after the lease is up. It is in my best interest to keep
>you happy so you will continue as a tenant, and I can avoid the (considerable)
>costs of releasing.
Landlords are required to maintain habitable dwellings, and basic rights
to privacy ought to be one of the things provided.  You expect to get what
you paid for and not be harmed by it.  (It's free enterprise, but it's not
a free-for-all.  Laws protecting tenants can be considered in the same
light as public-health laws protecting restaurant customers...it may be
your very own private-property restaurant, but when you open for business
you accept the responsibility not to poison people.  If you're going to
lease housing to people, you're in business and you've accepted a certain
trust.)  The argument of "like it or go somewhere else" doesn't fly - it's
all too easy to end up with nowhere to go.  If we don't allow the
government to violate our rights (or at least, try not to let it:-), why
should we let businesses do so?

>>> 4. Nothing about capitalism is sacred !!!
>Everything about capitalism is sacred...
Both points are quite enlightening in their cautious consideration.  But
seriously, capitalism can work under some circumstances.  Government tends
to step in (and move us toward socialism, like it or not) when the money-
grubbing gets far enough out of hand that people are getting clobbered.
-- 
...Relax...don't worry...have a homebrew.		Dick Dunn
{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd				(303) 444-5710 x3086