Clean

So the pale was cleaned, likely by someone who didn’t want to do it and gets paid the same wether it takes them 2 hours or 18. The landlord likely doesn’t love there or spend much time there so they will miss a lot of things you will notice living there- and it was likely cleaned when the last renter moved out. Then it sat, collected dust, was shown to however many renters and agents who may or may not have left things the person moving in will find.

But there are shady renters, corporate and private. Corporate renters and land Lords you barely see/barely see the property are most likely to just have a default policy of “keep the deposit unless they complain.” Take LOTS of pictures BEFORE you move in. Do a walkthrough with the renter before you take possession. Photograph ANY damage or wear and tear etc. note EVERYTHING on the contract and have them initial it too. This not only makes it easier to fight for your deposit if needed- but it also makes them less likely to try to keep it as seeing your attention to detail and thoroughness will often make them just defer to you to avoid a pedantic fight.

If you believe that most landlords are not malicious, I believe you are a boomer.

Nah some boomers are paranoid

While I know it is the fun meme of the moment- I don’t think this has anything to do with being a boomer or gen X or whatever else. Personally I think the system of land ownership and rentals is a disgusting tool of wealth entrenchment that preys on the economically vulnerable for the benefit of the more wealthy and is seriously broken. Another system used to funnel money from those with less to those with more. That said-

Firstly- perhaps I’ve just had different experiences than you? Where I’ve had bad landlords- but most I’ve had were overall decent people in one way or another or at least fair? Perhaps numbers will tell? 64.4% of the US non homeless population owns a home. 74% of all rental properties are single investor (not a corporate conglomerate or group but an individual “landlord.” For “most” to be malicious- we’d need a staggering number of people to be so. Can all people BE malicious? Yes. Are all people always malicious? No. I do not believe even a significantly large portion of people are malicious by nature without specific grievance.

I’m sure SOME are. I’ve had friends who had landlords who did things punitively for perceived slights, or to be petty or cruel without reason. I’ve had friends have landlords who just had some sort of power trip. I grew up with a landlord who disliked certain kinds of people (like my family,) and would make broad rules or do other things that caused issues for us but didn’t specifically target us or people like us, so it was all nice and legal without recourse. Overall I’ve been lucky to have decent landlords. Part of that has been carefully choosing where I wanted to live based on a read of the landlord, parts been luck.

I do have friends who rent properties, and they are good people. They tend to be fair and reasonable while also making sure that they can rent a property and remain solvent. Some landlords are crazy. Some locations you’ll see more of that or have less choice than to deal with it. Budget and credit and other things that effect your ability to choose where to live also matter there. I try to make it a point to have a good relationship with my landlords and so far I’ve been lucky that for the most part I have. Shutting your heat off in the winter because they are mad at the heating bill that you pay anyway is malicious. Requesting $100 deposit extra for your pet is just covering their basis. Landlords get burned too and many aren’t so rich that they can just swallow it without issue. There are two sides to the whole thing.

Ok