Landlords are the owners of the houses we rent in this part of the world; some of them are great individuals, while some are the complete opposite. Many usually pray against being in the house of a bad landlord, because they'll frustrate you to the point where you'll always wish you owned a house of your own. I've had the opportunity of staying under the roof of both a good and a terrible landlord and so have people around me too, and today I'd like to share some of those experiences, so without further ado, let's get to it.
My close friend recently just left his former house due to the terrible nature of his landlord, who only cares about money and not the comfort of his tenants. I remember how my friend has been complaining for some years now but was worried about moving to another place due to the need to pay a new agreement and commission in the new place he'll be renting. However, despite the lack of proper ventilation that my friend complained about to the landlord, he didn't do anything about it; instead, he went further to do things that affected my friend and his family.
While my friends were still complaining, he drove out the majority of the old tenants last year by increasing the rent by about 30 percent so he could bring in new tenants and still collect new agreements and commissions, but my friend felt he could manage the new rent, so he stayed, only for the new set of tenants to be fraudsters, who also smoke and use the gas of the smoke to choke him and his pregnant wife to the point where she had to visit the hospital on a regular basis. Besides doing that, it isn't ideal in the presence of their young son.
To make matters worse, when the complaint was made to him this year, he didn't do anything about it, and when it was time to pay a new rent, he didn't collect the amount he increased it to last year; he instead told them it had been increased another 40%. This made my friend get angry and finally get frustrated and leave. It's actually annoying how many landlords behave this way and not care about their tenants all because of their bid to make more money.
My landlord, on the other hand, is actually much better, although I won't say he's a saint too, but I felt like she's much better than that of my friend, because although since I moved to her house several years ago, the rent I'll pay in a new year is usually higher than what I paid the previous year, the good side is that the increase isn't as much as that of my friend; it's probably a 5% increase. And beside that, she has a listening ear and cares about any concerns we raise, so that's one of the reasons why I'm still there, because even when I thought about leaving and went in search for a new place, I realized that many houses of the same nature as hers are being listed for almost double what I paid her.
The truth is I understand the state of the economy and high cost of living is affecting everyone; however, that should be a yardstick to foster those under us. We can be considerate with them while still increasing to help ourselves in the process. My biggest prayer is that all the tenants today will become landlords of our own houses very soon.
All photos are generated using ChatGpt.