CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – I don’t want to be a landlord. I would find it heartbreaking to have to evict someone who stops paying the rent.
I would also find it maddening. My father told me when I went out on my own that keeping a roof over the head of myself and my family was the top priority. You can scrimp on food and gas and other things. Bills can be paid late. But if you don’t have a place to live, you’re in trouble. So as a landlord I’d wonder why my past-due tennant is driving an expensive car, or watching cable TV, or has an expensive cellphone plan, or seems to have money for booze and cigarettes. Paying the rent should be prioritized above those things.
I’ve never rented from a large corporate entity. Before I became a homeowner, my landlords were regular people like me. They owned one or two rental properties, sometimes inherited from other family members. Some even had mortgages on their rental properties, and they had the same taxes to pay that I do. When they aren’t paid, they may not have huge cash reserves.
So, why are landlords villainized?
Governor Tony Evers proposed in his budget that the state pay for legal aid for tenants who are being evicted. Why? For a landlord, the eviction process is time consuming and expensive. They have to pay for their own lawyer. Why should their non-paying tenant get free legal representation?
Landlords were already taken to the cleaners during the COVID pandemic, where an eviction moratorium was in place for two years. Past due renters got their COVID checks just like anyone else. Did they feel any obligation to use that money to catch up on rent? Of course not, because they can’t be evicted. And it was enacted by the Centers for Disease Control, which has no jurisdiction over rental properties. The courts finally ordered this abuse of landlords to end. And then, for good measure, the Biden Administration extended the eviction ban for another two weeks, figuring the courts wouldn’t have time to act.
And in Wisconsin and many other cold weather states landlords can’t evict during the winter. Tenants know this, and sometimes stay rent-free from October to April.
A landlord who insists on being paid isn’t the bad guy. People who think they can live somewhere for free are. Government policy should start reflecting that.
Chris Conley
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