Quote:
Originally Posted by Good Baklava
I thought the Vuze was a good example since GB posted it made more fiscal sense to rent from the brand new George.
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Could be but the landlords have an incentive to rent out the units. Either people rent them or they don't and prices fall. The market rate is by definition what people will pay for the unit. This accounts for renos too. If the unit is not nice enough to justify the price people will not pay. Landlords who renovate are following tenant preferences and adding value.
I think often the slumlord practices exist exactly because of either rent control type policies (no financial payoff to renovating) or restricted supply (no competition or alternative). There's some legitimate exploitation of tenants that can happen because moving is so disruptive and sometimes the landlords break agreements and that's where tenant protections come in. In my experience the enforcement of tenant rights is not very good around here, and landlords often are in breach of contracts or laws (for example I once had a landlord who would come into my suite without telling me, and bring surprise guests when doing unannounced showings). But I see that as separate from the question of whether or not there is such a thing as an "affordable housing" market that is separate from "unaffordable housing" and the developers must pick which of the categories to add housing to.
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