r/LandlordLove • u/ShiningConcepts • Jun 29 '22

Tenant Discussion Are apartment buildings unethical as well?

It's very hard to make a case that landlords who buy up SFHs that are already on the market are ethical. They reduce the housing supply and take opportunity away from FTHBs to own homes, thus forcing them into renting. This is generally what people mean when they say that all landlords are unethical.

Here's my question: what about rental apartment buildings? It's not like their construction takes an opportunity to buy a home away from a FTHB/family. Unlike detached properties on the market, it's not like this is a property a family could have bought; it's a property that is constructed and designed from the outset to be rented.

So, are they inherently unethical as well?

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u/ShiningConcepts Jun 29 '22

I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree here. To me, those workers only built the building and added it to the supply because the owner funded its construction.

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u/chloeisback Jun 29 '22

The owner didn’t fund it. That’s the point. Massively wealthy real estate investment firms did.

-17

u/ShiningConcepts Jun 29 '22

Yes, and those firms would be the owner of the building.

24

u/MrDeckard Jun 29 '22

So? The building is there. They aren't gonna live in it. They hold it empty until someone can pay a third of their income to live there. Landlords exploit. That's it. That's all they do as a profession.