I had an idea that would allow people to buy their own homes that they are currently renting:
- Every home gets appraised to determine what it would sell for. This is done by the county and is used for property taxes too.
- Every renter is allowed to buy a percentage of their primary residence from the owner. The owner has no choice in this. It’s a requirement for being able to rent a property. Edit: Since people are confused about this, the renter is not required to buy anything. They have an option to buy.
- Renters can pay as little as $100 extra per month and the county puts their percentage ownership on the deed. If the home is sold, the renter can’t be kicked out involuntarily. If they do leave, they get the percentage of home value they own.
Pros:
- This would avoid the issue of high interest rates hurting primary homeownership.
- This would blunt the impact of corporate landlords having a monopoly where they refuse to sell. They are forced to sell at a fair price.
- This would create a simple decision between owning their home and spending money on luxuries or eating out.
Cons:
- This would hurt small landlords who would have their property bought out from under them. This is actually a good thing because the benefits of rising property values are now shared.
- The implementation is hard. This is actually a good thing because bad landlords would sell property they didn’t want to manage, lowering prices for renters who want to buy.
- It would cost the county money to hire appraisers. But this could be paid for by increased property taxes due to better appraisals.
- Property taxes would go up for landlords. But this would be good, as it encourages them to sell the property. This appraisal process and increased property taxes wouldn’t affect people who just lived in their home without charging rent.
Don’t take this as a criticism, but do you own a home?
How would changing property values be accounted for, and how often is the appraisal done, and who pays for that? Can a landlord sell his rentals to someone else while they are rentals? If no, why not? What incentive does a landlord have to keep a property nice and safe if x% is no longer theirs? If the rent-to-owner decides they want to move or not buy the house, what happens to the money? Is any given to the landlord? Why can’t the landlord increase rent to drive out a tenant? If a new sewer line needs to be run, and it’s $10k, how is the cost split? How are property taxes dealt with if the unit is owned by multiple parties? If a homeowner owns 51% of the property and someone is injured on the property, who’s insurance pays?
I get there is a lot to dislike about slumlord type landlords, but property and home ownership isn’t like buying a toaster. There are a ton of laws and rules and responsibilities that clearly defined parties still have court cases over. There is financial risk in property ownership, and your proposal seems to be having private citizens, even if “rich” by your definition, and it is the government dictating private use of their property.
There are positive aspects to renting, which you don’t seem to consider. I tried to sell my house for over a year, but foreclosures had driven down property prices so much for a time, I literally couldn’t afford to give my house away for below market value and still have any money left to put on a new house. If I was a renter, I could just say I’m done here and go off and do whatever. If something breaks, there’s someone who is supposed to fix it, no cost or effort to you. You don’t need to worry about taxes and setting aside money for maintenance or hire contractors.
I want everyone to have a home, and I hate scumbugs and corporate ownership of residential property, but many of these people do serve important purposes, and many people would not have a place to live if property owners didn’t rent out access to those properties.
Again, I’m not a landlord because of many of these things, but I do own property and wouldn’t like something like this. It is a very complicated issue and this just comes off as someone who’s never had to fight the local zoning board, deal with a utility screwing around with you, or having messed up property records having the government trying to make you pay taxes you don’t owe say property owners have it made. It took me 8 years, 3 title insurance companies, and a judge to get my property records corrected after my divorce.
Expanding construction of affordable housing people would want to live in and expanding housing subsidies and just in general providing adequate social safety nets will get people in homes. Giving people with no means to maintain a home is not a benefit, it’s just another huge thing that brings a pile of never-ending expenses.
Well in Germany there is the “Vorkaufsrecht” for the renter.
If I would sell my flat, the renter would have the option to buy it for the negotiated price. Not any imaginary price. There has to be a notarized sales contract which triggers the “Vorkaufsrecht”.
The renter has the option to buy the house / flat at the established market price.
It would actually be easier to just set massive taxes for anyone that owns more than 2 houses. I don’t begrudge anyone who owns a house and a vacation house but fuck anyone who just owns rental properties, and if you can afford to buy a third house then you can afford to pay a ton more in taxes to keep it. The more houses you own the higher the taxes go, just make it untenable for people to own rental properties and the rest sorts itself out.
Yeah no. Make it illegal for companies to own residential properties. Sure they can build em and sell em within a given time frame after building or renovating them, but within 5 years tops individuals should own the property.
Progressive tax rates the more properties you rent out.
Renting is one of the main causes of permanent poverty. I don’t give a flying fuck about your “investment opportunities”. You’re getting cash while others are losing money.
Not everyone who rents a house to live in wants to buy a house. Not everyone who rents a house to other people wants to sell a house.
It’s an option to buy, not a requirement for the renter.
And the landlord has already made their choice for someone else to live in the home. They are being fairly paid for the property. They can always use that money to buy another one.
Isn’t that what landlords tell renters? If you don’t like it, just buy another one?
I don’t know what you mean by " If you don’t like it, just buy another one." I’ve rented many times and no one has ever said that to me. I don’t understand the context.
I think you have a narrow view of people who rent out homes. Not everyone is a corporation looking to make millions of dollars. Many are just trying to cover the cost of the home temporarily while they deal with life. My mom sold her home and bought a smaller house a year before she retired. She rented the new home until she was ready to retire and move in. When she had to move to an assisted living apartment, she rented her home to cover the mortgage so she could pay for care. She didn’t sell as she hoped to be able to return to her home. Now that she’s passed, I’ve inherited the home. I’m renting it to cover the mortgage while we make decisions about our own retirement and where we want to live.
