Letting could be the way to go… if it weren’t for tenants
ILISTENED to an interesting programme about landlords and tenants on the radio the other day and came away far wiser than I had been before. One thing I learnt was that I never, never, ever want to own a property for rent. Even if I had enough money to buy a property, I would rather invest it in used flea powder or secondhand socks or empty baked bean cans or, well, anything other than rental property.
I listened to one disillusioned landlord after another complaining about their tenants and the way they failed to pay their rent, trashed the properties, sub-let to drug dealers, absconded with the stove and fridge and generally made life miserable for the property owner before finally refusing to vacate the property.
An official from the rent board, or some similar organisation, was asked how to deal with these problems, and he came up with some highly technical solutions, all of which involved huge sums of lawyers’ fees, long waits and disappointing results.
The law, apparently, favours the tenant and regards the landlord as the villain of the story.
I found all this rather sad. If it were made easy for people to build properties for rent, it might do a great deal towards alleviating our housing shortage.
In many parts of Europe renting a flat or house is the normal way to go. It makes sense in many ways. When you’re a tenant you don’t have the hassles of maintaining the property, paying rates or fixing the hot water cylinder when it explodes. You simply pick up your phone and say: “fix it”.
When your company transfers you to Joburg or Bultfontein you have no worries about selling your home. You simply hand a letter to your landlord and it becomes his or her problem.
Take a look around and you’ll realise there are many people in his country with a lot of spare money. In spite of our continuous griping about the economy and the exchange rate, there are new buildings going up everywhere. Look at the cranes on the skyline – private hospitals, retirement complexes, shopping centres, and gated villages for the fearful are rising in every part of the city.
If some of that money could be diverted into rental properties where tenants could live for affordable rents and landlords could be sure of keeping control over their investments, it might make life easier for a lot of people.
One of the problems in our country is that many people have no respect for the property of others. We trash our precious schools and universities and daub silly graffiti all over our suburban trains. We steal copper cables and bring the railway system to a halt, and all because it belongs to somebody else, or the “government” so it doesn’t matter.
Maybe if we taught our children to respect the property of others it would be a small step in encouraging people to take in tenants. I’m sure many people would happily rent out rooms or granny flats if they were not afraid of being ripped off.
Last Laugh
A large, imposing lady ordered a meal in a Chinese restaurant and in due course the waiter arrived with a bowl of rice and another of sweet and sour chicken. After placing the bowls before her, he put a set of chopsticks alongside them.
The lady picked them up, examined them scornfully and called the waiter back. “My good man,” she said sternly, “I do not knit with forks, so I see no reason why I should eat with knitting needles.”