this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2025
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I don't agree with freezing rent.
The entire concept of rent needs to die in a goddamn fire. Legislation needs to kill the entire idea, not further legitimize it.
We need massive, punitive increases in residential property taxes, with commensurate owner-occupant exemptions: You will not see a tax increase on the property you live in, but any investment property you own is going to see you saddled with a huge tax bill. This might come as a shock, but Corporate landlords don't occupy their properties. They are not able to claim the owner occupant credit.
But, if you own a second property and lease it to me, we can convert our arrangement from a rental to a "land contract". I, the occupant, become the legal owner. I continue to make payments. You don't get to increase those payments over time; they are fixed for the duration of the agreement. If I leave in the first three years, you retain 100% equity in the property. If I stay beyond three years, our agreement converts to a mortgage, and I start gaining equity.
Basically, the only properties that will still be able to be feasibly rented are the remaining units in duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes, where the landlord lives in one of the units.
Renting is an option and convenience for a lot of people, that's why it exists. Some people don't want to be tied to a mortgage and might have reasons they only need a place for 6 or 12 months - temporary employment, contracting, studying or whatever.
Anyway renting can work as a model. Germany has a very large proportion of property which is rented. But they have strong tenant protections and place limits on rent hikes, evictions and so on.
I don't think an outright freeze is a good idea but rent controls and tenant laws would help. As would making casual letting (airbnb etc) a bullshit onerous proposition so that more housing stock is sold or converts into long term rent which lessens rent pressure.
Then cut out the moocher landlord and make every building a co-op. You're accountable to your fucking neighbors.
Yeah, I prefer to rent because buying here is only reasonable (because of taxes, notary costs, etc) if you will live in that place for more than about 8 years. I usually move before that.
Those people are called "landlords".
I think I failed to convey the fact that land contracts provide that exact function. The occupant can unilaterally cancel the contract in the first three years, walking away free and clear. Just like ending a rental agreement. I'm not interfering with short-term housing or tying people to homes they don't want. I'm protecting short term tenants from exploitation, even if they decide to make their temporary plans into a permanent home.
I don't know about Germany, but corporate entities are rapidly buying up residential properties in the US. Many are using the same third-party algorithm to establish their rent prices. No amount of government regulation of their business model can effectively suppress the effects of such widespread collusion. They are actively working around rent controls and other tenancy protections.
The solution is to make traditional renting unfeasible for the landlord. Replace it with a system where investors are effectively forced to convey ownership interest if they want to profit from providing housing.
"Renting" will not be feasible for corporate investors once we establish an owner-occupancy exemption to residential property taxes. When we establish that exemption, we are free to peg the property tax rate to the owner-occupancy rate. Any year the rate is below 80%, the effective property tax rate for investors increases by 20%. It doesn't start dropping again until the owner occupancy rate exceeds 90%. Corporate landlords will be forced to sell outright, or get their tenants under a land contract instead of a rental agreement. Vacant properties will incur the full wrath of the tax man.
I can only speak of personal experience but I rented when I went to university. I rented during my first 3 jobs. I rented when I relocated to another country. I rented when I was contracting for 6 months in another city (I had already purchased a house elsewhere). In every case I had no intention of buying a(nother) house. I rented because I wanted to, not because of greedy corporate overlords forced me to.
Most people renting are in similar situations. They want to be somewhere for a year or two, to make plans or move on, but not be tied down with debt or obligations if they want to leave. There is nothing stopping them buying a property but there is a commitment and obligation they don't want to get into.
So rent is not going away any time soon. Legislation is necessary to curb the worse abuses, but pretending people don't want to rent is is a failed argument.
This is the third time I have pointed out that "land contracts" can fulfill the purposes you are describing.
In every situation you mentioned, a "land contract" would have performed exactly the same function is "renting".
I understand you:
The only difference you would have experienced between "renting" and "land contract" is that the top of each of those five agreements would have said "Land Contract" instead of "Rental Agreement".
Yes, a Land Contract has additional terms and conditions that only apply if you stay more than three years. You are not obligated to stay those three years. You can unilaterally end the contract before those three years.
You should be able to understand that "Renting" is more convenient for the landlord. Not the occupant. The people who knowingly want "rental agreements" are landlords not tenants. Landlords want to be able to hike rental payments every year; land contracts have the monthly payment fixed from day one. A "rent freeze" is a fundamental component built directly into a land contract.
"Land Contracts" do not have the additional commitments and obligations you are describing. Those are components of traditional purchase agreements. They are not components of Land Contracts.
Again: You can walk away, free and clear, in the first three years. You have the option of staying longer, in which case your payments begin to generate equity in the property. But you are not obligated to say, and you can also renegotiate the contract after three years if you really don't want that equity.
(Practically speaking, you would be able to walk away entirely after those three years as well. If you did, your landlord would have to cut you a check to buy out your acquired equity before he could take on another tenant)
No. "Short Term Housing Needs" are not going away soon. I am not suggesting they should. The need for temporary housing is perfectly reasonable, and I am preserving the means of filling that need, even as I kill "renting".
Why am I so concerned about land contracts? I'm not. I don't actually give a fuck about land contracts at all. What I want is for corporate landlords to be assessed property taxes that are so high that they are forced out of the market. The best way I know how to do that is to run up everyone's property taxes, and exempt owner-occupants from paying them. That tax hike alone is all we really need. To get that tax hike, I have to explain to you that I won't be cutting off the supply of short-term housing.
"Land Contracts" are what landlords are going to use to adapt to that tax hike. A landlord who tries to "rent" is going to have to pay a massive property tax bill. That same landlord can issue a "land contract" instead of a rental agreement. The monthly payment for that land contract will be lower, but because the property tax hike is exempted for the "owner occupant", they will actually earn more than they would renting.
Tenants will start earning equity instead of paying everything to a landlord. There will be a "rent" freeze, simply because that is an inherent component of land contracts. Corporate landlords lose their ability to hike rent year after year. Short-term housing is still available. Wins across the board.
Rent needs to die in a goddamn fire.
sounds overcomplicated, why not just rebrand the so called "land contract" into renting?
There will always be a market for relatively short term living spaces; a gap currently filled by rentals.
Any person who is not living in a place temporarily, eg, for school or a temporary job posting or something, should have the ability to buy a home at an affordable price, without fail.
The housing market is saturated with house flippers and people with more money than sense looking to become a landlord so they can have an "income property".
IMO, all rentals should be either run, controlled, or at least strictly overseen by a specific branch of government dedicated to the task. Anyone who wants to become a renter has to get their rental property approved for renting, and approvals only happen if more rentals are strictly required.
Land contracts fulfill the role of short term housing (6-36 months) at least as well as renting, with additional benefits if short term extends to long term. In the short term, there is no significant difference in the two, with the exception of the Owner-Occupant Tax Exemption I have been proposing. That exemption ensures that land contracts will be cheaper, yet more lucrative than renting.
Rent is inherently exploitative. No amount of government oversight can overcome the intrinsic problems with renting. The entire concept needs to be actively suppressed. Government oversight can't fix the inherently exploitive problems with rent. That's just trying to polish a turd.
What we need is an economic climate that favors owner occupancy and strongly discourages commercial use of residential property. With that environment, landlords will be fighting tooth and nail to convert their tenants into buyers.
I agree but that's not going to happen overnight and there needs to be a lot of work done beforehand. People need help now.