Services can be an equal exchange too. A labor receives your money, you receive a service which requires that laborer’s active time and expertise.
Renting is not a service in the same way. You pay indefinitely, but you aren’t being provided a laborer’s time and expertise equivalent to the money being paid. Owning a thing isn’t something that requires a landlord’s active time or expertise, it’s something that happens passively.
howrar@lemmy.ca 1 week ago
Right, so that makes sense then. We don’t need an exchange of physical goods to make a fair exchange because labour and expertise has value. And ownership is not a service that merits payment. We agree on both of these points.
Renting out a home doesn’t have to involve any work on the part of the owner, but it can. Think of all the work you need to do as a home owner and that you wouldn’t need to do when renting. These are the services you get.
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Then a landlord can invoice me if/when that work is done. Work like that isn’t done every month though.
howrar@lemmy.ca 6 days ago
The fact that many of these expenses don’t occur monthly is precisely why most people prefer having them split up and paid over time instead of being billed at the time of the work. It makes for much more predictable expenses, and we like predictability.
Imagine being the tenant that moves in just as the roof needs replacing and getting hit with a bill in the tens of thousands for a roof that you’re only going to be using for a year or two.
zalgotext@sh.itjust.works 6 days ago
Then landlords should send me an itemized invoice that details each of the expenses incurred while I’ve been a tenant, a breakdown detailing how any rent payments cover the cost of those expenses, and a payment plan that we can negotiate to ensure both parties are getting fair deals.
Or they should give me equity in the property based on how much I pay in rent.
But they shouldn’t simply charge an amount based on nothing other than “the market”. That number never equates to the amount of work they put in, and makes them parasitic.