We have too many lawyers, and too many laws for them to manipulate. I say this based in part on a piece I saw on the news this morning.
It seems a lady in a resort community (in Florida?) put her house up on Airbnb, a website that matches people who have property with people who want to rent a resort house or an apartment or even just a room for a short term. A guy leased her property for 45 days, and paid her 30 days in advance.
After he was there only a day he began complaining about the "cloudy" tap water. The owner said she would give him a refund and he could just move on. He took her money, but then didn't leave. She thought he would surely leave after his original 45 day term, but....no....he's still there.
Turns out the laws in that state view this guy as a "tenant", which means to get him out the owner will have to jump through all sorts of hoops and spend thousands of $$$ in attorney fees to legally evict him, which could take months. So this guy is living in her house rent free, and perhaps trashing it in the process, and there is precious little she can do.
In this country today most laws are written by lawyers, and passed into law by legislators who themselves are predominately lawyers, and enforced by courts who are, of course, lawyers. And they're written in such a way that the layman usually has to hire a lawyer to tell them what the document they're signing means. And if something backfires, you have to hire a lawyer to save your a$$.
Sounds to me like lawyers have written their own ticket to a very well paid lifetime employment. And the only way to stop them is to....hire a lawyer! DOH!
S
I guess the alternative is to not have laws, so...The biggest problem with lawyers is often people not paying for one, cost them lots later. I'm sure there is more to your story though I have heard it can be tough to evict in some jurisdictions, then without these laws tenants would have no rights.
ReplyDeleteI remember the days when if you were going to leave an apartment, you always delayed the last two months rent and then skipped out in the middle of the night because you knew you would NEVER get back your 2 months security deposit. Anyway it is always good to have someone to hate. In this country we have lawyers and smokers.
"Hate" might be a bit strong, Joe, and of course we need SOME laws, but it just seems to me that lawyers make things much more difficult than they need to be, and that the only ones who benefit from all this legal mumbo-jumbo are the lawyers and maybe their crooked clients who want to cheat someone and hide behind said laws.
DeleteAnyone who tries to do business like our fathers and grandfathers did....on a solid handshake....will get run over, and a lawyer will be driving.
S
Just this morning I learned about this tenant from hell. Never under any circumstance would I consider being a landlord. We once were all set to buy a house with a tenant in it and I told the owner we wouldn't sign until the tenant had vacated. The deal collapsed, for which I was grateful. The tenant refused to leave and it took six months, and thousands of dollars, to evict him. Oregon is one of those states that bend over backwards for tenants at the expense of homeowners.
ReplyDeleteMy sentiments exactly, Steve. I've heard if you have 50 properties and make it a full time job, that's one thing. But to just have a couple of rental properties is a pain in the arse.
DeleteThere seem to be a lot of horror stories about Airbnb. It's like the new Craigslist.
ReplyDeleteThis almost reminds me of the recent story about the live-in nanny who wouldn't leave even after she decided she didn't want to be a nanny to the kid in the house!
ReplyDeleteWhy does it always seem so easy for the crooks? And so difficult for the hard-working, honest people?
I was going to mention the nanny, too, but you beat me to it.
DeleteDid you see Jersey Boys? the Jersey Handshake between Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio seemed to work... if real!
ReplyDelete