Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A new morality?
American Thinker ^ | 19 Aug, 2021 | Greg Ripke

Posted on 08/19/2021 3:54:09 AM PDT by MtnClimber

Those of us who still believe in private property seem to be out of step with the times.

I recently had an experience that I’m having trouble getting my head around and causing me to wonder if morality is dead. I know it isn’t. There are too many acts of kindness stories. Maybe morality is just eroding.

A tenant in a house I rented decided, without my knowledge, it needed an air conditioner. So he cut a hole in the walls and installed one. He moved out and I put the house up for sale, pointing out one of the features, an air conditioner.

The house didn’t sell so I pulled it from the market and put it up for rent. Upon inspection with a prospective tenant, I found the air conditioner missing and the hole patched with an ugly, unsightly pressboard panel. Turns out the former tenant arranged for a buddy to gain access and remove the air conditioner.

Now, the law is that an appurtenance can only be removed by a tenant if the removal causes no damage to the property. Meaning once attached…permanently attached.

The former tenant was contacted and rattled on in all directions, essentially claiming unjust enrichment if he left the air conditioner. Fair enough if, first, the property had been left in original condition. And if, second, I hadn’t given the tenant a break on the rent, charging him less than the going rate (for familial reasons not essential here).

The reason I’m having trouble is that I personally would never do that to anyone. So, I’m wondering: Am I, and probably most of us, unaware of some new morality.

I’m starting to think so. You don’t arrest shoplifters and looters anymore?

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: communism; culture; morality; property; realty
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

1 posted on 08/19/2021 3:54:09 AM PDT by MtnClimber
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Somehow I think that landlords and retail stores are only the beginning.


2 posted on 08/19/2021 3:54:20 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
One of the things that has changed since the Industrial Revolution is that it has become commonplace for people to do business with total strangers -- as employers, employees, customers, vendors, etc. -- in ways that they never did before in human history.

As an employer, I will never hire someone who isn't a family member, a friend, or a friend of a trusted associate whose referral carries a lot of weight.

The same goes for tenant-landlord relationships, to the extent I have some measure of control over that.

3 posted on 08/19/2021 4:01:08 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("And once in a night I dreamed you were there; I canceled my flight from going nowhere.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

What did your lease say?

We’ve had a culture breakdown - so everything needs to be written out now a days.

Kind of like the first three pages you read when buying a new appliance: ‘don’t operate washing machine if you’re standing in a foot of water and your electric outlets are sparking’... etc. etc.

Write out all the common sense morality things in the lease because it’s not ‘common sense’ anymore.


4 posted on 08/19/2021 4:01:09 AM PDT by GOPJ (Our incompetent military brass needs to spend less time reading Marx and more time doing their jobs.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
So he cut a hole in the walls and installed one. He moved out and I put the house up for sale, pointing out one of the features, an air conditioner.

If I was in your position I would have raised the issue of the air conditioner with the former tenant at this point in time -- in writing.

5 posted on 08/19/2021 4:03:39 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("And once in a night I dreamed you were there; I canceled my flight from going nowhere.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child
Heavens! Never rent to a relative, ever, unless it's your child. That's rule #1 for this landlord
6 posted on 08/19/2021 4:14:43 AM PDT by bella1 (Italian Lives Matter--who else is going to make the sauce?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Rights to property in general are being eroded. Landlords never had it easy given renters legal rights, and I once owned a rental losing over 4 months rent trying to evict someone who stopped paying the agreed rent.

Today the right to property is under attack from many fronts. Not only squatters but some previously unknown endangered species can rob you of the use of your property, but the true intent by those attacking property rights is the same and it is not in good faith.

It is all part of the Marxism we are being exposed to, and we have to push back.


7 posted on 08/19/2021 4:34:38 AM PDT by Wildbill22 ( They have us surrounded again, the poor bastards- Gen Creighton William Abrams)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alberta's Child

Apparently, the tenant was “family” in some form or fashion, and received a rent discount.

“And if, second, I hadn’t given the tenant a break on the rent, charging him less than the going rate (for familial reasons not essential here).”


8 posted on 08/19/2021 4:38:28 AM PDT by moovova (Yo GOP....we won't forget.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
Private property is theft. Except when it belongs to a “progressive”.
9 posted on 08/19/2021 5:30:47 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Covid Is All About Mail In Balloting)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

If you think you own your property quit paying your property taxes. You’ll eventually find out who really owns it.


10 posted on 08/19/2021 5:49:11 AM PDT by suthener ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Somehow I don’t see the notion of “morality” at issue here.


11 posted on 08/19/2021 5:54:05 AM PDT by yetidog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yetidog

So it’s moral for the tenant to remove the air conditioner and patch up the wall with pressboard?


12 posted on 08/19/2021 6:08:21 AM PDT by FamiliarFace
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

The new morality is definitely in play.


13 posted on 08/19/2021 6:10:52 AM PDT by sauropod (Time is like quicksilver, smearing the years... - Bill Nelson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber
Our HOA found out that the surface coating on many of the outdoor patios put down by the builder was of inferior quality. We spent time researching and discovered a better coating and a company to go around and resurface the patios.

Meanwhile one of the residents had decided to do his own research and had his patio resurfaced probably with an even better coating.

Despite this it was against the HOA laws and we forced him to remove the coating and then allow the HOA to resurface his patio with the standard.

So he had to spend his money on coating and removing the coating. He fought of course, but lost. In the long run this was good for the HOA because if we had let it stand then others would have used it as a precedent to do their own changes to the exteriors of their properties.

As soon as the landlord had found out about the AC he should have taken it out, repaired the hole, and charged the tenant for the costs of repairs. He may have had to go to court, but allowing the AC to stand, even if it was an improvement, was a bad idea.

14 posted on 08/19/2021 7:43:06 AM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (This is not a tagline.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

There is a new entitlement mindset that says screw your morality, if you have more than me, you owe it to me to allow me to take whatever you have for myself. So, you own the house, you owe it to him to allow him to make changes to the house, keep the AC, and fix it however he pleases, because you are obviously rich.
We saw this attitude up close with the behavior of our daughter’s three new stepdaughters. These early twenty somethings thought they were entitled to take any piece of clothing, jewelry or make-up our daughter had, because she could obviously afford to replace the items. For their first Christmas, they were sure they were getting new Iphones from us, based solely on their assumptions about our income based on the suburb we live in. Our daughter ended up moving a thousand miles away to protect herself and her family from those girls.
I don’t think we realize how thoroughly Marxism has been inculcated into our youth.


15 posted on 08/19/2021 9:35:17 AM PDT by Wiser now (Socialism does not eliminate poverty, it guarantees it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

Residential tenants have been enjoying the fruits of bleeding heart liberals for many decades. Courts favor them whenever possible which is virtually always.
Furthermore if you rent to a friend you will lose not only money but a friend.
Assume you will always get the shaft, sooner or later. Avoid residential rentals.


16 posted on 08/19/2021 9:52:23 AM PDT by Buttons12 ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: who_would_fardels_bear

That’s an HOA for ya. Little mini tyrants controlling all aspects of “your property”. What difference does it make if he used a higher quality coating other than some little tyrant didn’t like it. Guess it’s against the rules to be better.


17 posted on 08/19/2021 10:01:24 AM PDT by LastDayz (A blunt and brazen Texan. I will not be assimilated.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: LastDayz
The problem is that the HOA couldn't guarantee that he was going to be the owner for life. If he sold the property then the HOA would have been stuck with a patio that was different and would require a different process to maintain over time.

Our HOA is actually pretty cool. All of the units have stairs so we don't have a lot of bored retirees with nothing better to do than lord over people with trivialities.

When residents come up with good ideas, such as installing Ring to monitor their front porches, the board allowed it. When garage doors started malfunctioning the board allowed replacement with a superior design, but the tenant had to choose a style that looked similar to the previous. They allowed someone to run a full up garden on their front porch so long as nothing was permanently attached. They even allowed a front porch water spigot even though it violated the HOA rules but was approved by the board when the members were mostly employees of the builder.

A happy medium between apathy and autocracy has been reached.

18 posted on 08/19/2021 10:16:04 AM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear (This is not a tagline.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: MtnClimber

You don’t arrest shoplifters and looters anymore?

You bury them in the woods.


19 posted on 08/19/2021 11:38:13 AM PDT by minnesota_bound (I need more money. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: who_would_fardels_bear

Despite this it was against the HOA laws and we forced him to remove the coating and then allow the HOA to resurface his patio with the standard.


That is not right. If it is better then to leave it be.
I would get rid of all HOA’s. My parents moved to Arizona and they could not add a plant or paint their home without getting approval, mailboxes grouped together far away from the property. You are paying $300, 400 a month etc in fees these days or more.

My aunt & uncle near LA had to get approval for an addition. Enclose a patio. That is 2 walls and windows and a sliding door. 2 weeks for the work to be done. It took the HOA over 6 months to approve and they rejected the style of windows. Literally no one could see their property as they are on 2.5 acres and surrounded by trees and brush on a hill. They once had some lady walk onto their property of 40+ years and tell them to clean it up. They ignored her and never saw her again. Power trip for these people.


20 posted on 08/19/2021 1:09:27 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (I need more money. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson