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Andrew Cline has been editorial page editor of the New Hampshire Union Leader since October of 2001. His writing has appeared in more than 100 newspapers and magazines, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and National Review.Landlords vs. tenants: Takin' it to the streets
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Reader commentsCITY RENTERS tired of poor conditions in their apartments are right to take their case directly to their landlords instead of waiting for the bureaucracy to resolve their issues for them.
We are skeptical of the utility of a protest in front of the landlord's home, as some city renters are planning. Sitting down across a table and hashing out the complaints might be more productive.
Still, we are glad to see tenants engaging their landlord directly and publicly instead of relying entirely on the government for help.
What we are tired of seeing is people reflexively casting landlords as rich slumlords when their properties have problems. Yes, there are such things as slumlords. But sometimes landlords get a bad rap when their tenants are the real problem or when they have short-term financial difficulties.
Renters have responsibilities, too. If they are unclean, destructive or neglectful, it is often the landlord who takes the rap. Properties can look sloppy and start to come apart because of landlord neglect -- or because tenants live like slobs.
Will Stewart, community services specialist for NeighborWorks Greater Manchester, a non-profit focusing on revitalizing city neighborhoods, suggested that the landlord targeted for protest was a bad actor because he lived in an upscale Bedford home while his tenants' properties had problems.
That kind of class warfare rhetoric is not helpful. What is helpful is getting landlords and tenants together to work out their issues without going to court. Let's see more of that and less of the landlord bashing.
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YOUR COMMENTS
It's hilarious to see that the two posters who feel that this is not a landlord issue are (or were) landlords themselves. Perhaps Manchester does not have a "slumlord problem" but does that mean that every landlord executes their responsibilities with professionalism? The recent protest of these out of town landlords is the result of a failure to respond to tenant complaints and a feeling among those tenants that their concerns were falling on deaf ears. Tenants should take a strong role in maintaining their residencies and there is little evidence that this was not the case here. A landlord is expected to acknowledge the decrepit conditions of their own properties and make positive changes to them? Owners have a wide range of options for fixing up properties or dealing with problematic tenants. Here we saw none of those options being exercised. The owners were happy to let the negligent tenants stay while doing nothing to fix the properties problems. If some body doesn't challenge out of town owners to take personal responsibility for their properties Manchester will have a slumlord problem.
- Glenn Given, New Boston
Again, I always appreciate The Union Leader Editorials for their fairness. I do not believe the city has a slumlord problem. There will always be those few absent landlords that pull cash out of the property and not maintain or invest in it. Part of the COC here in Manchester is having intact window screens, functional smoke detectors, and stairway rails that are serviceable, not broken or wobbly. To have any of the above is a COC deficiency and these things don't get that way by themselves. How about the tenant that changes his or her own locks? or continually blocks the plumbing? or fails to promptly remove clothing from laundry equipment hindering use by other tenants? Putting smelly trash out on common area porches? all nuisances....Should a landlord camp out and enforce these issues? Thank Goodness for the Landlord Connection.
- Rick Olson, Manchester
I agree that we should not be so hasty and blame the landlord for some apartment problems. We had a tenant where I lived whom would bring home items they found in the trash from someone's home. This led to a messy yard and flies everywhere. As for coach roaches, we have to remember IF a person lives in a place infested with such things, roaches will travel in anything with a warm climate. That includes TV's, cableboxes, computers, GFI boxes and other things. Then as the person moves into the new home, the roaches breed again and the infestation starts over. So blaming the landlord completely is a mistake. I agree we must first offer assistance with any landlord to help with problems that they face. Sharing of resources and working together is the best answer than just pointing a finger and blaming someone outright.
- Robert M Tarr, Manchester
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