Woman doesn't bother paying her rent... wins a court settlement

AARRRGH

Did anyone see this clip on RTE news?

It is a fairly sympathetic piece about a woman/family who took their landlord to court (and won 12k) because they were illegally evicted after not paying their rent (they owed 6k).

The landlord was stupid to illegally evict her, but it is wrong to think - as the woman in the piece clearly does - that it is ok to not pay your way in the world.

I was unemployed for 6 months but never once did it cross my mind that I shouldn't have to pay rent or was entitled to not pay rent - I made sure I had that money every month.

I don't know if the woman is stupid or what - nobody deserves special treatment - she should have to pay her way like everyone else.

Does anyone agree with me?!

PS I don't care that the woman is an immigrant. Let's not make this about immigration.

kaimera

filthy bitch.

I shouldnt have to pay rent cos I travel so much either if thats the case. ffs.

Run_to_da_hills

The landlord did a foolish thing, he threw someone vulnerable out on to the streets. It is up to the Landlord to make sure a lease agreement is drafted up between himself and the tenant.

If the tenant breached the agreement the landlord should have gone down the legal road and contacted his solicitor. By taking the law into his own hands he is only asking for trouble and deserves what he gets.

AARRRGH

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

The landlord did a foolish thing, he threw someone vulnerable out on to the streets. It is up to the Landlord to make sure a lease agreement is drafted up between himself and the tenant.

If the tenant breached the agreement the landlord should have gone down the legal road and contacted his solicitor. By taking the law into his own hands he is only asking for trouble and deserves what he gets.

Oh - I agree completely. But I'd like to focus on the entitlement mentality rather than what the landlord did.

I see it everywhere these days - for example, when I went back to college last year to do my masters so many people expected to be allowed pass their exams without having done any work. They couldn't grasp why they failed and why the college could not pass them.

This sort of thing really confuses/depresses me.

Darragh29

I'd never be able to be a landlord, for many reasons, mainly ethical, but this eviction being up the top of the list.

Most people end up in this situation by way of having no actual alternative. You are comparing a situation you were in, I don't know your circumstances, but her's seem to be that she was carrying the burden of rent for a whole family.

No doubt we'll be seeing more of this now, with people falling into arrears as they lose jobs, etc. I was told by numerous people in the last few years to invest in property and I thank God every night now that I had the sense to be my own man and not run with the crowd.

rasper

feel for the landlady too as sure she has a mortgage too and it's tight for everyone, but didn't she also illegally impound this familys property which I'd imagine is theft, Isn't that why we have courts

AARRRGH

Darragh29 wrote: »

I'd never be able to be a landlord, for many reasons, mainly ethical, but this eviction being up the top of the list.

Most people end up in this situation by way of having no actual alternative. You are comparing a situation you were in, I don't know your circumstances, but her's seem to be that she was carrying the burden of rent for a whole family.

No doubt we'll be seeing more of this now, with people falling into arrears as they lose jobs, etc. I was told by numerous people in the last few years to invest in property and I thank God every night now that I had the sense to be my own man and not run with the crowd.

I'm sorry, but if you cannot afford to live in a big house you move to a smaller one. You don't stay there expecting to live there for free.

My situation - I was unemployed - so I cut out all spending and had a ****ty life so I could pay for the basics.

That is what people should do if they have no money.

Caoimhín

That's a great example of everything that's wrong with this country, the self entitlement, the money grabbing landlord and the quango in the middle.

The_Conductor

AARRRGH wrote: »

I'm sorry, but if you cannot afford to live in a big house you move to a smaller one. You don't stay there expecting to live there for free.

My situation - I was unemployed - so I cut out all spending and had a ****ty life so I could pay for the basics.

That is what people should do if they have no money.

I have to agree.
The entitlement mentality in this country is gone crazy.....
Some people are in for a shock when stuff really starts to get cut back.......

dodgyme

Now I am no fan of landlords. I think they have effectively ruined alot of the residental landscape over the past few years, leading to high prices of housing and fleecing tenants/tax payer (hse/and alot still not registered) where ever they could. I am talking about the lads who would buy 4-20 houses. We know the type but hang on a sec, these people owed 6k and get 12k in compensation for not paying???? This country really is a pendulim which swings between the sponger and the greedy b*stard never stopping in the middle for the poor sod paying for all this thru taxes for rent allowance and high house prices (til now) inflated by greed landlord competing with people trying to buy a home not a tenth "investment property"

Darragh29

Just looked at the newsclip...

She was renting this property for 8 years, and in the majority of that time, the HSE was paying the majority of her rent. Recently the HSE ceased paying rent on her behalf and there the problem with rent payment seems to have started.

First question is why have the HSE been paying her rent? I agree with AARGH, if she couldn't afford to live there, then she shouldn't be living there. I felt sorry for her because there has been a lot of change in a very short time in this country recently and if she has been renting for 8 years and the first sign of trouble, she is fu*ked out onto the street, then that is wrong I think.

I think you have to be a certain type of person to be a landlord. To be a landlord, you have to be able to go into a house and put a woman and her kids out onto the street. That's not me thankfully.

What I'm more worried about after watching this is that we have hugely overpriced houses in this country, which means hugely inflated mortgages which means if that property is being rented out, we have unaffordable rent. So we have social services ultimately paying rent to landlords so those landlords can pay inflated mortgages for overpriced houses...

Now, who do you think is paying for the social services???

Darragh29

smccarrick wrote: »

I have to agree.
The entitlement mentality in this country is gone crazy.....
Some people are in for a shock when stuff really starts to get cut back.......

Couldn't agree more. When the sh*t actually does hit the fan in this country, we won't know what has hit us. We are in for the shock of our lives when the real deal comes to Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore...

Jigsaw

Entitlement culture pisses me off too.

I could easily be a landlord. Pay your rent on time and you will be looked after, repairs carried out promptly etc. Don't pay your rent and expect to be f*cked out of that house without your feet touching the ground. Simple as.

Kensington

So she stopped paying the rent, yet the landlord was the one who was doing something illegal by rightfully chucking her out? Where the feck is the logic in that?

Darragh29

Kensington wrote: »

So she stopped paying the rent, yet the landlord was the one who was doing something illegal by rightfully chucking her out? Where the feck is the logic in that?

It's called due process...

Run_to_da_hills

Kensington wrote: »

So she stopped paying the rent, yet the landlord was the one who was doing something illegal by rightfully chucking her out? Where the feck is the logic in that?

If you were involved in a car accident where the third party was at fault would you approach the other driver and give him a box in the face for being at fault or would you go through a solicitor. Same thing, taking the law into your own hands is taken seriously in court.

Wile E. Coyote

This type of story really pisses me off. If your not paying your rent then f*** off. Why shouldn't the landlord be within his rights to kick you out of HIS property.

If you didn't pay your ESB, telephone are anything else like that the service is cut off. Why should rent be any different?

There's far to many people out there who won't get off their ass to help themselves and expect everything to be handed to them.

smk135

I agree with the majority on this one - I have a very close friend who had property and rented it out to a tenant who was on social services or some such and he stopped paying the incredibly small rent requested of him AND left the place in such a state that it cost over 5 grand to repair the damage AND the other tenants were disgusted by the smell of the place when they had to walk into the building.

On top of that, he ruined the bathroom flooring through negligeance thus another 5k bill.

He was asked politely, verbally and by written notice to leave but the courts were comepltely in his favour despite photos of the damage he was causeing and the grief he was giving the neighbours and other tenants.

It was a costly nightmare and the "courts" system is certainly not unbias.

_blank_

What we need is all the bleeding heart judges to be fúcked out of the system. Get some proper lads in, with a bit of balls.

Tell these scroungers to fúck off out of the court.

Junkies, murderers and pedos too, throw them in prison and fúck away the key.

Bastards.

Darragh29

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

This type of story really pisses me off. If your not paying your rent then f*** off. Why shouldn't the landlord be within his rights to kick you out of HIS property.

If you didn't pay your ESB, telephone are anything else like that the service is cut off. Why should rent be any different?

There's far to many people out there who won't get off their ass to help themselves and expect everything to be handed to them.

Well she musn't have been within her rights when she was ordered to return the property to the complainant and then pay her 12K compensation.

This is what we're seeing now, a load of utter loo laa's who thought that the property game was foolproof, that they had it wrapped up, made for life by signing a few sheets of paper, now they are being brought down to play on a side of the pitch that they have no experience of, and they don't know how to deal with the unsavory situation that many landlords are now finding themselves in...

Duckjob

AARRRGH wrote: »

Did anyone see this clip on RTE news?

It is a fairly sympathetic piece about a woman/family who took their landlord to court (and won 12k) because they were illegally evicted after not paying their rent (they owed 6k).

The landlord was stupid to illegally evict her, but it is wrong to think - as the woman in the piece clearly does - that it is ok to not pay your way in the world.

I was unemployed for 6 months but never once did it cross my mind that I shouldn't have to pay rent or was entitled to not pay rent - I made sure I had that money every month.

I don't know if the woman is stupid or what - nobody deserves special treatment - she should have to pay her way like everyone else.

Does anyone agree with me?!

PS I don't care that the woman is an immigrant. Let's not make this about immigration.

<obligatory after Hours bit>
she was quite hot though
</obligatory after Hours bit>

More seriously, I agree with you OP.

If they owed 6k , I'm guessing that represents 5-6 months rent, so it seems the landlord had been pretty patient, but probably was just sick of getting the run-around.

Also, 5-6 months should have been ample time to seek out some more inexpensive accomodation, so it looks like she made the conscious decision to hang tight. Bailouts are "the new ting now" - everybody wants one.

Only unfortunate thing in this case was that the landlord didn't follow due process and got stung because of it.

On another note: Is anybody else uncomfortable with RTEs slant on stories like this - showing pictures of families with kids and babies etc. to shore up sympathy?

Darragh29

Duckjob wrote: »

<obligatory after Hours bit>
she was quite hot though
</obligatory after Hours bit>

LOL, if I was the landlord, I'm sure we'd have been able to come to an arrangement!!!

:D:D

Wile E. Coyote

Darragh29 wrote: »

Well she musn't have been within her rights when she was ordered to return the property to the complainant and then pay her 12K compensation.

This is what we're seeing now, a load of utter loo laa's who thought that the property game was foolproof, that they had it wrapped up, made for life by signing a few sheets of paper, now they are being brought down to play on a side of the pitch that they have no experience of, and they don't know how to deal with the unsavory situation that many landlords are now finding themselves in...

Just because she won doesn't mean it was the right decision.

This story isn't about property owners being brought down to earth, it's about a scrounger who has just paved the way for every other scrounger to turn to their landlord and say 'I'm not paying and if you try kick me out I'm going to sue you for €12k'.

Kensington

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

If you were involved in a car accident where the third party was at fault would you approach the other driver and give him a box in the face for being at fault or would you go through a solicitor. Same thing, taking the law into your own hands is taken seriously in court.

Not really - you rent out a house, you have a contract/lease for the rental. Technically, if you don't keep to your side of the contract and pay your rent then you're breaching your contract. Landlord should have every right to turf you out in that case. Especially after approx. six months of non payment...

Alessandra

Getting paid rent from the HSE for 8 years? Sound like serial scroungers right there! They should have stopped having sprogs if they couldn't afford the rent on a big place. HSE stopped paying for a reason oibviously..

I know people go through a hard time but in fairness 6 months without paying the rent, no wonder the landlady got rid of them:eek: She isn't a charity. What about her mortgage?

One thing for them to succeed or get the rent excused, but 12 grand comp! Sickening! Hope this doesn't create a precedent...

Wile E. Coyote

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

If you were involved in a car accident where the third party was at fault would you approach the other driver and give him a box in the face for being at fault or would you go through a solicitor. Same thing, taking the law into your own hands is taken seriously in court.

They are two totally different situations. With a car accident you will get your money out of the insurance company. Your not waiting on the other person to give you the cash. An eviction order can take years to go through the courts and while it's going through the landlord is still not being paid and has to pay his own mortgage.

Darragh29

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

Just because she won doesn't mean it was the right decision.

This story isn't about property owners being brought down to earth, it's about a scrounger who has just paved the way for every other scrounger to turn to their landlord and say 'I'm not paying and if you try kick me out I'm going to sue you for €12k'.

No, but because she won means that the decision to evict her was unlawful. If evicting her was unlawful, then it's hard to see how this was the "right decision". There is obviously a procedure to be followed that this landlady didn't bother her arse to become acquainted with.

IvyTheTerrible

If you don't pay, you don't get the service. Same with rent.

My landlord had terrible trouble with his previous tenants, they caused lots of damage and were difficult to get rid of. We're so quiet and pay everything on time, that he is really generous, and extremely quick to fix stuff if anything breaks.

Wile E. Coyote

Darragh29 wrote: »

No, but because she won means that the decision to evict her was unlawful. If evicting her was unlawful, then it's hard to see how this was the "right decision". There is obviously a procedure to be followed that this landlady didn't bother her arse to become acquainted with.

Yes, like everything else, there is a procedure to be followed.But have you any idea how long this takes and how much money is involved for you to get posession of your own property?

Darragh29

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

They are two totally different situations. With a car accident you will get your money out of the insurance company. Your not waiting on the other person to give you the cash. An eviction order can take years to go through the courts and while it's going through the landlord is still not being paid and has to pay his own mortgage.

Yeah, and I'd say there are a lot of landlords out there who are in for a rude awakening when they realise that the law is not actually on their side. I don't feel sorry for them one bit, they have brought about their own downfall. There were too many of them snapping up houses here there and everywhere. Now as people lose jobs and are leaving the country to go to greener fields, who will pay their mortgages/retirement fund?

mountainyman

Kensington wrote: »

So she stopped paying the rent, yet the landlord was the one who was doing something illegal by rightfully chucking her out? Where the feck is the logic in that?

wrongfully chucking her out not rightfully

that landlady sounds like a gangster tbh. instead of blaming the tenant blame the landlord.

Darragh29

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

Yes, like everything else, there is a procedure to be followed.But have you any idea how long this takes and how much money is involved for you to get posession of your own property?

Yeah I do, and that is one of the reasons why I'm not a property investor! Obviously we have a load of people now in the rental property market who didn't do their homework.

mountainyman

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

Just because she won doesn't mean it was the right decision.

This story isn't about property owners being brought down to earth, it's about a scrounger who has just paved the way for every other scrounger to turn to their landlord and say 'I'm not paying and if you try kick me out I'm going to sue you for €12k'.

well you and I will have to disagree WILE I would burn landlords if it were up to me which it isn't

shoegirl

Darragh29 wrote: »

Just looked at the newsclip...

She was renting this property for 8 years, and in the majority of that time, the HSE was paying the majority of her rent. Recently the HSE ceased paying rent on her behalf and there the problem with rent payment seems to have started.

First question is why have the HSE been paying her rent? I agree with AARGH, if she couldn't afford to live there, then she shouldn't be living there. I felt sorry for her because there has been a lot of change in a very short time in this country recently and if she has been renting for 8 years and the first sign of trouble, she is fu*ked out onto the street, then that is wrong I think.

I think you have to be a certain type of person to be a landlord. To be a landlord, you have to be able to go into a house and put a woman and her kids out onto the street. That's not me thankfully.

What I'm more worried about after watching this is that we have hugely overpriced houses in this country, which means hugely inflated mortgages which means if that property is being rented out, we have unaffordable rent. So we have social services ultimately paying rent to landlords so those landlords can pay inflated mortgages for overpriced houses...

Now, who do you think is paying for the social services???

Probably the best post on the subject I've seen yet.

Sadly the private rented sector is clogged up with rent subsidised tenants who by rights should be in social housing. They cannot pay market rents themselves, yet their presence in the sector (in some cases without having any real choice) has grossly inflated rents as rent allowance maximums have become the baseline rents, regardless of property locations or standards. As a result, earners have been lumped with even higher rents.

Secondly, the overinflated mortgages and rents do have a secondary feedback loop. Bigger mortgages means bigger rents which just keeps inflating until it hits a point where there are few tenants who can afford to pay it. Net result is relative overcrowding (popularly known as "house sharing"), rents disproportionate to tenant incomes, and eventually, mortgages which cannot be paid.

It all contributes.

However the reason why the lady got compensated was because the landlord did not follow the correct legal process. And sadly, the reason it exists is because so many tenants in the past have been booted out illegally, though most I've seen were grossly antisocial and sometimes criminal behaviour (like severe damage to the property).

dr.bollocko

If you dont pay your way you should just **** off.
OK there should be a process but come on, the chick got compensation for not paying her rent.
Ridiculous.

faceman

If the tenant had only not paid €600 as opposed to €6k, would everyone be pleasding bleeding heart to the landlord if she turfed the tenant out? Maybe not.

Regardless of whether is was 6k or 60k the landlord should have followed the correct process for evicting a tenant.

The landlord waited too long too. Id have started the eviction process after 1 unpaid rent amount.

Im not celebrating the tenants court victory but there are reasons why we have rules for this type of thing!

Darragh29

dr.bollocko wrote: »

If you dont pay your way you should just **** off.
OK there should be a process but come on, the chick got compensation for not paying her rent.
Ridiculous.

I can understand the purpose of the compensation as a stong deterrent to other rogue property investors. If compensation wasn't awarded, investors would just turf people out at a whim. If I was a landlord after reading this article, I'd think twice about kicking someone out...

The_Conductor

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

Yes, like everything else, there is a procedure to be followed.But have you any idea how long this takes and how much money is involved for you to get posession of your own property?

To even get a hearing at the PRTB can take 6-8 months, and even if it rules in your favour (as a landlord) it can still take another year and potentially the county sheriff to regain possession of *your* property.

There was a due process to be followed, as spelt out in the 2002 Residential Tenancies Act. While the tenant was in breach of her lease when she stopped paying rent, eviction can only be carried out in a specific manner. Unfortunately for the landlord, they bolloxed up- they didn't give notice to quit in the requisite manner. Automatically they are in the wrong, irrespective of the relative merits of the case.

By rights the HSE should have immediately informed the landlord they were no longer subsidising the rent of the tenant and when the subsidy was due to cease. Unfortunately they are not allowed to do so- under privacy laws- which is a load of bollox too. If the landlord was in possession of the full facts he could have sat down with the tenant and worked something out (even if it meant a lower rent). Now its a god forsaken mess. The EUR7,200 in outstanding rent cannot even be offset against the 12k in the tenants favour. The landlord must attempt to recover this as prescribed in the act through PRTB arbitration (another 6-7 months) followed by civil proceedings. While the PRTB arbitration is ongoing- the tenant still can't be evicted..........

Some landlords used to be complete and utter ****- but the pendelum has swung entirely in the opposite direction to the extreme.......

dr.bollocko

Darragh29 wrote: »

I can understand the purpose of the compensation as a stong deterrent to other rogue property investors. If compensation wasn't awarded, investors would just turf people out at a whim. If I was a landlord after reading this article, I'd think twice about kicking someone out...

Fair point. I do see what you are saying in terms of that tenants have rights too. Its just mental that it went on for 6k worth of rent and he just turfed them out.

Wile E. Coyote

Darragh29 wrote: »

Yeah I do, and that is one of the reasons why I'm not a property investor! Obviously we have a load of people now in the rental property market who didn't do their homework.

When considering buying a property to rent who in their right mind reads up on the legal procedure to deal with a tenant who owes you €6,000? What if the landlord hadn't bought the house to rent. What if they had decided to move abroad for a year or two but the house there when they got back? Would it still be their fault for not doing their homework?

Raytown Rocks

Maybe she will take €6000 of the €12000 she got and pay the landlord what she owes:rolleyes::rolleyes:

AARRRGH

chef wrote: »

Maybe she will take €6000 of the €12000 she got and pay the landlord what she owes:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I'd love to know if she is willing to do that. I can already hear her answer though: why should I have to do that?

Darragh29

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Its just mental that it went on for 6k worth of rent and he just turfed them out.

Yeah but that's what you take on. If the landlady had first of all become acquainted with the law in this area and followed the stated procedure and had proper business systems in place to take the proper and appropriate legal actions against the client within proper timeframes, this situation might not have gone to court, or if it did, the tenant might not have won the case.

Every business has to deal with regulation. The problem with a lot of property investors, is that they just saw a get rich quick plan and I'd say very few of them looked at their investment as a business, they just saw it as a get rich quick scheme, where if you don't get paid, you can turf someone out. Now big Paddy with his big swinging d*ck and his big 4 bed semi D investment property, needs to go and learn the rules and I think it's about time...

Run_to_da_hills

Kensington wrote: »

Not really - you rent out a house, you have a contract/lease for the rental. Technically, if you don't keep to your side of the contract and pay your rent then you're breaching your contract. Landlord should have every right to turf you out in that case. Especially after approx. six months of non payment...

He has no right to evict anyone. It is up to the courts to issue an eviction order to the offending party for breach of lease contract. .

dr.bollocko

Darragh29 wrote: »

Yeah but that's what you take on. If the landlady had first of all become acquainted with the law in this area and followed the stated procedure and had proper business systems in place to take the proper and appropriate legal actions against the client within proper timeframes, this situation might not have gone to court, or if it did, the tenant might not have won the case.

Every business has to deal with regulation. The problem with a lot of property investors, is that they just saw a get rich quick plan and I'd say very few of them looked at their investment as a business, they just saw it as a get rich quick scheme, where if you don't get paid, you can turf someone out. Now big Paddy with his big swinging d*ck and his big 4 bed semi D investment property, needs to go and learn the rules and I think it's about time...

Yeah this is true as well.
I guess the issue is one of tenant rights and all. I mean she did live there for 8 years right? If the tenant is to be turfed out then due process has to be followed. I wonder what that process is, how long it takes, and if the landlord gets back the lost rent if he / she follows it.

Wile E. Coyote

Darragh29 wrote: »

I can understand the purpose of the compensation as a stong deterrent to other rogue property investors. If compensation wasn't awarded, investors would just turf people out at a whim. If I was a landlord after reading this article, I'd think twice about kicking someone out...

You keep talking about 'rogue propert investors' and landlords getting whats coming to them but the truth is neither landlords or property investors want to kick people out on the street. It's too time consuming and costly. What they want is tenants who will pay for the property that they are living in.

I can't believe there are so many people on the side of a scrounger! It's clear to see how many people would happily not pay their rent and then say it was the landlords fault.

The_Conductor

True- its high time the amateur landlords either got up to speed on tenancy law, or out of the business. What I was saying though is that tenancy law has gone way too far in some respects- and in others is a minefield- particularly as its common knowledge that the PRTB procedures take a min 6-7 months, during which time there is nada you can do.

Wile E. Coyote

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Yeah this is true as well.
I guess the issue is one of tenant rights and all. I mean she did live there for 8 years right? If the tenant is to be turfed out then due process has to be followed. I wonder what that process is, how long it takes, and if the landlord gets back the lost rent if he / she follows it.

The simple answer there is that it can take years if you get a sympathetic judge and how do you get back the lost rent for that time from someone who feels they shouldn't have to pay rent in the first place?

rasper

theres a severe anti-landlord sentiment through this thread and probably through the country, while its true that the buy to let investor pushed up the market values, along with the speculators but ya can hardly blame someone for buying a property in the hope it would fund a pension in later years,
I bought my own home but was under increasing pressure to go for a buy to let , glad I didnt as I figured it was too late for that, but I don't wish ill on those who did

dr.bollocko

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

The simple answer there is that it can take years if you get a sympathetic judge and how do you get back the lost rent for that time from someone who feels they shouldn't have to pay rent in the first place?

So what do you do? A series of short term leases at the end of which you can ask the tenants to leave or something?
Jaysus this is a bit of a minefield when you look at the facts.

Darragh29

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

You keep talking about 'rogue propert investors' and landlords getting whats coming to them but the truth is neither landlords or property investors want to kick people out on the street. It's too time consuming and costly. What they want is tenants who will pay for the property that they are living in.

I can't believe there are so many people on the side of a scrounger! It's clear to see how many people would happily not pay their rent and then say it was the landlords fault.

Yeah, we'd all like customers that paid on time every time, the trouble is that when you have a business, this doesn't always happen! I'm not on the side of a scrounger, but I personally believe that this trend in recent years of amateur property parasites snapping up properties everywhere to get rich quick has resulted in a load of people now owning properties to rent who are unfamilar with legislation in this area, and I don't want to be living in a country where I'm walking down my local street and I come across a scene from 1850's Ireland, where a woman and her children are sitting on top of their posessions in black plastic bags after being evicted because she couldn't pay her rent.

For a country that spent so long trying to rid itself of absentee landlords and fought so hard for property ownership rights, it is amazing how quickly our social principles have been thrown completely out the window...