Also, I imagine if you have such short contracts, you have no leverage whatsoever when you demand that the landlord fulfills their maintenance responsibilities, if you insist they just won't renew the contract.
This is the part where our paradigm is so different that I struggle to wrap my head around it! From my perspective, signing a long-term contract means a tenant has no leverage, because it means they can’t threaten to leave—and threatening to leave/not renew a lease is the main piece of leverage I expect a tenant to have. I expect the cost of moving (for the tenant) to be lower than the cost of leaving the unit occupied for a month to the landlord, which is always a risk when a tenant leaves. So it’s the landlord who wants to renew a contract whenever possible. This is why landlords in the US will often offer rent discounts if you’re willing to sign an 18 or 24 month lease—and why it’s hard to get tenants to take those offers. They perceive it as in their best interest to hold onto their leverage of leaving after the year, even if it costs them hundreds of extra dollars per month.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2019-08-28 05:06 pm (UTC)This is the part where our paradigm is so different that I struggle to wrap my head around it! From my perspective, signing a long-term contract means a tenant has no leverage, because it means they can’t threaten to leave—and threatening to leave/not renew a lease is the main piece of leverage I expect a tenant to have. I expect the cost of moving (for the tenant) to be lower than the cost of leaving the unit occupied for a month to the landlord, which is always a risk when a tenant leaves. So it’s the landlord who wants to renew a contract whenever possible. This is why landlords in the US will often offer rent discounts if you’re willing to sign an 18 or 24 month lease—and why it’s hard to get tenants to take those offers. They perceive it as in their best interest to hold onto their leverage of leaving after the year, even if it costs them hundreds of extra dollars per month.