Let tenants decide what work needs to be done

Landlords are known to renovate too much and also not enough (both are true):

• On one hand, they often neglect important repairs while charging ever-higher rents.
• On the other hand, they often spend good money on renovations that tenants don't want or need.

Examples of the problem

File:Hallway renovation - replacing carpet with tiles.png

Tenants didn't ask for this renovation - and who knows how much it costs? It's being done on every floor of the building. Tenants are having to pay for it through increased rents. Meanwhile, more important work might be neglected.

Unnecessary renovations

This section has not been filled in yet. 💬 discussion Also mention the motivations of landlords - it's an "investment" as they're hoping to attract a richer crowd of tenants - meanwhile, existing tenants have to pay for it

Neglected work

This section has not been filled in yet.

Solution: Democratize the decision-making process

The idea

For larger buildings / cases where the landlord owns multiple units:

• Tenants meet and discuss:
  • What work the building needs (essential maintenance)
  • What work the building doesn't need
  • How much money any of those things would realistically cost - per month, if split between all the tenants
• Tenants pick apart the landlord's existing budget, see what could be cut.
• Tenants vote and/or reach some consensus

How it could be implemented

• Policy:
  • Large landlords should be forced to reveal their budgets to the public, for tenants to see.
  • Tenants deserve the legal right to hold a meeting in some part of the building, without the landlord saying "you're not allowed to be here now".
  • When tenant unions reach a well-formed consensus, it should be legally binding for landlords to follow
• Tenant unions / collective bargaining
• Ideas can be reused, so that people don't have to reinvent the wheel for every case
• This wiki could maybe serve as a discussion platform even for individual buildings?

To help develop this idea further, leave a comment on the talk page.

Discussions

• What about smaller-scale landlords? How should it work in that case?
• How to make sure that tenant meetings don't become too long, tedious, bureaucratic and labor-intensive for nothing?
• How can I get the ball rolling, to meet with other tenants in my building?

Next steps / actions to take✊🏻✊🏽✊🏿

This section has not been filled in yet.

See also

• Lower the cost of housing
• No expensive cosmetic renovations