This happened to me once. They sent a guy to check my place out, he said "Looks good, you'll get your security deposit back." Then months went by. Well unfortunately for them my BIL is a real estate lawyer and he was happy to draw up a packet of documents I could take to small claims court. I had to serve them about 3 times, each time the cost of serving them got tacked on. They didn't show so I won by default so now the real work begang, collecting. They FINALLY paid it but I said, "You need to add the cost of serving you to it." so they drew up a new check. Yup, a pain in the ass.

Shit my place was in better condition when I left than the way it was when moved in and they still wouldn't give the deposit back.

Free market doesn't work quite so well when it's a required item like housing or medical.

Other landlords have different policies, but personally, what I return depends on if things are damaged not caused by wear and tear. So that depends on how long a tenant rents from my place.

Eg., If someone stays for a year and I got new carpets for them and it's ruined, then I'm charging for the spots that couldn't be cleaned.

Eg.,2: If someone stayed with me for 3 years and the carpet is already 8 years old, it doesn't matter if it's completely ruined, I'm not charging for that carpet.

This holds true for everything in the house.

One of my tenants wants to get a dog and the carpet is already 10 years old. I didn't even charge more security deposits because once he lives, I'm going to replace that carpet.

Not to mention ownership of land is a human concept we can live without.

How would you do it differently?

So how do you handle it when there are more people than space available? How do you cover the cost of maintenance? What would prevent someone from taking your house without ownership rights?

I don't have power over my tenants. They have as much power as I do. They can leave and I can also ask him to leave.

They have zero obligation to stay at my place.

I have a space to rent and they need a place to live. It's a business transaction that both parties benefit from.

'Abolish ownership' is a pretty simple talking point, how would you make it work in a legal sense?

Who determines what is your responsibility vs the neighbor vs the city? How do you establish legal boundaries for purposes of theft, vandalism, or trespassing?

Laws might seem cold (because they are) or inhumane (because they are) but they are also the thing that keeps society organized. And that makes them one of the most important human inventions. Rights are the result of laws.

If you're concerned about land prices, or people being 'priced out' of things, there are important alternate solutions to that kind of problem. Things like social services, improving education, breaking up super corporations, promoting healthy neighborhood design and small business, etc.