I also have a roommate who pays me rent (I own the house and it’s a good situation for both of us), and I was wondering if my rental income would impact my unemployment, so I called them up to ask. Interestingly enough, the unemployment office does t consider rental income to come from employment, meaning they don’t see being a landlord as having a job.

Edit to add: the roommate situation is new, and it’s had me all sorts of uncomfortable because we had to sign a lease (they are on rental assistance and they required a lease to be signed), so I got a boiler plate lease that we both felt good about and signed it for month to month. It makes me feel a lot like a landlord when we’re really roommates, but ultimately I benefit from the situation because even if I dedicate that money to upkeep, repairs, and improvements to their living space, it still ultimately increases the value of the house for me.

How can I be ethical while collecting rent from someone?

[–] Ookami38@sh.itjust.works 10 points 10 months ago

The problem isn't with landlords as a whole, it's exploitative landlords. The reality is a house is expensive, and having someone who can bear that up front expense, trading that initial cash for a long-term but stable supply only benefits people. Issues arise when super-rich investors buy up homes with the intention of keeping them empty, start charging exploitative amounts, etc.

In short, keep the rent as low as is feasible, and if you're living there anyway, there's really zero issue.

[–] tb_@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

If you are collecting less than half the mortgage (excluding utilities) in rent I think it's mostly fair. You are giving someone a cheaper place to stay and they should contribute to that, whilst you have seemingly no profit incentive.

If they were to stay with you a multitude of years and will therefore have contributed a significant portion of the entire mortgage then it would be most fair if they saw some part of it back upon sale, though that isn't entirely realistic either. Perhaps in a perfect world it would be, but if it were a perfect world they wouldn't have had the need to live in with you.

Though "you are providing a service and ought to be compensated for it" comes close to some landlord arguments, given it's not exactly a business model for you with multiple houses I think it's unethical nor immoral.

[–] june@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Oh yea, I’m asking waaay less than half the mortgage. With the rental assistance (where nothing comes out of their pocket) it’s 22% but also covers their utilities, and without that assistance it’s 11% not including utilities.

Ya’ll are easing my conscious quite a bit. Thank you. I’ve been so in my head about it that I lost sight of what makes being a landlord problematic.

[–] FakeGreekGirl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 10 months ago

The thing is, you're not looking at this as a job, or an investment, or a profit-generating enterprise. You have a friend who is staying with you, and helping you with the bills. I don't see any ethical issues at all with this.

I actually find myself in a similar situation, as my friend just left her partner, and, well, I had a spare room. She kicks me a little money to help with the bills, and I keep a roof over her head until she has somewhere better to go. In my mind, that's different than looking at landlording as a job, or worse, an investment to generate passive income.

What I'm saying is that intent matters.

[–] SpezBroughtMeHere@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

You're charging somebody money to live in a space that you own? You're an unethical horrible human being. You should have them live there for free and you need to eat all the cost of maintaining the building.