"Are tenants so bad because of the stupid, greedy and non caring landlords or are the landlords like that because of the things tenants do to their properties."
I think it is a bit of both as we have the extremes of the tenants from hell to the extremes of the landlords from hell - with most sitting somewhere in the middle. Reality is I think many landlords can be victims of their own good will as no matter what the landlord does the tenant just won't consistently do the right thing. I know from experience that the majority of tenants that I have had that do the right thing know that I am a good landlord. That said the ones that I have had trouble with for not doing the right thing would think I am the landlord from hell as I will come down on them like a tonne of bricks if they abuse my goodwill.
"If you do not maintain and improve your properties and respect your tenants, guess what, they will treat you the same way"
Agreed you have to do maintenance when required and improve the property over time. That said the tenant rented the property for $x per week in the current condition and they should have not big expectations of significant improvements unless the landlord has agreed to them upfront. As for respecting your tenant I agree this is a paramount but sadly in this world many people won't reciprocate.
"Rent is purely a market driven figure, because you made a bad purchase and are not getting enough return is no excuse to make the tenant rectify your bad judgement by raising his rent."
Agree rent is a market driven figure and landlords will raise it if they can to increase their return regardless of whether their initial purchase decision was good or bad. Tenants need to realise it is a business decision it is not personal nor is it done to cause hardship.
"It is due to the bad landlords that the socialistic do gooder bureaucrats bring in stupid laws to protect dead beat tenants, which makes the good landlords suffer"
Agree tenancy laws are far to one sided and support deadbeat tenants. Bad landlords and tenants should be punished - the only thing is we need to define what is a bad landlord and bad tenant. e.g. Is a landlord bad just because he/she doesn't do everything the tenant wants? Answer no, but if they don't do basic maintenance to fix ongoing problems then probably yes. Is a tenant bad because they fall behind in rent due to losing their job? Answer no - they are a victim of their circumstances, but if they don't inform their landlord and let things get out of control then yes they probably are. Reality is communication solves allot of problems - but both parties have to do what they have agreed to, whether that be verbally or in writing!
