It seems like it was a situation where everyone felt like they got a good deal and nobody felt taken advantage of. He gave them a better deal than they were going to find anywhere else.

To me, it doesn't sound like he was exploiting his friends.

Did those friends run the risk of having to pay for a new roof or anything else that can go wrong with a house? Tell me you've never owned a house without telling me you've never owned a house

See, when the Landlord charges reasonable rates, and actually provides services in exchange for that rent (helping update appliances to newer, having paperwork on hand for any code/inspections needed for property changes (that the landlord would ultimately benefit from,) and in general treating it as a matter of 'I have obligations' instead of 'I will do nothing but I will absolutely blame the tennants for the inevetable crumbling of the property.'

I dislike the concept at base level, but that is a someone who is trying to not be a scumbag.

Can we not shit all over normal people for doing normal stuff? This dude doesn't run Blackrock, he had a single rental property.

There's a line to draw between exploiting tenants, and compensation for providing dwelling.

You might even argue the OP creates this ambiguity based on interpretation of the wording, or poor communication.

For a productive conversation, let's be crystal clear where that line is drawn.

Not everyone is in a situation where they can or even want to own a house. Renting is much safer in terms of sudden emergencies. Water heater blows out in a house? Fuck you, 3k to replace at least. In an apartment? That's a landlord problem.

Someone who needs a place to live in and doesn't have the money or doesn't want to buy their own place. IMO, it is a fair trade as long as the landlord isn't a cunt. The reasons to why they don't have enough to buy their own place have nothing to do with a single landlord, some people don't want to take roots in a single place. If you wanna go to war with someone, go to war with companies, ban companies on owning and renting places, not people.

How is a stable comfortable place to live 'nothing'? If being out of the rain was all it took we'd all live in tents and this conversation would not occur. Owning a house and keeping it repaired/functional is hard and expensive. You don't do your side favors by acting like our boy kept his friend in a locked closet when we all know that isn't true.