01-15-2016, 10:04 AM
If a tenant of a rental property is required to do any maintenance, it's typically in the lease agreement. I have lived in places before that specified I was to shovel all sidewalks, driveways, and entryways, rather than the other renters in my unit, or the other unit in the house (it gave me a rent discount). The landlord did not want to invest in a lawnmower for each home they rented, and so the grass was not part of the contract, and indeed was contracted out.
We might think it's practical to have residents shovel, but we are all unique. Asking an 80-year-old retiree to shovel is quite a demand, as would be a single mother, or a student who's at school from 7am - 11pm (I was one of those). Many choose to rent to only need to pay one thing, rent, which takes care of so many small home living detail items that they'd rather not deal with. I feel that temptation even now, unsure of what phone to get or when to replace it, and tempted by the type of program Apple offers, to pay a flat monthly fee and get a new device every year. Just because we can do something, doesn't mean we don't see greater value in having someone else do it, either because it takes them less time (e.g. getting a trained professional to do your taxes), or because we value having free time rather than doing the chore (e.g. being able to sleep an extra hour because we pay someone to plow the driveway).
It's what always makes me laugh about those people who'll drive kilometers out of their way, and wait in 5-10minute lineups, just for gas that's 1-2 cents cheaper for a 25-50L fill up, telling us that their time is worth less than $4/h. But that's off topic by a mile.
We might think it's practical to have residents shovel, but we are all unique. Asking an 80-year-old retiree to shovel is quite a demand, as would be a single mother, or a student who's at school from 7am - 11pm (I was one of those). Many choose to rent to only need to pay one thing, rent, which takes care of so many small home living detail items that they'd rather not deal with. I feel that temptation even now, unsure of what phone to get or when to replace it, and tempted by the type of program Apple offers, to pay a flat monthly fee and get a new device every year. Just because we can do something, doesn't mean we don't see greater value in having someone else do it, either because it takes them less time (e.g. getting a trained professional to do your taxes), or because we value having free time rather than doing the chore (e.g. being able to sleep an extra hour because we pay someone to plow the driveway).
It's what always makes me laugh about those people who'll drive kilometers out of their way, and wait in 5-10minute lineups, just for gas that's 1-2 cents cheaper for a 25-50L fill up, telling us that their time is worth less than $4/h. But that's off topic by a mile.