Yes, there are certainly evil people out there.

Yes, jerk behaviors are prevalent in all groups. As of a few years ago I rent out bedrooms right here in the same house in which I live myself. Already I've had the carpet ruined by "housebroken" dogs and a tenant - a property owner himself - who tried to clean up spilled coffee with bleach, moved out without offering to pay for repair of the resulting damage, a bunch of junk being left behind by another tenant, cannabis being smoked in rooms by two different tenants despite my saying right at the start smoking was only to occur outside, it being stated by a tenant that helping with cleaning was "not my responsibility", water left running, fans left running, lights left on, windows left open, the inside of the stove left splattered with burnt grease, followed by moving out without cleaning up...

If you try to undertake the same level of screening (background checks etc.) and formality (signed rental agreements) for renting out bedrooms as is done with apartments and houses the market balks. But this same bedroom rental market certainly presents the same level of carelessness and selfishness as the apartment and house rental market.

We always offer cleaned rentals with everything working, they don't always stay that way, it's unfortunate some people think trashing a place is "normal wear and tear"

I generally agree with Lucille's comment but hesitate slightly. I think the word "evil" has a lot of baggage and I don't like using it.

Landlords are often greedy and rarely act as they would wish their own landlord would toward them if the roles were reversed. Tenants rarely treat rentals as they would if the property were their own. It's a relationship fraught with tension and a perfect setting (because money is involved with an essential personal transaction) for misunderstandings and dissatisfaction.

Something I took from the article is about how there is no required minimum living standards in some states for rentals and this needs to change.

I would agree there are plenty of deadbeats out there as tenants. But that is why you check credit and get a deposit, and install easy to replace and inexpensive finishes. The problem is when there is a problem with the rental and the landlord wont fix it, a lot of tenants are just trying to live their lives and a lot of landlords do not care about the condition of their rental as long as they get paid. Even big companies are slow to do repairs and will only do the bare minimum.

My thought is that if the landlord was living in the place they would for sure keep it within minimum living standards. Most people don't want to live in a dump and try to keep their rental a place they can stay so they don't have to move or try to find other housing.

About the only way the process works is when you have a good tenant and a good landlord.

Apartment complexes in particular are large scale settings where the principal attraction for owners will be large scale income opportunities. So these may often be owned by corporations rather than individuals. Or the individuals will be as detached as if an out of state corporation owned the place.

It's even common for independently owned and operated retail locations - including restaurant franchises - to have owners that the employees and patrons almost never see, the running of the ship instead being entrusted to a manager.

Who may be working 60 hours per week, doing the hovering and mothering you might think the owner would otherwise be doing.

But maybe the place is just a cash cow to them.

Ah and as I sit here and gripe about landlords, look at this nugget I found. People gaming the eviction system in California living rent free for months due to legal delays...

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20160301-column.html

Dang deadbeats ruin it for everyone.

My late grandmother had one tenant take furniture with them when moving out of her cottage.

I know of another instance where a couple moving out of a condo helped themselves to a chandelier.

The landlord in this instance was the mother of the woman.

I know another party that didn't pay rent for 3 years, still lives in the same place (they pay rent now). When the property owner mentioned back rent recently the reply was that they "would have never let it go that long!".

In other words in their mind them not paying rent for 3 years just didn't happen.

The bigger the new American underclass gets, the more of this kind of thing is going to go on. Discretionary payment for services rendered seems to be pretty common. I've had my own life blessed by at least three people who routinely "borrow" money and never pay it back. I even had a signed contract with one who got into me for tens of thousands in a supposed business relationship, never paid me back one penny. Years after I cut them off they called me up to tell me they spent most of it on narcotics.

I figured they were trying to get more money out of me. They even joked about this. But why else would they have called? They certainly hadn't called to offer me repayment.