Ah, America.

[pyat]

Currently occupying two foreign nations, dealing with ongoing violence in both, with a worrisome economy, a major port city still crippled by natural disaster, more than 1 in 100 adults currently in prison, tax rolls supporting a defense budget larger than that all the other nations of the world combined, spending more per capita of state money on healthcare than any other nation yet no socialized healthcare and a declining life expectancy, serious questions about the conduct of the military and CIA, the perpetrator of 9/11 basically forgotten, and there's an election in a few months.

And of course, the most important topics in that election are gay marriage and abortion.

Comments

[anidada.livejournal.com]

o_O Wow, seriously? I always had the opposite experience, renting -- it always favours the landlord, IME. In Toronto, anyway, and let's face it, Toronto housing of any sort is a circus at the best of times.

[zenten.livejournal.com]

Well, you don't have to sign a lease after the first year. The last months rent isn't a security deposit, and in fact a security deposit cannot be asked of you at all. The conditions when someone can be evicted are rather narrow, and for most of them (including simply not paying rent) takes months to go through, with many chances for appeal. There are also rather strict caps on how much your rent can get raised every year (and while there is a way to appeal that by the landlord, it's rarely given out). Plus the housing tribunal will often let someone break their lease at a *much* lower penalty than what is listed.

There could be better places than this, but I know these are much better for tenants than Quebec, Alberta, BC, Texas, Ohio and Massachusetts.

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

My daughter had a dispute with her landlord which went to court, and the judge pretty much kicked the landlord in the ass. Helped that my daughter was in the right of course, and that the landlord was clueless. In Toronto.

[anidada.livejournal.com]

Well, every other experience I've heard (and had) runs to the contrary, to the point where it was a running joke among my friends that the "Tenant Protection Act" meant "protecting the landlords from their tenants." At least that much has changed since we last rented (2002) -- more info here (http://www.ontariotenants.ca/research/tenant-protection-act.phtml).