Place for rent, “Single professional males only “
By ronnyb
@ronnyb (6113)
Jamaica
December 8, 2008 4:10pm CST
Place for rent, “Single professional males only “
The above is an excerpt from an advertisement in the Sunday paper for a place that was being rented in. It went on to detail that the landlord wanted persons with
• no children
• no pets
It got me thinking what could be the motives for such an advertisement and would you trust such an advertisement .Could the person have some untoward intentions? In addition ,don’t you think it was a bit discriminatory (with regards to stress on single males ) even though I know that its your place and so you have the final say in who your rent ?.
What are your views on this issue and would you rent the place if you satisfied the criteria? .In addition would you create an advertisement with this or any other stipulations?
1 person likes this
6 responses
@suzzy3 (8342)
•
8 Dec 08
I know many landlords who will not have kids or pets because they are worried that they will cause damage to the property,girls as they can get pregnant and attract the wrong type of male company leading to complaints from other tenants,Not that I agree with that at all, Men tend to earn more money are more likely to afford the rent.Or it could be a woman looking for a husband and this is a good way of choosing one.
1 person likes this
@savak03 (6684)
• United States
9 Dec 08
I would say that it was discrimination and probably illegal that they said "single professional males only" I can see why they would say no pets because pets often cause damage to the property. And although the law lets landlords stipulate no children I think that should be illegal as well. I never turned away a family with children when I was managing rental property. Even if I thought the place was too small. I would let the parents decide if they could get by with it because children need a place to live too.
@Quirkly (95)
• Canada
9 Dec 08
Sometimes you will get situations where a location is simply unfit for children, for whatever reasons. Now if that's the case I guess one should reconsider staying there to begin with, but on the other hand it obviously either means there's just limits to the place, or the landlord has been negligent in something.
That being said, I could never without guilt, allow a family of 5 or more, or something like that, to stay in a home with fewer than at least 2 bedrooms of reasonable size. I wouldn't necessarily turn them down, but I'd help find a larger space for them, within their budget, as soon as I could.
Everyone needs a roof over their head, I can't argue with that. But you really gotta wonder about a parent who wants to cram 3 or 4 kids into a bachelor size apartment. At least here even the most basic social assistance covers adequate rent for a place appropriate to family size.
@savak03 (6684)
• United States
9 Dec 08
Without knowing where 'here' is it is hard to answer your comment. Let me just say that I have been on both sides of the issue as landlord and tenant. My philosophy of not turning away families with children was born during a time when my kids were small. I had five at the time. When we were looking for housing we were turned away repeatably because of the number of kids we had. Even people with 3 and 4 bedroom units for rent would turn us away because they would only allow 2 or at the most 3 kids. In fact we were living in our car at that time. The media had to get involved before we found something and got back on our feet. You mentioned social programs. In my area and I'm guessing it is in my whole country those programs are overwhelmed with applicants for assistance. In the last three towns that I have checked there is at least a 2 year waiting list for public housing. It's no wonder that the homeless situation is as bad as it is.
@cripfemme (7698)
• United States
9 Dec 08
The landlord is lucky he doesn't get sued. He would in America. That's called housing discrimination here. I don't know about Jamaica, though.
@soooobored (1184)
• United States
11 Dec 08
He's probably renting a room out of his house, I think that's legal... if it's not it should be! :-)
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
9 Dec 08
I would not like it. I would assume, however, that it is a bachelor pad and there is no room for children or pets, but why not just say for professional singles only and leave out the male part? I would also assume that the person renting is very nervous, does not like noises, is perhaps a bachelor or an older person, and does not like to be bothered.
I would not rent that place. I sort of like noise.
@soooobored (1184)
• United States
9 Dec 08
I see that sometimes, usually its a person who is renting a room in their private home. I don't think that breaks any discrimination laws (at least it shouldn't!) because in that instance you can be very particular about who you select. I've moved around a lot, and once lived in a place where I thought only girls would live. She ended up renting to a guy, which is fine I guess, but it did make me a little uneasy because we were sharing a house and he was a stranger.
