Friday 14 November 2008

Showroom

For the second time in less than 24 hours, another "pre-squatter" comes to our home, having heard about it as a positive example of squatting that is worth seeing, as though we're a showroom. Of course, we're only too happy to show him around.

It seems that disillusionment with landlords is driving them to squat. All that money you pay for rent, and for nothing more than an uneven relationship, motivated solely by money. You pay them rent, but they do nothing to make your time in their house/flat better, like buy extra furniture for your housemates or fix the shower. It is not as if they don't have your funds, which takes up a chunk of your income to begin with.

I was once told by a landlord "you pay the rent, that is all the rights you have." A different landlord refused to return my deposit when I decided to quit his flat; it was, instead, my responsibility to find a replacement flatmate, whose own deposit was to be handed over to me as the replacement for my deposit! No replacement flatmate, you lose your deposit, instead of your right to have your money returned. Crazy story, and no doubt one of many landlord stories out there.

The sole difference between squatting or living in rented accommodation is the money aspect. And nothing more than that.