Why Pay Rent?

[Ceviche]

And if you think about it, it is a very smart business model, considering that you split your investment in multiple properties, if one tenant stops paying or does not vacate, you still keep your business running with the rest as you solve the problem.

Nikad, I thought exactly the same. In fact, till I heard from him..I had never envisaged this form of property investment in Argentina. His tenants are people like taxi drivers, hospital ward boys or cleaning ladys and he reports no problem ever!

 

[Noesdeayer]

Absolutely .In Argentina,"la gente humilde" are many times the most honest and straightforward It's the "well to do" who can be "la mas falluta" "deceitful " Especially if they are "algo venida abajo"- ",can't keep up appearances" ,they go into panic mode.sometimes.
In the U.S.in the 1970s before coming to Argentina I worked as a recruiting and employment manager for Marriott Corp. in NYC and Miami.Almost all of the employees were Latin American including many Argentines.Those from the provinces were the best employees.I remember a few "hijitos de papa" from the Northern area who besides not wanting to dirty their hands in the diswashing area caused us some $$$ problems.I have never forgotten that experience.

 

[PaulBee]

The only reason to pay rent on an Argentine rental contract is to avoid getting your guarantor into trouble. There is literally no other negative effect if you don't pay. Evictions will take longer than the 2-year rental period and if there are small children involved it is probably impossible to get evicted. That's why landlords should insist on rock-solid guarantees by someone who is solvent and a close relation to the tenant.

On my rental contract, for example, it says I have to pay ABL. The city government then started to collect the impuesto inmobilario on the ABL bill as a new line item. Before this was paid for by landlords on a separate bill. So my landlord says I should pay this tax even though there is nothing in the rental contract that specifies that I am responsible for it.

However, since my guarantor is a close personal friend of mine I just pay the tax because I don't want him to get a phone call from my landlord about this issue. Even though I am in the right I don't want to get my guarantor involved in a dispute with my landlord.

That's the power of a good guarantee. The landlord can always ensure he'll get paid because non-payment will cause friction between the guarantor and the tenant.

Some tenants will go to Spain for the winter rather than pay rent. I´m serious.

 

[PaulBee]

One of my Argie friend ( well educated and lived half his life in New Zealand)..buys apartments worth 30 k or 40 K usd in lower middle class neighborhoods and rents to the lower strata of the society and he tells me, he never had a problem with rents. He owns 5-6 such apartments

I wonder the less wealthy tenants are more honest than wealthy tenants?

 

[Ceviche]

I wonder the less wealthy tenants are more honest than wealthy tenants?

They are less educated and fear the law more than the wealthy tenants who use the law to their advantage!

 

[garryl]

wealthy tenants do not need to cheat

 

[Ceviche]

wealthy tenants do not need to cheat

The Argie *wealthy* teanants are a cheeky bunch. They just find it thrilling not to pay the rent!

--

I got to admit when I was coming to BA as a tourist, I loved the people here. But as I live more and more here - I finally do understand why this city has soooo many psychologists... there is something wrong in the heads of the people here in general!

 

[ben]

I wonder the less wealthy tenants are more honest than wealthy tenants?

Old news. If someone who owes you money comes and pays you exactly the amount they owe you, on the date of payment, and doesn't shortchange you in any way, you know you're dealing with someone who's at most middle class. Rich people don't do that.

This is the case everywhere, more so in Argentina. There are of course pleasant exceptions, but as rules go this one works pretty well.

 

[Noesdeayer]

" Los ricos no piden permiso".
They didn't lick the title of that Argentine soap opera off a stone.

 

[ElQueso]

Noesdeayer had it correct when he was talking about "algo venido abajo". The owners of the apartment we are renting are typical of that type, I'd think. They are children of a successful lawyer and a once-famous TV personality of some sort (well before our time and their mother, the personality, died 5 years ago). They have a few properties around town that they haven't maintained well but receive rent from. Supposedly they still have a soy company (not sure exactly what it does, if it's a farm, buying/selling/import/export, or what - they are vague about it) that's worth millions of dollars, according to them, but seems to be in financial problems and is losing money. They don't have anything to do with the running of the business and probably are being stolen blind by those who do run it, not to mention the problems from the economy and government regulations and such over the last 12 years.

We had some electrical problems and they called an electrician who came out, looked at things, and wanted a down payment for half of the cost from us. The owners were supposedly "going on vacation" and couldn't pay, so they asked us to cover it and they would pay us back when they returned (we ended up having to deduct it from our rent, with protest by them). While the electrician was in the apartment he told us that he hasn't been paid by them in months and it was only their promise to him that we were going to pay that allowed him to come over. We needed the work done, so we did pay him. Same thing happened with a plumber not too long after. And of course, we were lured into the apartment to begin with by the promise of more than a single two-year contract and found out after a year in the apartment that they had been in a 5-year-long legal battle with their father, after the death of their mother, for ownership of the various properties they told us they owned and had been ordered by the court, last year, to sell the apartment we are occupying to cover legal fees and to pay their father his portion of this apartment, the ownership of the other apartments having been settled half and half, as the law states. BTW - they apparently didn't even have the right to sign the contract on this apartment, as the father has come a few times asking who is in his apartment. They and the real estate agent had asked, together and prior to visits from their father, to meet with us about all of this and asked us to deny to their father that we were renting the apartment, but rather were friends who were just here for a short time, not paying rent, and were going to leave soon!

They complain all the time about not having money, yet they apparently go on 2 and 3 week trips within Argentina and at least to Brasil. They apparently don't pay their bills on time and they lure people like us into their apartment so they can finance at least some of their crap (we pay in dollars, which is helpful). I suspect these are the kind of "rich" people who screw others, all over this city at least.