Are you a landlord or a rental housing provider? The PC Police want to know. Can't seem to use the term landlord anymore because they are deemed evil.
The term “landlord” is becoming obsolete. It has a negative connotation, so the new vernacular is a housing provider. We’ve had our internal debate about this and decided to use both terms.
While the vast majority of owners are wonderful people, being called a "landlord" comes with a certain stigma.
As one famous comedian said, we as a society use euphemisms and invent soft language to conceal the truth. At some point in our lifetimes, toilet paper has become bathroom tissue, motels became motor lodges, and partly cloudy became partly sunny.
At one time, if your child was sick, you took them to a doctor. Now you take them to a health maintenance organization or a wellness center to consult a health care delivery professional. Sneakers became running shoes, the dump became the landfill, information became directory assistance, and false teeth became dental appliances. We no longer have used cars but instead, previously used transportation.
We fear aging and have to use an antonym by saying “he’s 90 years young.” When soldiers on the battlefield exceeded their capacity to process information, it was called shell shock. This term later evolved to battle fatigue, operational exhaustion (sounds like something your car can do), and finally, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, taking all of the humanity out of the underlying condition.
There are similar semantics going on with whether owners of rental properties are landlords, housing providers, or part of a rental community. Do we have to disguise the fact that we are landlords? Someone who owns property, land, a building, or an apartment and rents it to a tenant in exchange for money and some expectation of other responsibilities?
Tenant groups use the term landlords, not housing providers, with good reason. Landlords can be vilified, but housing providers are neutral. The terms are interchangeable, but there is softer language when an owner provides a roof over someone’s head.