In another thread Sid mentioned the potential of using the term housing provider turning into exactly that, we provide housing but govt determines if we get paid, how we screen, etc. The new term was to move away from the negative connotation of landlord owning and having control over tenants. I couldn’t find the thread again and have not stated it as well as Sid. What are your thoughts? Does the term housing provider get rid of the negative connotation or do we walk right into that back firing because we are to provide housing to all for free this day in age?

I prefer "Housing Vendor."

While the term "landlord" may have a negative connotation to tenants, I think "housing provider" has way too positive a connotation to tenants. After all, to provide does not imply being paid to provide.

I don't mind LL and don't see what the big deal is. If they don't like it then they can go somewhere else.

However, here is another one:

Landlord not only has historical AND current negative connotations, it is exclusively a male term. "Landlady" is the feminine term and to me, that sounds weak or like someone who runs a boarding house for women, and comes knocking on bedroom doors to collect the rent.

My tenants say "my landlords" coupling us into one unit.

But the term Housing Provider describes what we DO - and just because you provide something doesn't mean it's free! Child Care Provider, Medical Provider, Application Service Provider, Employment Service Provider (I looked some up.)

If we want to get the negative press off our backs we need to redefine what we do: we provide housing. We don't take a portion of our tenants' crops, we don't have any sort of authority over them whatsoever - except to collect agreed upon RENT, which makes them RENTERS not Tenants.

Landlords are universally despised; seen as greedy, uncaring, ready to evict at the drop of the hat, never fixes anything and is basically a slumlord. Just look at landlord cartoon characters over the year: all bad.

"Snidely whiplash" from the Dudley DoRight cartoons of yore: Dudley was always saving Tess from her evil landlord.

Anyway, there is always resistance to changing terms: look at the uproad when the word "person" was substituted for man in many professions back in the 1970's, 1989's. People said it was silly. But it's not. Words matter.

t t p s ://spoa.com/the-moral-virtues-of-landlords/

Very interesting essay!!! Just a tidbit, but the article focuses on what the landlord does RIGHT: for the property, for the neighborhood, for the tenant...it's a good read.

I’m a landlord. And a Grandma. And a wife. And a downright decent human being ( oops, well.. umm... not always... but usually. And then there are those days....)

I prefer to spend the time actually improving the relationships with my tenants, rather than just trying to rebrand the same old same old.

It’s not the term that’s the problem. And most tenants either don’t think about their landlords, or they like them. It’s the few landlords who do stooped stuff, just like it’s the few tenants who do stooped stuff, that get all the attention.

I'm a property manager - I manage property owned by a small company of investors.

I'm a real estate investor.

I'm a real estate developer - I build new construction to improve the available housing options in my community.

My lease referrs to the owner/manager as the "Lessor" and the tenant as the "lessee".

I never refer to myself as a "landlord". That said, the Attorney General of the State of MO has a pamphlet about "Landlord/Tenant Law"

The law calls me a land lord, so there's no escaping that term until/if the law is changed. Playing semantic games doesn't improve our image: maintaining our properties and treating tenants with respect does.

If we are Housing Providers, do we call tenants "Housing Recipients?" Does that make them more likely to pay rent and not punch holes in walls?

No one cares what you call yourself, is the main thing. So I'll call myself a Housing Provider and you call yourself a Landlord - you do you!

I cannot call myself a Property Manager (my preferred term) as that has specific legal meaning in NC, and you can't be a Property Manager unless you are also a Broker in Charge.

Likewise, Resident means something different than Tenant. I use Renter.

I like the term Housing Provider, but it will take generations to get the general population used to that name.

I had a realtor tell me about a year ago that they cannot use the term (company rule) "Master Bedroom" or "Master Bathroom" anymore in their ads because it has slavery connotations.

There were a couple of threads, like this one--

www.mrlandlord.com/landlordforum/display.php?id=14581066

and this one--

www.mrlandlord.com/landlordforum/display.php?id=14563186

Ultimately, it's a label. I'm not interested in marketing myself, or labeling myself, or trying to make myself consumer-friendly. People who want my service/product will apply for my houses regardless of my label, and people who don't want or need my service/product--- well, it doesn't matter to them, either. ;)

I'm still bound by the same rules, the same limitations, the same ethics and code of conduct, the same laws, and so on, regardless of whether I present myself as x, y, or z.

It doesn't make me better than other people. It doesn't make me worse than other people. I'm merely someone who has extra dwellings in my pocket, and am willing to allow someone else to make use of them as a place to keep their stuff, raise their families, and live their lives, in exchange for some $ every month, and with the expectation that you follow certain rules, like "don't hurt my house."

But the focus isn't on me. The focus is on the homes themselves. I'm merely the human agent who grants someone else legal permission to live there, and the person who keeps things clean/safe/functional. I'm only relevant to the extent that I'm also the person who can revoke their legal permission to continue keeping their stuff, raising their families, and living their lives at a certain address. So they gotta keep me happy... until I'm no longer useful to them, because life has taken them elsewhere. And then you better believe they stop worrying about keeping me happy, ha. ;)

I rarely refer to myself as the landlord. But when I go to check up on a house while the tenant is away (by mutual agreement), I always knock first, then unlock and call out, "Landlord" - just in case the tenant got back early or told Cousin Ricky that he could stay while he is in town and they are away.

Hoosier, that is true according to my Realtor friends. Not something I never thought about until they brought it up.

I never thought about that, but I've always wondered what to call the OTHER bedrooms in the house besides Bed#2 or Bed#3 - is there a phrase used for them?