Apparently there’s something about renting out a property that makes it difficult to not be a greasy pile of manure… And I’d really like to find out what exactly that is and help solve the issue.
Decent landlords are rare as hens’ teeth, and as much as I need somewhere to live… Posts like the ones verified in this collection don’t do much to get me on their side.
See that? That’s the kind of thing you type out when you’re being a butt. Don’t be a butt. Right now is an especially horrible time for it. YES, even if you managed to own multiple successful
properties for years and not have anything in the way of savings somehow.
A particular example of this buttitude (Buttness? Buttery?) comes from a source closer to this author, and while it’s not exactly tying widows to railroad tracks, it’s still pretty gross. You know how with gratis-tier services like Instagram and Twitter and YouTube, since no one is paying up front, the product is the user suffering through ads that barely get vetted or timed properly?
Well imagine that… But with the place you rent.
In essence my source has been getting emails they haven’t signed up for from companies very “close” to the people they’re renting from.
“I started getting emails from this company… about an optional service they sell where you can pay monthly for your packages to be in the on-site lockers. It was adjacent to property management, so I kind of expected it and didn’t complain.
Then, I start getting emails from [redacted] which is a cool feature you can Google, but I didn’t give permission. But it’s adjacent to what I expected, so no biggie.
Then, I start getting emails from [equally redacted, what do they take me for…] which is another cool feature, but not one I gave permission to contact me.”
So yeah, Sourcey’s not only paying rent, they’re being sold. And that’s not just messed up morally… This is officially a legal issue.
See, according to the CAN-SPAM Act, it’s not actually illegal to buy and sell email lists. However, it IS illegal to allow bulk emails to be sent without the recipients’ explicit consent. Ergo, if there’s no portion of Sourcey’s lease that says ‘Do you agree to allow our affiliates to market to you’, and also an option to say “Absolutely not”, the management company that owns that building is effing up BIG TIME.
This is a really easy law not to mess around with, but unscrupulous landlords and management companies can’t seem to help themselves? Somehow despite deals with internet providers, deals with appliance companies, and deals with whatever demon governs Those Who Will Not Fix Plumbing, the profits made from tenants still isn’t enough. Clearly these people need help, so I’ll help with a little advice for landlords.
Don’t do this.
Now go get something fixed.
