Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out • Hacker News Board

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#71

Post by scarface74 » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 1:47 PM UTC

ForHackernews wrote: post #31

scarface74 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t just knock on people’s door and start putting their things out. There is a legal process and you have to get approval from the court. I’m assuming they are doing it legally.

I'm not sure why you'd assume they're operating legally. Violating the law was the USP for Uber, Airbnb and various other valley startups. It's a proven model.

The others just took risks of civil penalties. There are criminal penalties if you evict someone forcible and unlawfully.

It’s really not even worth the civil penalties. The tenants can stay on your property longer and even when you do evict them, lawyers love suing landlords on a contingency basis.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#72

Post by scarface74 » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 1:51 PM UTC

jkinudsjknds wrote: post #37

wegs wrote: post #11

Untrained gig workers. Angry tenants. I can't imagine what could go wrong here.

I wonder what kind of controls they have to ensure you actually have the right to evict tenants before hiring a crew. Or heck, that you even own the property.

The police better be there in my state to monitor the process.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#73

Post by cwhiz » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 1:53 PM UTC

tuna-piano wrote: post #50

I understand evictions trigger lots of emotions and can be terrible situations for the tenant. But so many comments here seem to treat an apartment as something the tenant is entitled to, even without payment. How is living at a property without paying for it any different than walking out of Walmart without paying for bread? Staying at a place without paying rent is a form of direct theft. The non-paying-tenant is s…

I really don't understand what people expect to happen. The moratorium doesn't mean tenants are living rent-free, it just means landlords can't evict. All the missed rent payments are still due. What do people think is going to happen on January 1st, 2021, when the moratorium ends and people have many months of back rent? That rent is immediately due in order to avoid eviction.

It just seems comically short sighted. The most idiotic temporary punt of 2020.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#74

Post by Normille » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 1:55 PM UTC

adamparsons wrote: post #42

Saint_Genet wrote: post #29

I guess that's a way to ensure you're among the first up against the wall.

Until I see the United States with my own two eyes, I will continue believing it’s a made up place / simulation that tests the absolute dead limits you can push capitalism to without starting a revolution

Yay! --someone else who shares my theory.

I've always insisted that the USA doesn't really exist. Because no country so fucked up could possibly command so much power and influence in the world.

Some day I hope to prove my theory by earning enough money to buy a boat and then sailing due west from Ireland until I reach the east coast of Russia.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#75

Post by sascha_sl » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 2:00 PM UTC

tuna-piano wrote: post #64

sascha_sl wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Goes right past my comment. I don't want apartments owned by people for any other than their personal use to begin with because the profit motive incentivizes bad behavior and is inflexible in handling situations like Covid.

So you believe that buying a house should be legal, selling a house should be legal, but renting a house should be illegal? Or you believe all land+buildings should be government owned? And you believe the government should have a monopoly on buying/renting houses? And how would government renting houses be different than landlords? If the government wanted to give rent flexibility they can do it other ways besides o…

I don't have all the answers, but the current system cannot continue and needs to find a way to treat housing more as a public or heavily regulated utility with no profit motive.

I'm also fine with incremental change. We can start by moving ownership of unused decrepit housing to a public body that transfers based on real occupancy. Essentially expanding adverse possession.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#76

Post by shadowgovt » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 2:26 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #48

shadowgovt wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't assume that. The housing crash indicated how many institutions were playing fast and loose with the law

I didn’t see any reports of banks in the US showing up to people’s doors, coming into their house and removing their stuff. Everything around the loan and foreclosure may have been shady, but the actual eviction is usually above board by the banks.

Right, but we're not talking about banks. We're talking about a startup company enacting enforcement with untrained workers against the will of a person having the law enforced on them.

We've watched other companies in the startup space with lives on the line cut corners---What are the odds that this is going to go well?

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#77

Post by shadowgovt » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 2:27 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #71

ForHackernews wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure why you'd assume they're operating legally. Violating the law was the USP for Uber, Airbnb and various other valley startups. It's a proven model.

The others just took risks of civil penalties. There are criminal penalties if you evict someone forcible and unlawfully. It’s really not even worth the civil penalties. The tenants can stay on your property longer and even when you do evict them, lawyers love suing landlords on a contingency basis.

Criminal penalties the gig workers would be liable for. I'm sure this startup has hired the best lawyers to make sure that liability doesn't extend to them.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#78

Post by nitrogen » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 2:37 PM UTC

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #51

tuna-piano wrote: post #50

I understand evictions trigger lots of emotions and can be terrible situations for the tenant. But so many comments here seem to treat an apartment as something the tenant is entitled to, even without payment. How is living at a property without paying for it any different than walking out of Walmart without paying for bread? Staying at a place without paying rent is a form of direct theft. The non-paying-tenant is s…

While I might not agree with a lot of the opinions in these comments the sheer ignorance of the eviction process is what bothers me more. Opinions are pretty easy to write off but anyone here also has a multitude of search engines at their fingertips so there's no excuse for ignorance. It varies by state but evicting someone is not the "just show up and kick out the tenant with threat of violence" process that many c…

It varies by state but evicting someone is not the "just show up and kick out the tenant with threat of violence" process that many comments seem to be operating under the assumption that it is.

It's a lot easier to just leave when the semester is almost over, you find out your roommate was maybe pocketing your rent, and the landlord shows up and says "I don't want to rent to singles any more. I've got a family moving in on Monday." That one had ripple effects in my life for years even with the highly undesirable safety net of moving in with family on short notice.

I also know how much damage a bad tenant can do to a property -- graffiti, smoke damage, pet stains -- on top of not paying rent.

I can see why people get pretty heated about tenants' rights, but I've also seen how badly both sides of the transaction can behave. Sometimes eviction is the best course of action for both parties.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#79

Post by scarface74 » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 2:37 PM UTC

tuna-piano wrote: post #50

I understand evictions trigger lots of emotions and can be terrible situations for the tenant. But so many comments here seem to treat an apartment as something the tenant is entitled to, even without payment. How is living at a property without paying for it any different than walking out of Walmart without paying for bread? Staying at a place without paying rent is a form of direct theft. The non-paying-tenant is s…

I am replying repeatedly that many of the comments are factually incorrect and how evictions actually work - that police are there at least in my state to monitor the process - and people seem to disagree with the facts (witnessed by all of my gray replies) and no one has cited anything to the contrary.

I guess I am arguing against some type of narrative that I don’t know about.

Re: Eviction startup gets gig workers to help landlords kick people out

#80

Post by scarface74 » Tue, Sep 22, 2020, 2:42 PM UTC

shadowgovt wrote: post #76

scarface74 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn’t see any reports of banks in the US showing up to people’s doors, coming into their house and removing their stuff. Everything around the loan and foreclosure may have been shady, but the actual eviction is usually above board by the banks.

Right, but we're not talking about banks. We're talking about a startup company enacting enforcement with untrained workers against the will of a person having the law enforced on them. We've watched other companies in the startup space with lives on the line cut corners---What are the odds that this is going to go well?

There is no evidence that the startup is doing anything differently than landlords have been doing legally for years.

After you go through the eviction process, you schedule someone from the sheriff’s office to monitor the process and you get some day laborers if you don’t know anyone personally.

The other startups are in danger of civil penalties and fines. If you go into your own rental property and evict someone illegally, you personally can be charged with trespassing, assault, criminal threats, etc.