Landlord & tenant: two obsolete, feudal words - Column

We're not the first to observe that language is a key determinant of what people say, do and feel. Words are important. Some make us feel good and others depress us, and words can turn our minds in favor of ideas, individuals and groups. And they also can turn our minds against them. And that's why we firmly believe that the words "landlord" and "tenant" as they are commonly used in this country should be eliminated from the vocabulary.

Real estate owners in the United States are business people, not landlords. They are investors in and operators of property. Certainly, owners are not "lords of the land" and no owner we know wants the dubious distinction of bearing that title. Owners also know that the word may be used as a pejorative.

We understand that the Real Estate Board of New York has made a start in the direction we are advocating by using the word "owner" in place of "landlord" in its leases. That's good, because "owner" encompasses the many real-world aspects of holding income property.

All the real estate people we speak to who have bought property regard themselves as owners. They agree that "landlord" is an archaic, obsolete word and that it is inaccurate and implies something absolute about owning income property today that isn't true.

Landlord is terminology from ancient, feudal times when a king and queen owned all the land in their country. As a practical matter, they designated certain people to rule over specific areas of their land and to direct its use. Those designated were the lords of the land and people who lived on the land with the lords and farmed it or did other work were their tenants and were subservient to the lords.

Perhaps this is an oversimplification, but basically these were how the words were used originally. Though we continue to use the words in modern times, legislation and the courts have changed their meaning drastically. Unfortunately, the original connotations of the words continue to exist, even though an owner today of an affordable, rent-regulated apartment building is hardly a landlord, and the families who live in the building - "tenants" - are hardly subservient to him. "Landlord" and "tenant" are just unreal.

Moreover, the fact is that a majority of rental apartment building owners in New York City own relatively small properties of 35 to 50 families on average. Such owners do not fit the image projected by the word landlord. And the biggest rental apartment property owner is the city itself, and the city is not what people think of when they use the word landlord.

Why then do the words landlord and tenant persist in our vocabulary?

Perhaps legal usage is one reason. So many legal documents have used these words over the centuries that it would be a burden to eliminate them. Perhaps those who write and enforce our laws are comfortable with the words: Time and usage have given the words "landlord" and "tenant" substance and precedent.

Anyway, when push comes to shove, we really know what the words mean, don't we? So why go through the time and expense of changing usage and meaning of these words? For the two good reasons we've noted earlier in this column: They are inaccurate, and we need to avoid the negative emotional connotations the words carry.

Over time it should not be an impossible chore to expunge them from common usage. The important thing is to agree that other words should be used to express the true meanings of property ownership and occupancy. And if we don't want to go back and delete "landlord" and "tenant" from all laws and legal documents of the past, then we could just agree not to use them starting now.

In all candor, though, we acknowledge that implementing such a change would not be easy for political reasons. Undoubtedly, the word "landlord" is worth many votes when officials are trying to defeat some piece of real estate legislation. It's easier to vote against a "landlord" than an investor or business person who owns property. As well, counsel for tenants undoubtedly find it useful to call their opponents "landlords."

But, from an owners' viewpoint, these "political" reasons should encourage us all the more to take the offense and work to eliminate the words "landlord" and "tenant" as they are being used today.

COPYRIGHT 1994 Hagedorn Publication
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group