Repair and Deduct

It seems like only yesterday tenants had all the rights, and landlords were only allowed to breathe air at their tenants' sufferance.

But yesterday's gone. Landlords now hold all the cards, and tenants can do nothing but twitter ineffectually about the unfairness of it all.

One would have thought that two economically savvy libertarians would have negotiated a lease that would have placed the risk of uninhabitability on the landlord. Maybe a nice liquidated damages clause, or a provision for payment of alternative living expenses in the event an indoor swimming pool is added without the tenants' consent. Something like that. I'd bet the landowner doesn't even have an MBA.

Except for the feelings of nostaligia, coming from family of intellectually intimidating academics doesn't help much when you're wading in sewage.