{"id":18883,"date":"2017-01-13T10:02:21","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T15:02:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=18883"},"modified":"2017-01-13T10:02:21","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T15:02:21","slug":"please-tell-me-this-old-newspaper-article-is-a-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/please-tell-me-this-old-newspaper-article-is-a-joke.html","title":{"rendered":"Please Tell Me This Old Newspaper Article Is a Joke"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This 1786 newspaper article, titled \u201cDirections for Landlords,\u201d is a joke \u2013 isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<p>Oddly, it sounds like the way landlords have treated me over the years.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_18885\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-18885\" style=\"width: 489px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/doc\/newspapers\/image\/v2%3A10DBE0D2462CD750%40GB3NEWS-10DABAD78F925FB8%402373598-10DABAD7D2264550%401-10DABAD92A327998\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-18885\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-18885\" src=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/new-york-journal-newspaper-0803-1786-landlord-directions.png\" alt=\"An article about landlords, New-York Journal newspaper article 3 August 1786\" width=\"489\" height=\"613\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/new-york-journal-newspaper-0803-1786-landlord-directions.png 489w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/new-york-journal-newspaper-0803-1786-landlord-directions-239x300.png 239w, https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/new-york-journal-newspaper-0803-1786-landlord-directions-199x250.png 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 489px) 100vw, 489px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-18885\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: GenealogyBank.com, New-York Journal (New York, New York), 3 August 1786, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<blockquote><p>First. Never let a house, without demanding a year\u2019s rent for it before the tenant enters it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I\u2019ve heard of first month, last month and a month security deposit \u2013 but an entire year\u2019s rent up front?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Second. Oblige the tenant to pay all the taxes upon the house you let him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hmm \u2013 seems like I\u2019ve heard of that happening.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Fourth. Avoid repairing your house. Your tenant will do it for you rather than risk the loss of his life \u2013 health or property by its falling over his head. But if he neglects or refuses to repair it, be sure you lay the blame of the damage your house sustains by natural decay, wholly upon him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Thirty years ago, I had a landlord do this \u2013 maybe this is serious counsel to landlords after all.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Sixth. Rather than reduce your rent, suffer your tenant to move out of your house. It is better that a house should stand empty for a whole year than you should indulge a troublesome tenant\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I see that constantly. Maybe it\u2019s the terrible economy, but I\u2019ve seen restaurants, businesses, and homes sit empty for years \u2013 and the word is that the landlords kept raising their rent, so the renters relocated.<\/p>\n<p>These talking points seem like 1786 humor \u2013 and at the same time eerily familiar to the way landlords operate today.<\/p>\n<p>So, I ask again: is this a joke?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An article about a 1786 newspaper article that provided advice for landlords that sounds suspiciously like what some dishonest landlords do today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12235],"tags":[12643,2020,12645],"class_list":["post-18883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","tag-landlords","tag-newspaper-archives","tag-tenants"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/illustration-0113-2017-for-rent-sign.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}