• aulin@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    References for renting? What sort of dystopia is that? I’ve never heard of that concept, luckily.

    • AggressivelyPassive@feddit.de
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      1 month ago

      It’s common in Germany to get a “reference” from your current landlord that basically just says “paid rent on time and didn’t set anything on fire”.

      • aulin@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Huh. Here we have registries for people who habitually don’t pay on time, with a cooldown once they’re caught up. If you’re not in the registry it’s assumed that you’re good.

        • bob_lemon@feddit.de
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          1 month ago

          Don’t worry, we have that registry in Germany as well. And you have to pay to get your own data from them (although a GDPR request works once a year)

      • Enkrod@feddit.de
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        1 month ago

        It is? I’m german and I’ve rented my entire life and never got anything like it nor needed anything like it to rent.

      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 month ago

        not a thing i’ve ever heard of in sweden, either apartments are just expensive or you need to sign up for a waiting list and maintain your spot for like 7 years until you have the queue points needed for the apartment you want to rent

          • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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            1 month ago

            it’s usually not that extreme, but that’s how it is in the large cities.

            More normal for an average city is probably like 3 years waiting, you’re expected to sign up before you have any intentions of moving out from your parents.

          • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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            1 month ago

            it’s usually not that extreme, but that’s how it is in the large cities.

            More normal for an average city is probably like 3 years waiting, you’re expected to sign up before you have any intentions of moving out from your parents.

      • aulin@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        One apartment I lived in was rented out by a private landlord, and there we had the option to write a personal letter/application which would allow us to skip the queue if we matched what they were looking for. We had just become a family of three and they wanted more families with children so we were approved. That was completely voluntary though. In honesty, I think it’s kind of weird that we could jump the queue but we were no longer allowed to live in my student apartment so we jumped on it.

        • AeonFelis@lemmy.world
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          1 month ago

          That was completely voluntary though

          The problem with power imbalances is that they allow enforcing “completely voluntary” practices.

          • aulin@lemmy.world
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            1 month ago

            I know. That’s why I said it’s a bit weird that we could skip the queue. On the other hand, the fact that decades long queue times are necessary instead of more, affordable housing being built is also a problem.