As a social worker and a landlord, I'm in a position to see this fairly. There are good tenants and bad; same for landlords. But many renters have an attitude of "not my house" and end up destroying it, forcing landlords to raise rent. Added to that are brilliant moves by our borough council to make LL pay the water and sewer up front and then collect it from the tenants. Yeah right. Most LL raised rent $100/month to cover the cost. And the cost of repairs, which the average person can't comprehend, is almost never completely covered by the security deposit.