First of all, I'm not familiar with the situation being described, but frankly, it sounds rather incredible.
My reaction is not "how dare he?", but "how could they?"
Why in the world would anyone invest in a home on land they don't own, or have a long-term lease on?
I see nothing to indicate that what Kroenke is doing is illegal, or even unethical. That's not an argument that it's moral or nice, but I'm not trying to say that it's moral or nice. I'm not defending Kroenke as much as I'm criticizing the foresight and assumptions of the tenants.
I'm saying that people have a responsibility to themselves to make sure they're not building on quicksand (metaphorically). And no one else has a responsibility to take care of that for them. Change happens.
If I'm understanding it right, these leases were relatively short-term, but were getting renewed over and over again for so many decades that people just figured that would continue world without end. Understandable, perhaps, but not wise. I don't get the outrage.
So now the owner of the land is never supposed to sell it, even if he decides that's in his best interest. And a new owner is not supposed to have different plans for the land, even if that's in his best interest, because non-owners want things to stay the way they've always been, to their benefit.
I hope most of them have a type of home that can be moved, and not lose too much investment. I don't want to see them lose it all.
But it's a risk they took, and if they thought it could never happen, they thought wrong. To me this is like deciding not to buy insurance and then compaining about how unfair it is when I get sick, and it costs money to be treated.
But let's say I own a rental, and renters (maybe not always the same ones) have rented there for decades.
One day I decide to sell the rental, and use the money to help in my retirement. The new owner wants to live in the house, or maybe he wants to tear it down and build a newer one on the property. We aren't supposed to do that because the renters figured nothing would ever change?
Just a different point of view to contrast with all the tut-tutting.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2016 10:24AM by Saguaro.
