Immoral earnings?

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FaberFidelis

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I am living away from my home town and renting out my house. Because of the CoViD situation, the property has been empty for months and losing income so I’m desperate to get a tenant in asap. I have now finally had an application from tenants, a couple (unmarried) with a new baby. The mother is desperate for a quiet, safe home for her child. The agent has told me that the husband works for a mail-order company that sells ‘adult toys’, to put it nicely. He is trying to earn a living to raise a family. If I accept him as a tenant and take his money, does the dirt transfer from him to me? Should I refuse him as a tenant? I can’t plead ignorance because I know where he works and it disgusts me that such a business should even exist in my town. But it seems uncharitable to refuse to have this guy and his child under my roof.
 
1ke said:
No. You shouldn’t.
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Maybe from a legal perspective. I personally wouldn’t want people like that in my house. I’d try to find some way to fob them off without getting into legal difficulties.
1ke said:
Criteria for renters should be non discriminatory.
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Not sure if you can say that’s discriminatory. Would you really want some slimy “adult toy” salesman renting your property though?

Not sure this is a big moral issue but certainly I’d have concerns about the calibre of the tenants. At best you’d be renting to people who don’t have an ounce of class.
 
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AdamP88 said:
Not sure if you can say that’s discriminatory. Would you really want some slimy “adult toy” salesman renting your property though?
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Not necessarily, but if you’re going to be a landlord you need to follow applicable law. Refusing to rent to someone because you don’t like their job (assuming it’s a legal job, which this is) is likely to set you up to get sued.
 
That’s why I said to try to find some way to fob them off. If it’s a city area there should be numerous folks looking to rent. Stall for time until someone more…eh…not in the “adult toy” industry comes along.
 
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I guess. I personally think it’s a little morally suspect to deny someone housing in violation of the law. I also don’t think that punishing the innocent woman and child because the father has a sleazy job is the best thing to do.

Also, not to be graphic or derail the thread, but are sex toys inherently immoral? I realize they’re often used for masturbation, but married couples use them too, which doesn’t seem particularly objectionable, at least for some scenarios.
 
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RolandThompsonGunner said:
I guess. I personally think it’s a little morally suspect to deny someone housing in violation of the law. I also don’t think that punishing the innocent woman and child because the father has a sleazy job is the best thing to do.
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It’s not punishing them. It’s making a character judgement about the type of person you want to live in your house. They’re not entitled to live in your house. To be honest, I’d be of the opinion that when you’re talking about renting your property you should be able to deny a tenant for any and all reasons. It’s your property after all.
 
AdamP88 said:
They’re not entitled to live in your house. To be honest, I’d be of the opinion that when you’re talking about renting your property you should be able to deny a tenant for any and all reasons. It’s your property after all.
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That’s not the law, at least in the United States. If you’re going to offer your property for rent, you can’t discriminate based on certainfactors. You couldn’t say, for example, “I’ll only rent to white people.”
 
1ke said:
No, they aren’t inherently immoral.
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That’s kind of my feeling as well, which means that if they can be used licitly, selling them is not inherently immoral.
 
RolandThompsonGunner said:
That’s not the law, at least in the United States. If you’re going to offer your property for rent, you can’t discriminate based on certainfactors. You couldn’t say, for example, “I’ll only rent to white people.”
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Yes. But you can say no for unspecified reasons. Or because you’re looking for someone who earns in a certain bracket.
 
You can, but if it becomes clear your “unspecified no” is just a pretext for “I don’t like your race/religion/job/whatever” you’re opening yourself up to legal trouble.

Obviously, that’s not likely to actually happen in this case. But just to be clear, counseling this guy to refuse to rent (or to make up a pretext about the place being renovated) because he doesn’t like the potential tenants’s (perfectly legal) employment is counseling him to do something that’s, let’s say, legally questionable. He might be okay because he’s just renting a single unit and employment type is not a protected class, but it’s iffy.

I’m also just not convinced that working for a company that sells adult toys is inherently immoral, even if there were no legal issues.
 
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RolandThompsonGunner said:
I guess. I personally think it’s a little morally suspect to deny someone housing in violation of the law. I also don’t think that punishing the innocent woman and child because the father has a sleazy job is the best thing to do.
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I’m a little repulsed by that business, too, but as you say, it’s not the mother and child’s fault.

And you’re not actually helping him in his business; and he’s not annoying you with it.
 
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If morality is the issue, I find it odd that you’re concerned about the morality of the man’s employment and not the fact that he and the mother of his child are not married and living together.

Neither of which is just cause for denying his application for renting your house.
 
Thank you everyone, I have really enjoyed reading your thoughts and debate. I did start questioning my own prejudices when I realised that although I could put up with an umarried couple if necessary, I was terrified of the risk of being legally bound to accept two men (or even women) living as a couple - yuk! Although objectively speaking either way of life is equally disordered, at least in this case there is a third party, the baby, to be considered.
 
FaberFidelis said:
I was terrified of the risk of being legally bound to accept two men (or even women) living as a couple - yuk!
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I think you need to reread the Catechism regarding unjust discrimination against those who have same sex attraction.

And depending on where you live, you certainly may be legally bound to rent to same sex individuals or couples. State and local law often supersedes federal law when it adds additional protections. Also, at the federal level, HUD has issued guidance on discrimination based on sex that applies to those who identify as homosexual and transgender.

State and local law also may be more strict than federal on the small time landlord (less than 4 units).
 
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Exactly, that’s what I meant: I don’t want to be ruled by my gut and my sense of disgust rather than Reason and Charity.
 
The only other possibility that I have not yet seen brought up here is to discuss with an attorney whether you could klegally restrict the property from being used as a “place of business” by the renters.
 
1ke said:
I think you need to reread the Catechism regarding unjust discrimination against those who have same sex attraction.
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It’s not discrimination to think that the stuff that goes on between two gay men is disgusting.

I would have no issue renting to one gay guy. I would try my best to avoid renting to a gay couple.
 
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