Slumlord

A slumlord (or slum landlord) is a derogatory term for a landlord, generally an absentee landlord with more than one property, who attempts to maximize profit by minimizing spending on property maintenance, often in deteriorating neighborhoods. Severe housing shortages allow slumlords to charge higher rents, and when they can get away with it, to break rental laws. Rent-control laws and ordinances, especially when imposed after a landlord has contracted to purchase a building for a given price and on a given payment schedule, may force a landlord to neglect maintenance in order to keep operating costs from exceeding expenditures so that the landlord will not go bankrupt and lose the property altogether (and in the process deprive tenants of even those substandard accommodations that they had before; see Hobson's choice).