The oil doesn't necessarily just make a problem for your landlord. Fat/oil can clog sewers way down the line, causing problems for entire neighborhoods over time and requiring costly maintenance, which increases the costs of sewer service for everyone

I got an email like two weeks ago that there had been an increase on car break-ins recently

Then when it came time to re-sign they decided to increase rent

Don't forget "flushable" wipes

I'm just gonna say that where I live, it's a criminal offense to pour oil down the drain.

You're not just affecting your landlord. You're affecting your entire neighbourhood.

If the housing market goes into the shitter...

... the renter pays less rent.

... the home "owner" still has to pay the same mortgage, and will continue to pay so they can eventually own the house (actually own it) worth a fraction of what they paid for it.

Unless you have cash on-hand to buy a house, you have to get a mortgage. So it's actually the bank that owns the house, they just let you live there while you pay back a large debt.

The reason why houses are so expensive is because they are considered investments, not just places to live. That creates a politcal incentive to keep housing prices high because a lot of people will lose that "equity" if the price of housing decreased. Most of the benefits listed under home "ownership" centers around a house being an investment.

The boomers aren't getting any younger, as more of them die, more houses go onto the market while the incentive for maintaining that equity for people that already own a house decreases. That "stability" thing listed as a benefit of "owning" a house may not hold true forever.

More benefits of renting

That effects everyone downstream. If you must dispose of grease without a grease trap but you don't want to deal with like a trash bag situation: pour it into a disposable container and throw it in the trash.

If you've ever had to buy and sell a house, it's a real pain in the ass. If you're not really sure about a city yet, renting for a year makes more sense than buying, especially if you're sure you want to stay longer than a hotel would make sense

Ummm that's the only situation I can think of where it's not just the picture on the right

I did this ONE time. It smelled so bad. I’m lucky it didn’t clog the drain.

The benefit of renting is that when shit breaks, maintenance fixes it so that you don't have to muddle your way through trying to replace the oven or some shit. Also you don't have to do yard work. A good landlord is one who understand that his job is to provide housing and maintain the property, and not sit on his ass collecting passive income/hoarding wealth.

You can also up stakes and leave if something goes horribly wrong, and not repeatedly rebuild your house because of natural disasters or be stuck living next to the worst neighbor in history because you still owe $200k on the dirt you're anchored to.

There's no plausible deniability with oil down the drain. The landlord would just bill you for the damage.

Stop treating your home like an investment. Can only end badly

Jokes aside. What do you do with the oil?