If you sell it for less than your mortgage, you’re still on the hook for that loan, too.
The situation is complicated and ‘just sell it’ comes with other problems.
The biggest expense renters typically have is ..... rent. And for many businesses it’s a major expense too.
Governments are desperately coming up with financial support packages for what? To give to landlords?
I bought a house to live in because it was the most affordable solution. When we moved for my husband's career, it got rented out and we became renters elsewhere because we couldn't afford to sell. The market had tanked, our house value had dropped and we didn't have enough equity to sell it without losing our shirts.
Not all landlords are filthy rich. Even if they are, if they are heavily invested in real estate and everyone stops paying them, they will soon be in real trouble themselves.
No one has a Scrooge McDuck swimming pool of money. Rich people tend to have equity in the form of stocks and real estate. When the economy tanks in a big way, they aren't immune from the effects.
This is why a lot of people jumped off of ledges when the stock market tanked in 1929. They knew they were suddenly wiped out and couldn't face living that way.
By definition if you are wealthy enough to own property beyond one house then you’re wealthy enough to survive this.
And if you can’t afford to, then sell it and suffer like all the other real business owners are suffering.
Why should landlords be a protected species in all this?