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A group of property managers and apartment owners in Hamilton wish to be called landlords no longer, arguing the term, haunted by its medieval history, has too many negative connotations.

“It just has a bad ring to it,” said Arun Pathak, president of the Hamilton District Apartment Association. “It’s the two words together: Somebody lording over the land.”

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The term landlord conjures an image, Pathak said, of a callous and wealthy man collecting cheques each month and doing little else. But in reality, he said, “there’s a lot of work.”

“We’d like to try and find a term that works better,” he said. As of now, the group is offering this: rental housing provider. It works, said Pathak, because it isn’t gender-specific and points out they’re providing a service.

“Hopefully, over time it will catch on.”

The group has discussed this rebranding for several years, and did so again at a meeting last week of its 250 members. Changing the name landlord has become a small facet of their plan to deal with a public relations crisis.