These Stories Prove That Landlords Are the Worst
People Are Sharing Their Worst Landlord Stories And They're Truly Horrific
By Mustafa GatollariUpdated Oct. 25 2018, 5:35 p.m. ET
Americans are renting apartments more than ever before. There are tons of different factors that contribute to this: high student loans with lower paying jobs means a crumby credit score, which means you're less likely to qualify for a home loan.
Speaking of home loans: you're probably gonna need a hefty one if you don't have some help from your parents or make a crap ton of money. Home prices are at some of the highest they've ever been, and that doesn't even factor in the ever-increasing property taxes, ie money you continually pay just to have the privilege of owning your home. So even if you own it you don't really own it.
Then there are all the headaches of owning a home, maintaining a property, footing the bill for all repairs, insurance, higher heating and energy costs, it can all seem not worth the headache. So renting seems like an alluring option. That is, until you get a crappy landlord. And boy, there are plenty of those, as evidenced in this Twitter thread.
Tell us about your worst experiences of landlords.
— Rob Manuel (@robmanuel) January 31, 2018Some of these stories might get you house-hunting ASAP.
In one houseshare, the landlord, a previously successful solicitor, turned up one day and announced that he'd lost his shirt in a pyramid scheme and was going to have to move in. With his family.
— Rob H&ynes (@RobOnABike) January 31, 2018Did he?
— Tom Webb Tom Webb Tom Webb Tom Webb Tom Webb Tom W (@Treiziemesalope) January 31, 2018We had about a week's notice and all five of us found somewhere else to live in no time flat, no mean feat in early '90s London.
Then yeah, he did.
I mean some places have better tenant's rights than others, but if the property isn't yours...
If you've ever had problems with your apartment: heating, hot water, you know how annoying it can be to contact a landlord to get it fixed. But this guy's building owner's "ingenuity" takes the cake.
My old student landlord invented a fictional mgmt company and maintenance contractor. It was really just him with 3 different phones. Used to put on different voices & pretend he was waiting on the other two when we raised problems. 1/2
— Dan Harper (@Dan__Harper) January 31, 2018What a psychopath.
We rumbled him when we saw the WhatsApp photo was his face, for all 3 numbers 🤣 He was eventually jailed for other reasons: https://t.co/gN9oYshdK0: 2/2
— Dan Harper (@Dan__Harper) January 31, 2018Some were just creepy.
Went into my bedroom and took photos of my underwear to ‘prove’ I was untidy.
— Lady Sumarumi (@sumarumi) January 31, 2018While others were just plain criminal.
I've had no fire alarms for 5 years and last time I moaned about a hole in my roof they sent me an eviction notice.
— Chris [Aran Fielder] (@GoesAranAndAran) January 31, 2018The nerve of this guy.
Went to see our landlord at his house about some problem with our flat. He answered the door and pretended that he was someone else and that he'd never seen us before. We walked away confused.
— simonaustinkemp (@simonaustinkemp) January 31, 2018This is just wrong on so many levels.
"Do you use the lounge much?"
"Yes, we lounge in it. Why do you ask?"
"I'm moving a couple in there today"
"But it doesn't have a door!"
"It's ok, they're from Poland"
This guy sounds like a real boogey man.
Let himself into the flat numerous times without warning (the things he saw)
Took me to court for issues that were there before I moved in.
Always had a bogey just peeking out of a nostril.
All one horrible man named Ian.
— Ben Cameron (@ben_cameron) January 31, 2018The pettiness.
Sent a hilarious letter to the court when we sued him for our security deposit which talked about how "the boys slept on beds with no sheets on them, and left the toilet covered in secretions" Not excretions. But SECRETIONS.
— Alex Robertson (@AlexDRobertson) January 31, 2018This nickel and dime scumbaggery.
My ex signed up for a flat which was advertised at x pounds per month. They realised after moving in that it was actually x pounds per four weeks and the landlord was getting an extra month's rent off everyone per year.
— Ali Maddock (@ali1m) January 31, 2018If square footage was mentioned in a signed lease, then this guy could've sued for all the rent he paid.
We were told "builders were going to be doing work in the living room". I come home to find they've built a wall across our nice large living room so they can turn half of it into another bedroom to rent out
— Barry Hemans (@OvergroundLab) January 31, 2018But sometimes, landlord experiences pan out just fine.
I shared a flat with a bunch of art students and our landlord did a runner and DIDN'T take our money. We saved the rent 'just in case' and after a year of him being off the radar we moved house and used the money to make a record. So the opposite of a bad experience really.
— Michael Moran (@TheMichaelMoran) January 31, 2018On Reddit, there are plenty of awful renting stories, too.
There was the old die-and-switch.
Mold.
And showing off the place while people were still living in it. Classy.
So if there's anything you can take away from this post: know your tenant's rights and always, always get signed copies of the lease with clear language. Just because you get a nightmare landlord doesn't mean you have to settle for it.
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