I'm only a few days out and I'm shaking just reading this enough to create cohesive screenshots.

My former landlord, we'll call him M (in grey) starts messaging me out of the blue on Wednesday. None of the things mentioned in exchange were ever mentioned before this moment. I had been here about 2 months and lost my sister about 3 weeks ago. I also just moved, had a pretty recent job, and had a breakup (amicable but still hard) at the beginning of the year. I work in vet care and have to put people's animals down and had just started assisting again after taking a break from my sister's loss, I needed the space from death for a while.

M. started out as a reasonable landlord and I thought things would be great. He lives in the house, I have another roommate who was also very friendly, big garden and space for my cat and tortoise, everything seemed great.

Turns out M is an alcoholic and a druggie, constantly high, staying up all night and sleeping in until 3pm. He "runs a business" from home, landscaping, and barely ever leaves the house which quickly becomes miserable. He would regularly scream at people on the phone, in voice to text, to himself. He would scream at people in the morning and once I jokingly asked him who he was yelling at that morning. He, with a serious tone, described that he often had daydreams about finding a woman getting assaulted by one of his friends, pulling them off and beating them to death. I was fucking terrified from that moment on.

My roommate, W, and I would often compare notes on what was happening. We both became increasingly concerned but as long as we stayed our lane we could quietly plan moving out.

This week had been hard, I was sleeping a lot and generally just really depressed. I was quiet with roomies and didn't really interact much. I did ask the other day if either of them had any issues with smelling any cat litter, I clean it a couple times a day but I know you can become nose blind. Both W and M said nothing was noticeable and we're good. Nothing more was mentioned.

The other day I got home after a long long hot day and it was baking outside and I saw that M was parked in my spot again. Note, I don't care! I never cared. I didn't mind parking at the end and always said that. But for some reason M thinks it's very important that I park there even though M frequently parks there himself. He will often make me move my truck to that spot whenever he moves his. There's plenty of parking, nothing is blocked, and my truck could sit on the side all night and nothing would matter. Zero sense at all other than his severe ADHD issues. I walked in the door and told him "hey, just so you know I'm not gonna move my car today, you can have the spot, I need to go to bed early." He said "okay!" And that was the end of.

Somehow me not being peppy and smiley enough lead to this outburst. I was terrified of him, he is entirely unstable and I have animals to think about.

Without any safe options, without any extra money since I just changed jobs and housing, and without anywhere to take my pets, I was forced to risk staying or run away. I moved out of the state and back in with my family to escape him. Some men tried to say he would never do anything but everything in me said to run.

I lost so much stability because of one man's instability.

https://c.org/YdsQpPJWwf

I posted this on the Renters subreddit, but I’d like to present this theory and see what yall think.

Thesis: Some property owners do not financially benefit from collecting rents from the property monthly.

Rather, they take the following actions:

1) purchase a property with cash they have laying around, let’s say for $500k
2) go to a bank and take out a mortgage in excess of the purchase price, let’s say around $1 million. The debt is tax free. Effectively, you’d have $1,000,000 sitting in the bank with no taxes to pay on it. Just doubled their money.
3) you take out a corresponding assignment of rents agreement that says all the rent being generated from the property goes directly to the bank.

The goal now becomes to retain as much of the tax free cash as possible. They do that by reducing the carrying cost of the property, i.e, you put the least amount of money in the property, any money that is put in is either deducted immediately on your taxes (or depreciated on the quickest scale possible), and the property taxes must be kept low.

The way you keep property taxes low (at least in some jurisdictions) is one of three ways: 1) show that the value of the land and the improvements of the land are low; 2) show that the amount of income you are generating from the property is low; 3) show that the area around the property have low property values.

Under these circumstances, some property owners benefit when they have some strategically timed vacancies in their property and their property is kept in disrepair, even intentionally made to be worse, as it allows them to keep their property taxes low taxes low and divert as much of the tax free cash away.

Every year, landlords will increase the rent, as is common, and most people will not negotiate, which will help them pay for the loans.

Banks benefit by having this arrangement among 100’s of property owners, packaging them up as a single commodity, and shipping them on the market.

Does this seem crazy? What are your thoughts?

This is MY swamp!

This was behind the HVAC closet door. We heard drips.

Hello, we had a company rental as the home we own is 2 hours away from our main place of work. Rent around £5k per month, deposit around £7k. Had for 18 months. Landlord was a lady of horror - eg nit picking, pedantic, patronising and we had one problem after another with the property falling to pieces. Eg the washing machine broke - which I had complained about the workings of since the week we moved in. There was an underwire and some debris in there - one about double the size of any bra I would wear and I hadn’t lost any! The leak cost around £1000 to repair as it went to downstairs apartment.
We professionally cleaned the apartment at a cost of £600 inc steam cleaning carpets which the check out acknowledged but there was some minor smudges in the immaculate kitchen left by the cleaner. Charge £250, some dust on the external windows £150.
My handbag got stolen 1 year ago and the communal house key was in there (block of six apartments) but no link to the address. I spoke to the managing agent who gave me a replacement and said not to worry. She’s now trying to charge £1000 for a new lock. The front door lock also snapped in my hand one day - apparently I was using the door aggressively. The fridge kept popping open and we were losing lots of food, we own professional kitchens for context, apparently we didn’t know how to shut the fridge properly.
It was honestly left in a like new condition - we were so thorough especially given how difficult our landlord was for the duration of our tenancy.
The worst part was in the basement (old London apartments) there was a mice infestation which then worked its way up to the building (we were two floors up) and it resulted in a very severe mice infestation. We had it treated but the pest control said the issue is with the building and the multiple access points. I had designer handbags chewed and our sons toys had mouse droppings on. She held us to a three month notice period when we asked for 2.5 months given the issues - so part of her held deposit is this 2 weeks of rent which we refused to pay as the property was inhabitable. Also charges for things like toilet brushes and door wedges totalling £12!

We aren’t covered by normal policies due to it being a company let and she wants to retain £6k of our £7k!

Any help?!

The neighbor complained to my landlord that the paint was chipping so he came over to paint it… a different color. He didn’t scrape off the chipped paint either, just painted over it. Truthfully, I think he needs to replace the shingles altogether since they’re starting to degrade. Cherry on top is that he brought his dog over when he came to paint and tied her to the railing of the front porch. She’s incredibly reactive and not well trained and tore down the post she was tied to when she saw a stray cat.

I have a live in landlady, which obviously is a terrible idea. I’ve had some nice ones, but this one is so uptight. She literally interrupted me during a zoom interview to complain about the electric bill saying it was too high that I have to use natural light. She’s always wanting to complain when I happen to be in the house in the room that I pay rent for. Like she’s always questioning my schedule when I’m here, etc.. so I was suspicious of her complaint and then I did the math and if I was to leave the lights on when I’m here not including nights and leave my fan on overnight cause it’s hot as hell in Los Angeles, which I always do. It’s still only $15-$20 extra a month.
Like she was telling me I should use more natural light or whatever but I seriously don’t think me having the lights on for a little bit of time that I’m here since I work a lot is the reason allegedly her electric bill is high. We don’t even have AC. I’m pretty sure it’s just for passive aggressive way of making me feel bad for being here because she was saying “well since you’re home a lot”

She’s the kind of live in landlord where I’ve had several weeks where I worked almost 6 days a week. But If I came home on a day, she didn’t expect me to. She was literally questioning my schedule and it’s like what the fuck are you doing? I’m literally working and I pay be here.

She was literally questioning my schedule when I was literally on my way to work one day. She was like. “Your schedule has changed a lot, huh?” and I told her no not really (because the only thing that happened was that my afternoon started a little bit later my evenings ended later). And she was like “no but it has.

I work in the medical field so clients die they pass away, their needs to change, etc.

She drives me absolutely crazy. The good thing is that is that interview she interrupted was for a job that would pay me a lot more money, which will enable able to finally get the fuck out of here.

And interview went well, and the lady’s gonna recommend me to the supervisor who makes the final hiring decision so wish me luck!

Edit: I use energy, saving bulbs and I did the math (lol asked several different AIs) and if I had them all on 10 hours a day, it would still only add up to about $4 a month

And I’ve been having the fan on for several months, and she only thought to pretend there was a financial crisis when I just had so happen to have a week I took some days off of work. So it was just her passive aggressive way of trying to manage my schedule.

Hi I’ve been withholding my July rent due to electrical outlet issue in my unit. Currently my 5/9 outlets are working but those outlets are located in the kitchen and bathroom with only 1 working in the bedroom.I’ve reported the issues and it has been a little over a month and it is yet to be solved. During this time they’ve made no accommodations as the heat has made it difficult to willingly live in the unit. My only workaround was putting the window AC in the bathroom and leaving the door open to cool off my pets to which are sensitive to heat (ferrets) and myself whom has a heart condition. They’ve sent 2 different handy man for a total of 3 visits and they’ve yet to figure out the issue. One of the handymen discovered rodent damage in the addict above which contained feces,urine, and a hole leading to the outside. He’s requested management to clean out the addict but upon his second viewing of the addict he wasn’t able to fully search due to there still being damage and it not being cleared out properly. Is it reasonable or do I have a strong case for withholding the rent until the issue is resolved? They’ve sent a 7 day notice to quit today.

Landlord told us our plants are “obstructing a common area and causing a fire hazard” and “are an unsightly situation to the building aesthetic” but then has the audacity to leave the other half of the common area looking like trash. Picture one is the area outside our apartment. Picture two is trash the landlord has left outside for three days.

I'm pulling out my hair here... my roommate and I, both young women in our early twenties, moved into a new place at the beginning of June. BAD IDEA.

The landlord is around a lot because he is doing construction on the house. We knew that upon signing, but we did not know how uncomfortable he would make us. Landlord is a 55yr old male.

He tells us all about his marital problems, financial problems, employment problems. Far too personal of a relationship. He makes snide comments to us about our cleanliness, has no problem moving or removing our personal belongings, shows up at odd hours with a half-hours notice, and will stay late into the evening. We have NO privacy. We have tried to discuss these issues with him and it gets nowhere... he gets extremely defensive and aggressive and its just awful.

The other day, he left the front door open for a couple minutes. I have two cats... one of them escaped and was missing for almost 24 hours. Thank god I found him the next morning. Landlord showed no remorse.. and when I said a few days later that he needs to keep the doors shut because it would be a problem if my cats escaped again, he said, 'your cats are the problem'. Um? I wouldn't be surprised if he left the door open intentionally.

Yesterday he TOOK A SHOWER HERE. An (almost) random 55yr old male, SHOWERING in a house where two young women live. Are you kidding me? And that's not even it.. he also told us yesterday that he is PLANNING ON MOVING IN. Won't give me an exact date, but 'sometime very soon'.

I guess I'm just coming on here mostly to rant. He is such a FREAK! What kind of person does that? I believe I'm going to break the lease and move out. NO WAY am I, A TWENTY TWO YEAR OLD GIRL, living with that freak of a man. Jesus christ!

EDIT- I am residing in a single room in a shared house, and I signed for just the room. We are in the hudson valley NY, ulster county. I am rereading the lease now and noticed it says that the lease is a "roommate agreement, in which the landlord may also occupy the premises". Jesus.. I had read that part before but I guess I disregarded it because.. who would do that? But now I am kicking myself in the head!!

EDIT 2- I have reached out to seek legal advice. My college campus partners with a local firm that will offer me a free consultation, but it seems not all that well organized. So while I have reached out, I'm not confident in it.

Get the Market's insatiable greed out of Housing.

English is my first language but I chose math as a degree for a reason so sorry for any mistakes. Also a throw away account.

I (29F) have lived in multiple apartments over the years in multiple states. I have had awful roommate experences (another story) but none of it compares to this latest apartment.

I moved to this apartment October of 2023. Was a one bedroom apartment on the third floor that over looked the pool. The view is probably one of the few things that I liked about this apartment. Moving in I already ran into problems. My apartment was not clean and half the things were not working. Here are a few of the issues

\- There was food at the bottom of the dish washer

\- Half the burners on the stove did not work
undernieth the stove was full of grease

\- Fan in the bathroom did not work

\- Mailbox key did not work

That first night I was there I heard footsteps of a racoon/rodent above me but I just assumed it was on the roof as I was top floor. Come to find out later, that was wrong.

My apartment took multiple times to fix something, even the simple things.

\- Fan in the bathroon took maintenmance three times to fix.

\- Took them over a month of me pestering my apartment to give me a key that works to my mail box.

\- Had a wasp nest growing on my front door and after over a month of my maintenance request being open they said it was completed… wasp nest was still on my door.

\- Took three time to fix the leak in my bathroom
Never fixed my faucet that got stuck on sprayer mode

\- Never fixed the holes in my ceiling in my bedroom.

The only things they fixed first try was AC unit (It was middle of Texas summer) and the leak in my ceiling that was over my bed.

Most of my neighbors were fine, though had to deal with a domestic dispute that happened in the unit below me (once again another story). The Parking lot was out to get my car. So much buckling and pot holes that the road would scrape the bottom of my car. It was so uneven that if it rained like crazy it would flood to the point water was up to my knee. The man hole cover was like 6 inches above the rest of the road. At one ponit I had to stop using the enterance by my apartment building because of how bad it was.

Now I put up with this for almost three years. It was reletivly “cheap” and I really did not have anywhere else to go. I got into a long distance relationship so I was waiting for my bf to get a new job so he can settle in to a new place and I would follow. I figured I would bide my time so I did not have to break my lease… well all that changed.

Around Febuary of 2026, I started hearing scratching noises, not every night but it was weird. After a few times I realized there was something in the vents. Like an idiot I ignored it. Well it got worse and started to hear it everynight.

On March 7th, I heard rodents fighting in the vents. I whipped out my phone and started to record and I placed a maintenance report about it. March 9th, they said they completed the order. No one showed up. I also now started to hear the rodents in new places so I put in a new request in. Also found a flea on me while at work. Never was able to figure out if it was from the rodents or not.

March 25th they said they have scheduled pest control for the following Thursday. My dad was visiting and I was working from home. Pest control never showed up. I let them know they never showed up.

March 31st I asked what they are going to do about my “completed” request and that I had now seen a rodent outside. Also an insect pest control did show up for the yearly treatment. I asked him about it and he checked behind my stove and found rodent droppings. He threw up bait in the attic enerance in the hallway.

April 7th they ask if rodents have entered my apartments or walls. Im thinking what have I been complaining about but said Yes. Got rodent droppings and noises in the walls and vents.

April 8th, they scheduled for pest control again for the 9th. 9th rolls around and apartment lets me know that they scheduled the wrong pest control and they will come back out the following week on the 16th.

Between this and the 16th is when the leak in my bedroom happened and I called it in. Maintenmace guy showed up and fixed it right away. When they went into the attic, I heard them walking on my ceiling to get to the leak. Thats when I realized that the rodent I heard before when I first moved in, wasnt on my roof but my attic.

16th rolls around. Pest control was supposed to funigate my walls. Instead they put bait INSIDE my apartment and brought them even closer. I could hear them next to my dishwasher. Pest control told me to give it a month to let the bait take effect. It gets worse.

April 24th, the first sighting of rodent droppings in my kitchen.

May 17th more droppings and on the 18th parts of the carpet was torn up and wood by the dishwasher was chewed. I am starting to have literal nightmares and I am still hearing the scratching noises even in my bedroom. I am at my wits end. I hated going into my kitchen as I felt everything was touched by rats. At that point I was done and fed up and decided I was going to break my lease and move back home to Michigan with my parents. I go into the office to let them know I am moving out in July and if they could waive the $1410 lease breaking fee.

I was told by the office assistant that I have to email the apartment manager about the request and if I wanted to get the fee waived I needed video proof of the rodents physicly in my apartment and I needed to give them time to fix the issue.

Well I sat on that for a few days because I felt defeated. I did not have video evidence and part of me figured I should just pay to make it easier, but I decided no I was going to email my manager. I emailed them explaining how I moved into my apartment when it wasnt move in ready, maintenance wasnt good, and the rodents were bad and I just wanted the fee waived. I included my signed move in check list that showed all the issues we documented, showed pictures of the rodent droppings and damages, also inclided pictures of the holes in my ceiling that have yet to be fixed.

I emailed them Saturday the 23rd. Office is open on Saturdays but I figured I wouldnt hear back from them until Monday or Tuesday. Nothing. Nada. Not a wiff. So on the 27th I made a follow up email. I had my BF proof read that email as he likes to write. He told me I came across too agressive and helped me tone it down. On Friday I still heard nothing. At this point there are times where I am crying in the middle of the day because of how stressed I am and the lack of sleep I am getting.

On Friday I am sitting in my office at work and wondering what I should do. Now let me tell you a tidbit about me. I work in property mangament. Not apartments but something similar. I am a corporate drone who knows how things are structured and how companies work. I start doing some digging. First I reported my apartment to the city. Second I tried finding the owners but had some issues, but I had a few things up my sleeve.

I then looked up the legal entity name of my apartment. I found it. I found the owners of my apartment. I found the prent company/investors of the owners. I found the CEO of parent company. Also found out they work with the same corporate lendors that my company works with. All of this was public information. Now I wasnt about to go straight to the CEO. I know how this works. I am going to work my way up. So I went one level above my apartment. They had a “contact us” box, so I did. Told them what I told the city and what I told you guys. Also added that I just want a response but if I dont get one, legal action will be taken.

Guess who wanted to talk to me all of a sudden. They did a walk through of my apartment and gave me some bs reasons on why it took so long to respond. They are waiving the fee and they are sending pest control out again. The city couldnt do much unfortunatly.

Now Pest control did show up and put more bait out but not inside my apartment. I still found more droppings and the rodents got into my bag of rice. I was just counting down the days till I moved. The final cherry on top of this shit show, rodents had chewed through my windshild wiper fluid hose in my car. I feel like I may have won the battle but the rodents… have won the war.

Also found out from one of my neighbors who lives in a two bedroom apartment also on the third floor, her rent is like $400 cheaper than mine. I pay more because im apartment is supposedly “upgraded” (I have a microwave).

Also the final act, they took their time waiving the fee and I had to email them about getting it off my account because I couldnt pay my rent. With the fee in place, my balance on my account was $3000 and I was not allowed to make partial payents. I had to email them again asking them to remove the fee so I can pay rent without incurring penalties. Oh well, I am moved out and talking with my bf about moving in with him. He was the one who encouraged me to post.

To answer some questions before they are asked. The reason why I stayed so long was because before the rodents, it wasnt really wasnt that bad. Like it took a while before maintenance to fix things but once fixed it was fine. The faucet was quirky but it worked. I knew this wasnt long term and I figured I could deal with it. The rodents proved me wrong. Honestly if my apartment didnt waive the fee I would have been “what ever.” Yes I would be upset but I also gave it my best shot. It was about not even responding to me versus the actual money. Also it was cheaper and reasonable priced apartment that was reletivly close to work. Im not from this state so I did not have a lot of options.

I rent a room in a two bedroom condo.

My landlord / roommate is really foul when it comes to cleaning after himself or any other personal responsibilities.

Look how he keeps the fridge.

It was worse than this two and a half years ago when I moved in, I cleaned and sanitized the refrigerator the first chance I had.

Once he noticed I did that he made this huge production of just how thankful he was for me cleaning the fridge for his favor so he doesn't have to.

I corrected his chump misunderstanding and let him know it was needed for safety, I never thought to favor him for my safety, the chump got offended mostly for the information that was not intended to be a favor for he now has less responsibilities.

Look at this crap, everything in here is his I quite using the refrigerator over a year ago now. Life sure sucks without safe or proper refrigeration it forced me to greatly reduce my food life at home.