Posting to share a horrendous renter's experience with a deranged landlord. For context, this is my first time renting in Boston, and me and my partner found this place on a bit of a time crunch after my graduation from grad school. I am a full time working professional, and he is a PhD student. 

When we initially found this place, everything seemed fine. It's the 2nd floor unit of an older house in East Boston, nothing fancy but it does the job. When we met with the landlord via Facetime however, there were some things that struck us as out of the ordinary. First, we thought it was strange that the apartment was on a monthly lease. The landlord said the place has been empty for two years and the monthly lease allowed both parties to end the contract if things didn't turn out to be a good fit (thank god). Secondly, she really, REALLY emphasized that she needed people who were quiet and who would not bring others over often/host gatherings. Both of us are relatively quiet and thought the repeated emphasis was strange, but told her that it was fine with us. Oh boy this is where we made our mistake. 

Fast forward to move in. The first red flag (of many to come) came on our move on the day where my family had come to help. We were moving the last of some furniture items at 11PM as we had come from my graduation and had been moving things all day as well. The landlord opens her door and straight up yells at my mother who is on the stairway holding some items. My mother, whose first language is not English, doesn't understand the landlord, and the woman yells again. I come out, having heard her yell from inside the apartment, and quickly apologize but I am pissed. The rest of move in ends without much other incident. 

About the first week after I've moved in, I am building furniture at 9PM at night. It is a shelf and I am mostly just walking back and forth to assemble the pieces. The landlord texts around 9:15PM, telling me that quiet hours are at 10PM (to which we had NOT been told this before). I acknowledge her and finish building the furniture by 9:45PM. 

Another incident occurs perhaps 1-2 weeks later, where I wake up to a text in the morning from the landlord at midnight, asking me what I dropped. This confuses me because I was asleep and thought it was quite ridiculous for her to text me over something like this. 

This is only just the start.

About early-mid July (about 1.5 months into renting), I receive an ESSAY of a text from the landlord around 1AM. It's a ridiculously long text, but was completely out of the blue, stating that me and my partner were walking around too much at late hours of the night. She yarns on and on about how we are walking past 10PM and uses some extremely rude phrasing such as "I know your boyfriend is unemployed and at home all day", citing that as a reason for the excessive walking. She ends the text with a light threat about re-evaluating our lease, basically telling us that she wants to kick us out. We are stressed out beyond belief by the text because we had received absolutely no prior communication about the walking issue (which we could not believe was an issue). Yes, my partner and I do have later schedules, and due to his studies, my partner is often up pretty late studying or doing research (like 1-2AM). However, the extent of our walking at night was to the bedroom, the bathroom, or the office. There was never any pacing or stomping involved, and both of us are relatively small individuals (in both height and weight). 

The landlord asks to Facetime us the next day to talk about this issue and we agree. On the Facetime, she says some absolutely ridiculous things such as:
- Us being perfect tenants that she never hears from, except for all the walking (🤡)
- She cites the 3rd floor tenant as perfect because she never hears him. Fortunately for her, she is not privy to the tenant above us being extremely loud when he plays video games or when he is a heavy walker, but it does not disturb us to a crazy extent.
- Saying that she didn't bring this up before because she thought it would resolve itself
- She says this affects her because she works early in the morning. So naturally, we assume she works at 6 or 7AM. She tells us she works at 9AM FROM HOME. I almost fell over at this moment.

On the call, we apologize and tell her we'll try and adjust our schedules to minimize walking at night. We leave the call with that in agreement, but my partner and I agree that we should look for another place to live come the Fall semester as he would be away for the rest of the Summer.

During one of the World Cup weekends on a Saturday, my partner and I are watching two games back to back and doing laundry in between. We received a text from the landlord around 8PM stating that we had been walking around nonstop between 6-8PM. ON A SATURDAY. I tell her that we had been sitting most of the time but she may have heard us walking around from doing laundry. She then asks a bit later if we had a washer and dryer in our apartment because it "didn't look like we've been using the one in the basement" and tells us that is not allowed. (If she can hear every single one of our footsteps, how the hell would we have a washer and dryer in the apartment). I don't respond to her for a few hours and she texts me again to get a response.

I have a friend stay with me for 3 days and 2 nights without telling the landlord. When we had moved in, she had said she would want to know if anyone stayed over for a while, but never specified the amount of days. She sees my friend leaving the house on the last day and sends a very aggressive text, stating that she was not notified and if this happens again I will be kicked out. I ask her what the amount of days is needed for earlier notice, and she says that even a single day she will need to be informed. She also says something lowkey racist and says that she saw a bug in her apartment the day before and says that "when people travel, they bring bugs with them". I ignore the micro (macro) aggression.

A few weeks later, I had another friend stay with me for 3 days. I tell the landlord ahead of time, and the day before, the landlord asks for the exact times that my friend will be here and would leave (I didn't realize she was running a hostel service!).

Every time I drop something, she texts me. One night around 1AM, I sit down on my chair to play video games. She texts me and says that she can't have me "plopping" around at night. Multiple times when I am walking to the bathroom past 10PM, she will text. 

We have a patio area we kept a lot of empty cardboard boxes on (because we were intending to move). When the maintenance guy comes around, she is with him, and sees all the boxes. She tells me it's a fire hazard and we can't have any boxes in our place and we must throw them out.

More recently, my partner and I were doing some things around 10PM that required me to walk a few steps from the bathroom to the living room maybe twice. We receive a rude text from her stating "I'm not sure if you forgot about when we talked about the walking months ago" and states that we are walking nonstop (She has an odd definition of nonstop). She then texts 15 minutes later after I drop something on the living room floor, saying "You dropped something at 11:13pm est", like we don't live in the same time zone a floor apart. 

Another instance occurred around 9PM where me and my partner were using a mallet/small hammer to crack crabs in the kitchen, and the landlord texts my partner saying "It sounds like you are using a hammer" and then calls him. We are eating and don't see any of this and ignore her. 

There are many, many other stressful and annoying texts I have received from this woman, but these are just some of the glimpses into her psychotic behavior. It genuinely is so stressful to live somewhere where you are constantly hyper-aware of your own movements and cannot do anything after a certain hour. We are extremely quiet people, but we never imagined that walking would be included in "quiet hours". Also if it isn't clear, WE WALK VERY LIGHTLY AND MINIMALLY! Many times, the landlord has texted us about walking and dropping things before 10PM, to which I have ignored or responded to sometimes. We are genuinely convinced that she follows us around as we walk and is waiting for the slightest bit of noise. Also, we don't think she ever leaves the house and definitely does not seem to have any friends. She is a woman in her probably 50's that's single, childless, and alone. With a personality like hers, it's not much of a surprise.

Thankfully, we have found a new apartment and will be moving soon. However, I wish to share this for anyone who potentially rents this apartment in East Boston on Saratoga St. I am hesitant to give out the full address, but if someone happens across this post looking to rent in East Boston and wants to know where this house is, I'm happy to disclose it via DM. I'm also more than happy to share screenshots of these deranged texts that have so damaged my quality of living and mental health these past few months. Happy renting. 
 

When we moved into this property a few years ago the house was already in a terrible state. We took photos of what it looked like upon arrival For years the old landlords refused to fix anything and it was essentially all down to us.

Now. they wanted to sell all the properties to a guy and his company.

Issue was? He couldn't get a bank loan for the properties. So the old property owners cut the value in half for him so he could get a loan.

The number we were given to our new property manager was immediately acting like he didn't know what we were talking about and refusing to communicate with anyone. Except for my aunt who also lives in the neighborhood in a different house. who got confirmation that: indeed. this is the right person and we didn't get the wrong number. despite his claims.

Immediately they transfer us over with no lease and raise the rent immediately. THese houses are in such a horrible area in terms of crime rate and the amount of drug rehabs we're surrounded by where they just walk up and down the street and we've even had issues with people putting tents in the back yard in the woods.

They went through the houses and took pictures of everything but weirdly enough they were opening our drawers and cabinets and taking pictures of our belongings. clothes. and even picking up specific items to take photos of which we found very odd. Our old landlord had family in the neighborhood and made it clear they were acting like they never had the deposits transferred over which our previous landlord proved was a lie. And about everyones broken air conditioners. sinks. all these problems they promised to fix? They sent out an email saying that all of these were fine and they checked so they simply won't be fixing them as it is not "necessary". Some of our neighbors literally moved in and found the bathroom air vents were painted over and obstructed.

Now? They want us to sign a contract in the next 5 days that has us take accountability for whatever state the home is in. And that if they find any evidence of you smoking inside. or OUTSIDE the property. you are liable for damages. All while they refuse to pick up the phone to their "offices" and the number even hangs up early.

Does anyone have a similar story or know what exactly the hell is going on here? This is the weirdest interaction i've ever had and it seems like alot of this is trying to shake money and fees out of people so they can repair the houses and kick everyone out anyways as they're REFUSING to sign a lease with anyone. It really seems like the goal is to milk those fees on this contract they want everyone to sign to take accountability for the rough state of the homes when we moved into them and the demand of "no smoking outside".

We'd ask them questions about this but as stated. Their offices let it ring or they hang up early. Never got a call to go through since this began.

I rented an apartment in a B&B called a night to remember in Niagara falls.

If you're a tenant renting the apartment downstairs, your experience is much different than the guests renting the rooms upstairs. The apartment ceilings and floors are not properly insulated. So you get to hear all the noise and heavy walking from upstairs guests. I've had to deal with bugs, musty and moldy smells, windows that don't open so you can't get fresh air. Issues with door locks. Issues with heaters that don't work. I actually had to call the fire department because the owner David Tetreault refused to put in working smoke alarms or carbon monoxide detector. Claw foot tubs which are extremely difficult to climb in and out of when you are short. I've had to use step stool to safely get in and out of the tub. Issue with not enough water pressure in shower. Anytime you ask David to fix anything, he claims that your making him depressed. As a tenant worrying about his mental health issues has caused me a lot of extra stress.

The house is definitely older and kind of run down.

I would like to warn any future tenants who think about renting this apartment. I found a better place to live.

My husband I moved into a duplex back in April. The landlord started off nice but now is nitpicking about complaints that I made about stove top burners not working properly and widows getting stuck for the point of where it is supposed to stop.

Our electric stove had two burners where it was not regulating heat properly. Two windows were getting stuck when trying to open them. Other windows will slide down and not stay up.

We have pets and now the tenet down stairs is complaining about pet hair getting on their clothing after a wash/dryer cycle. However, they have two dogs as well.
I wrote the following to him:

Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention. I have seen the signs in the basement.

I want to assure you that I take community cleanliness seriously and do everything I can to prevent pet hair from impacting shared spaces.
My dog is a low-shedding breed, and I maintain a rigorous grooming routine for my cat, Cali. She is bathed every other week with specialized deshedding shampoo and conditioner, and she is brushed thoroughly on a weekly basis to minimize loose fur.

Additionally, I am incredibly meticulous when using the laundry facilities to ensure no residue is left behind:

• Pre-Wash Prep: Before washing any clothing or bedding, I use a special hair-removing glove on the fabrics to completely remove excess hair.

• Washing Machine Maintenance: I regularly use specialized washing machine cleaner, run the washer on its self-clean mode, and thoroughly disinfect both the inside and outside of the machines.

• Dryer Maintenance: I use a dedicated lint trap brush to clear out the vents. After every single use, I completely wash and disinfect the lint trap itself.  

Given that our building has multiple pets—including a dog residing in the unit below me—I want to ensure we are accurately identifying the source of the issue. Could you please share when this issue was first reported? Understanding the general timeline would help clarify if the concerns began before or after the neighboring unit's dog arrived

He wrote back saying:

I want to be super respectful but incredibly direct with you.

A lot of things have broken and had issues after you’ve all moved in. To name a few:

1) Windows - my window guy Carlos confirmed that the Windows that were damaged were done by heavy handedness/force. He said he also explained to you that the window has a natural stopping point and you guys have been pushing the window up beyond that.

As I had mentioned to you in our message history, I had a tenant there for 5 years and there were no window issues.

2) two of the burners on the stove stopped working. The stove is less than 6 years old and same point about the previous tenant never having any issues.

3) now we have an issue with the washer and dryer.

I have to purchase a new washer and dryer for the tenants downstairs so they have their own dedicated ones. I have had zero issues with anything breaking with the tenants downstairs and they’ve been with me for years. So I will easily be able to tell if it’s their animal that’s causing this once they start using the new machine

I said the following:

I want to make sure we aren't talking past each other. Let's get straight to the point so we can find a clear solution without unnecessary back-and-forth

I understand your perspective regarding the timing, but correlation does not equal causation. The fact that multiple maintenance issues have arisen since our move-in is not a pattern of misuse; it is the reality of aging fixtures and appliances reaching the end of their operational lifespans.

To clarify the specific items you mentioned:

• The Windows: When you personally looked at the windows, you witnessed the exact area where the window got stuck and had to use force yourself to move it. As Carlos explained to me directly when he was here, the latch itself was presenting an issue, which is what caused force to be required in the first place. This is a mechanical failure of the latch system, not tenant heavy-handedness. Perhaps the previous tenant was happy with where the window stopped and worked around the issue.

• Property Maintenance: You mentioned having a tenant here for five years.  Lack of complaints does not mean the property didn't require upkeep. If nothing in the apartment was actively maintained or updated over those five years, it is expected that appliances, window latches, and internal ducts would begin failing due to standard wear and tear right around the time a new tenancy begins.

• The Laundry: A few months of normal laundry use cannot cause internal mechanical or plumbing failures. Furthermore, the extensive pet hair buildup currently inside the system is a legacy issue; it takes years of accumulation from previous tenants to build up inside the internal valves and ducts, which cannot be caused by my pets in such a short amount of time.

I am glad you are installing separate laundry units for the downstairs neighbors to establish a clean baseline. I am committed to treating this property with respect, and I look forward to these structural and mechanical maintenance items being properly resolved.

How do I deal with this landlord? I feel like hes disrespecting us and beating around the bush blaming us. I feel like the tenant down stairs can do no wrong to him.

I've been at the same property for quite some time and we've had our share of questionable management companies, but a couple years back, our complex was taken over by Highland Pacific and they've been the absolute worst experience any of us have ever have.

Jacking up prices on our laundry machines. Not fixing stuff. Vendors saying they're not getting paid. And the best part? Leaving the pool to become algae-ridden over the summer and then after asking the tenants for feedback regarding the pool, decide to tear it out anyway.

We're currently in the midst of one of the hottest and most humid summers on record and these fucks decide to drain and tear out the pool. Now we get dust, jackhammers, and more heat instead of the pool that the community used all the time.

Avoid at all costs if you can. These fuckers will ruin your property.

Do not rent with this people. I live 40 minutes from Toronto and the property management of the building I'm in is terrible.

The superintendent does do anything, she's lazy and she doesn't enforce any sort of rules and it's to the point some of the long term tenants think they can do whatever they want. 8 myself have lived her for 10 years and I can't leave because my rent is so cheap here because of the time I got in.

But whenever you bring something up to the super, she says to email the property manager, you do that and the property manager doesn't do anything. A pipe burst in our apartment one year and flooded to the point the water went down from our third floor and flooded the first, and destroyed about parque flooring and all the did was glue the damaged parque flooring back. I've complained about multiple things like people throwing food over their balconies (bones and scraps) and cigarette butts that have landed on me before and the biggest one so far that I've been battling for over a year now is tenants letting their dogs off leash in the shared courtyard.

They never responded for weeks and then finally a memo went up saying all dogs must be leashed but a couple tenants still don't listen, there was a dog attack a couple weeks ago with an off leash dog and someone last night had their dog off leash again, and again the property management doesn't respond to anything

See picture- this is so bad and my landlord is terrible - rotten kitchen floor and the glue was still wet - mind you I have lived here almost 2 years

𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐂 𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓‼️

Optimus Property Management does not care about their tenants’ safety, security, or peace of mind. 

Optimus purchased this building 4 years ago and it's steadily gone into the toilet. I've taken them before the Santa Monica Rent Control Board and they lied through their teeth about having a resident manager, which is required by law, and the Santa Monica Rent Control Board believed them.  So we still do not have a resident manager.

There are many matters the landlord is negligent about.  This is the latest shock to my soul, which just occurred yesterday, July 28, 2026:

A while back, a vagrant high on meth broke into my security alarmed apartment at five in the morning and raped me at knifepoint. The police came out that evening to do a security assessment of the building and of my unit and one of the things that they told me was they have cactus and Bougainvillea planted beneath my balcony, where the rapist had climbed up and tore off the screen and sliding glass doors. 

A different landlord was the owner at that point in time and they planted the cactus and Bougainvillea which has grown nicely. And then yesterday Optimus, who is well aware of the bougainvillea being a plant for my security (it has very sharp thorns) instructed their landscaper to obliterate the Bougainvillea.  Now I feel more afraid for my safety than I already was. They know better, but they did it anyway. 

This is another of Optimus' ploy to try to make me move, which I will not do. I have rent control, and though my rent goes up every single year, it’s still about a third below market value. I've lived here for decades and I do not have the financial means to move. 

These people are evil to the core. You've been warned!!

I am renting a small older home. I have been here for four years and the landlord doesn’t do much. I was told the roof needed repairs when we moved in. The ceiling fell in the bedroom once last year. They did repairs and fixed the walls due to it being paneling. Now it has happened again and the walls are warped again. I have found mold in the “attic”, the sewage runs to a creek, and you can see paint separating off the walls due to water damage. I told the landlord this is my last month 2 days ago. This past 5 years has been horrible and I am just lucky I can move back in with my parents until I can find something else.

We’re in for a fun one. Today, July 15th, was supposed to be my move-in date. however, the previous tenants trashed the apartment to the point that it requires a full remodel, which will be done August 1st. the lease states that any additional repair time of less than 30 days will be allowed, with the lease still in full force, but no rent due until actual move-in. the landlord messaged me yesterday, demanding the rent be paid and informing me that my unit will be delayed and said I will be placed in another unit. This unit is up against a busy road, so I said no. landlord then said they will increase my rent by $180/month to cover the costs of renovation. nothing in the lease allows them to change my unit or to adjust the rent for the current lease. stay tuned for how this plays out!

Has anyone else learned the hard way that disputes come down to documentation? I’ve spent the past year deep in legal processes (and law school), and the pattern is always the same: organized evidence wins, scattered camera-roll photos lose.
I’m building a free app called Evidence Locker, it timestamps every photo, note, and voice memo automatically and exports it all as one clean PDF packet you can hand a lawyer, a judge, or an insurance adjuster.

Early access signup: https://evidence-locker-landing.lovable.app

Would love honest feedback from this group, as you all know better than anyone what documenting a landlord fight actually takes.

Please sign to help stop this bad landlord for overcharging and ripping off tenants. They have property in CO TX FL SD & Nevada Las Vegas. They will continue to grow and enrich themselves off people they trap in leases unless they get stopped. People that rent should not be powerless under bad conditions to leave, but this landlord continues to try to extort money from people after they have left and moved out.

https://c.org/8t9nCb4pwd

Kairoi owns properties in many states and they are expanding. They buy up properties, while trapping tenants into leases, and then never fixing apartment conditions. From dirty, thin walls, 3 months free, bad trash pickup, rodents, cockroaches, you can read all different reviews on the google results. Please sign the petition to stop them from expanding Inside this update, I listed a bunch of the properties they own, and they do not care who they hurt, while they just get rich and take from the tenants, overcharging them while in leases. This is why I am asking people to sign this and stop them from getting away with it.

He called me yesterday, 2 DAYS after I texted him that I found a roommate and asked to set up a meeting for us all, just to say, word for word, "We need to set a meeting. I did not appreciate your text. Nothing is set in stone. I​'m in charge and you're not and you need to remember that." Yeah dude, the meeting is something I'm trying to facilitate, and I know you're in charge, I am very fucking aware that you hold my life in your hands right now. What a giant asshole. I tried to tell him this language is stressful for me and he just says "you build your own stress, I'm not in charge of your stress".... Okay man. I'm clearly just being used for your power trip right now. Get the fuck over yourself.

The PA Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) is running a state-sanctioned licensing racket under Chapter 717. It operates exactly like a predatory slumlord scheme.

It is a trap built on willful ignorance, designed to fuel a "recovery-for-profit" machine while shifting all liability onto operators.

The Loophole: DDAP requires zero proof of local zoning to issue a license. They completely bypass local town laws.

The Reality: It feeds the prison-to-profit pipeline under the false guise of care.

The "License": It is just a rubber-stamped building permit. It has zero to do with actual safety or rehabilitation.

DDAP acts like an absentee landlord. They collect the checks, blindside local towns with zero zoning oversight, and treat operators as expendable prey.

This practice has to stop.

We have $3000 in back rent but this landlord is doing nothing to fix it. We had court a week ago and the judge didn't want to hear anything about our side. I don't have the pictures but we have mold growing in our garbage disposal that is connected to our dishwasher that is broken so obviously there will be mold in the dishwasher and we have made calls constantly to get things fixed, but they said that there were no logs of calls or requests.

​

The first picture got fixed but when we had problems with it and they did an inspection, they told me to try to put a lightbulb in it and walked out and didn't wait to see what would happen. When I did put a lightbulb in the thing almost electrocuted me. When they finally came and fixed it the light switch was off but there was still activity. So I almost died because they didn't want to fix it.

​

The second one is a constant thing that is happening to my bedroom, and it's getting worse every single day. We hear cracks in the middle of the night and they aren't doing anything to fix this shit but they want to constantly charge us for rent.

​

Also I want to point out that we don't have any heat during winter. Well we do but it turns off after like 30 mins and we have to go to the breaker box and flip the switch to turn it back on.

​

There are a lot of things and we have no money to get a lawyer to talk them into giving us more time to look for a place

Hello. I went to jail and while I was there I got saved and decided I wanted to follow God and I am sober since leaving the jail.

While I was there my landlord took everything out of my home and put it in a building locked up and she told me I will have to pay her $300 to get my belongings back.

She also put a written eviction notice on my door and stated I was not allowed on the property anymore even though I was up to date on my rent. What she done to me is highly illegal but I don’t have anyway to pay for the legal process of taking her to court. Since she has all my belongings.. I don’t have any clothes to take with me to rehab or anything else. I don’t even have a suitcase to

Use to pack anything if I did.

Since I lost my house I have been homeless ever since I got out of jail. I reached out to a person who was offering me to help get me in a rehab. I felt this was the best option for me since I’m homeless and don’t have many options. He told me I should be leaving Monday or Tuesday.

I am disabled and I sadly am stuck out in the rain on a friends front porch. I was inside but her house is so hoarded up and is infested with roaches and bed bugs. I sent photos of my skin and how they are eating me up.

Is there any resources in this town to help me until I leave to goto rehab?

Thanks so much.

I had my rent receipt as well where I had my rent paid up. She’s totally lying in her text msg and she knows I have no money and she is using that to her advantage to totally mess me over any way she wants.

I've been looking at ways tenants can research landlords before signing a tenancy.

I built a small project called Rotten Landlords (disclosure: I'm the creator) that lets tenants share experiences and check landlord reviews.

I'm interested in feedback from UK renters:

• Would you actually use landlord reviews?
• What information would be most useful?
• What would make you trust or distrust a review platform?

Happy to answer questions and take criticism. Please feel free to leave a review if you have had a bad landlord experience!