Am I a horrible person to be kind of happy about this?

[hatesomethinchangesomethin]

We got evicted in March.

Our LL was the worst we've ever had. She told us she wanted more money which is fine it's her house.. but she didn't fix a single thing in the time we were there. Apart from when the back door seized up and wouldn't open so she sent a locksmith round and asked if they could possibly leave the lock out because it cost less to fix. So she wanted to leave us without a locking door. The locksmith said no thank god. She also didn't provide any smoke alarms or carbon monoxide alarms when we moved in despite having a working wood burning stove and solid fuel aga so I had to provide those. When we moved out I took the carbon monoxide alarms with us because they cost a fair amount and I bought them! She actually had the audacity to try and charge us for taking them away with us because ' it's unsafe' well no shit Sherlock that's why I bought them!! She also just randomly turned up and let herself in as and when she wanted until we changed the locks and had a go at us for not giving her a key, but after she let the dog out to play in the traffic we couldn't risk it.

Anyway! It's still on Rightmove to let, it's just been decreased from 1200 to 850 which is what we paid. It's not really worth 850 but it's her house. Then when I walk past and see the garden all overgrown and weedy it just makes me laugh, it's a small village and she doesn't live here.

The tenants that were there before us were in the pub the other day talking to someone who mentioned that they had viewed it and they just destroyed the LL, admittedly they had a worse time of it than we did but it was quite funny listening. It's been on the market for 5 months because she put it on there before we moved out. Very luckily we managed to buy a house in the village in that time.

I love the smell of schadenfreude in the morning.

Not at all! We had something similar; put an offer on a flat, was accepted, starting legal proceedings; the seller then case back and asked for 8k more, we said no!’ It went back onto right move at that 8 more than we offered... 3 weeks later the estate agent called us offering it back at original accepted price.. we said no thanks.. 2 weeks after that it was up for rent!

YANU at all.

Your landlord is a bitch and I hope her bad luck continues.

(I've had several bad landlords)

Good, I’m a believer in Karma and she got hers. You didn’t cause this pandemic that had the knock on effect of causing house prices to crash. Remember she wanted to pit you family at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, fire and burglary to save money, she’s evil.

Oh and she could have also got your dog killed, she deserves all the anger of the universe, laugh.

@bettesliefen Really? Misfortune is not usually a description of someone who has been the master of their own downfall.

I’m amazed that your Landlord didn’t have the basic safety items in place, it is against the law and just ridiculous as they only cost a relatively small amount. I’m a landlord and I provide all the safety items needed and have a regular fire prevention company check the property, it’s the best way to ensure safety - she could be fined for breaching the safety regulations.

@Happydinosaur53 - Yes, I know there are substandard agents out there too. When I started to let my house out, I did check out a few but the one I use is a local-to-the-area one, and is pretty good. They have to be as I'm in a different country and can't deal with most things myself!

The tenants don't have many complaints - their rent only goes up a small amount every 2 years, and things are generally fixed asap. The only thing I think I haven't forked out for is pest control - but everything else gets done.

There's always one like you. Clearly the LL was in breach by not providing carbon/smoke detectors. Trying to not pay for a lock etc. Sounds a bloody nightmare. How is she being unreasonable??

[quote Shell4429]@bettesliefen Really? Misfortune is not usually a description of someone who has been the master of their own downfall.[/quote]
THIS.

She sounds like a fucking crank.

Serves her right I say. X

I'm a LL who wouldn't dream of behaving as you describe, OP. But I've also had tenants for a beautiful London flat who were a disgrace, including one who swindled me of £000s before I could finally evict him. All of this makes me think how much better it would be if LLs and tenants rated one another as per Uber, Homeaway etc, so that each party knew that shyster behaviour would negatively impact on their ability to secure tenancies, while good business practice would build strong reputations and make them more attractive to do business with. You could then have targeted inspections and enforcement action by local authorities for LLs consistently rated very poorly, tax breaks for the best LLs etc.

@ThatsRidiculouslyInsane

There's always one like you. Clearly the LL was in breach by not providing carbon/smoke detectors. Trying to not pay for a lock etc. Sounds a bloody nightmare. How is she being unreasonable??

Who on earth are you talking to here?

Are there any laws against LL like her? I'm in the US but there is generally some agency here, either locally or at the county level, to report LL that don't maintain residences in at least a minimal livable condition. (running water, heat, Co2 & fire detectors, stove that works, roof in good condition, etc.). Can you report her after the fact to prevent this sort of abuse for future unsuspecting tenants? Glad you bought a place though, good for you!