To ask for your bad landlord / terrible tenants stories?

[SylviaPlath1984]

So I was watching nightmare tenants slum landlords this afternoon and I was shocked at how awful both sides can be... then I thought I bet Mumsnet have some wild stories!!!

1 tenant was a drug dealer. Got him booted out under the no pets clause.

Another had a serious drink problem and let the house decay around them. Wouldn't let us in to fix things. Not a bad person, just had issues.

Another couple were involved in petty crime, benefit fraud, shoplifting, shouted and swore at their kids and locked them outside all day. Total bastards and not very bright. They libelled us on the internet, tried to damage our vehicles, threatened us, threatened the agent. Ended up with us having to call the police.

That is the minority though! thank fuck

TLDR: get multiple references to avoid letting to the local pond life. Loads more crazy stuff but don't want to out myself completely!

@sneakysnoopysniper

No LL has ever walked on me. First thing I do is change all the locks.

I once had a LL call at 9 pm. Told him I would call the police and not to come without 7 days notice in writing.

I was in one house where they wanted to show new tenants around while I was still in residence. I asked for a rent reduction and they said no. The agent rang one evening and asked it they could do a viewing. I had just come in from work and agreed only if they came after 7.30. They came an hour early just after I had sat down with my meal so I made them wait 30 minutes in the car. The viewers were rude and kept asking me questions when I was trying to watch TV. How much is council tax, how are the schools, etc. I told them ask the agents. Im not employed to show you around. The man was making remarks about my personal possessions. I told him you are here to look at the property, not my stuff. They left to look at the garden. I should have locked the door behind them. 10 minutes after I thought the viewing was over the man came back in (without the agent or any permission) and started asking me questions about the neighbours. I told hi to get out, the viewing is over. The agent apologized to the viewers, not to me!

Next day I rang the agent and gave them down the banks. I made sure they never got another viewing while I was there. If I saw their phone number I never answered. There were no smart phones then.

What a nasty person you sound like. Why were you so unnecessarily rude to the viewers who presumably just wanted a bit of insight into the neighbours and any issues.

You were so awkward I'd hate to have dealings with you. Let's hope karma comes around.

My late DP was renting when we first got together. His LL lived just round the corner and used to let himself in when tenants were out. He had 14 flats on that site and 2 other huge houses split into several flats.

Then he used to snoop. He would read tenants' post and paperwork and gossip about them to other tenants, we knew how much DP's neighbours earned, that one was getting divorced, another had MH issues and all sorts.

He thought it was acceptable to simply disable the shower when it started leaking and causing damp on the adjoining wall, causing damage to the stairwell. He only fixed it when DP complained that the bath was virtually useless because the water tank was so tiny you could only get 3 inches of hot water in it. DP had no functioning oven for more than 2 months, he wouldn't do anything about pigeons nesting under the eaves (you couldn't leave windows open on hot days because the fuckers came in and shat everywhere), he gave DP the keys to an empty flat so he could use the washing machine in there while he was waiting for the LL to fix his, which took 4 months, he put the rent up loads because I stayed there 4 nights a week and he felt it was fair, he wouldn't let tenants change energy supplier, the meters were wrongly labelled and DP was paying another tenant's bills for over a year (that took 3 months to sort out), he decided visitors had to park on the street after he turned up and found he couldn't park close to the front door, then issued a diktat that visitors must not park within 20 yards of the entrance on the public highway, and he decided that tenants should not have children under 14 to visit.

The worst was him telling us, quite proudly, that he wasn't renewing another tenant's agreement because she had a black boyfriend and he didn't "want that sort in his properties".

He had bought several very big old houses in the 1960s. DP and I invented a whole backstory where the LL had been a professional criminal who had got away with a massive robbery and had used the proceeds to buy the houses!

Addendum: this LL hated the council, especially building control and planning. The house where DP lived was a fine late Victorian building, with wonderful original fireplaces, doors, skirting, cornicing and ceiling roses, stained glass etc.

We referred it to be considered for listed building status and it is now Grade 2 listed. The old bastad must have been livid!

The time when I was in the shower and the plumber came in unannounced (having been given the key)

DP's old LL let himself in while I was in the bath and DP had gone to work. He scuttled out when I called out "Hello", so I didn't get the chance to embarrass him.

He subsequently told DP to notify him when DP had guests. DP just looked at him and said "I think it would be better if you notified me when you want access to the flat, don't you?". DP had helped him with his accounts, so had a bit of leverage. LL tried to insist on rent being paid in cash, so very little went through the books.

@LakieLady

My late DP was renting when we first got together. His LL lived just round the corner and used to let himself in when tenants were out. He had 14 flats on that site and 2 other huge houses split into several flats.

Then he used to snoop. He would read tenants' post and paperwork and gossip about them to other tenants, we knew how much DP's neighbours earned, that one was getting divorced, another had MH issues and all sorts.

He thought it was acceptable to simply disable the shower when it started leaking and causing damp on the adjoining wall, causing damage to the stairwell. He only fixed it when DP complained that the bath was virtually useless because the water tank was so tiny you could only get 3 inches of hot water in it. DP had no functioning oven for more than 2 months, he wouldn't do anything about pigeons nesting under the eaves (you couldn't leave windows open on hot days because the fuckers came in and shat everywhere), he gave DP the keys to an empty flat so he could use the washing machine in there while he was waiting for the LL to fix his, which took 4 months, he put the rent up loads because I stayed there 4 nights a week and he felt it was fair, he wouldn't let tenants change energy supplier, the meters were wrongly labelled and DP was paying another tenant's bills for over a year (that took 3 months to sort out), he decided visitors had to park on the street after he turned up and found he couldn't park close to the front door, then issued a diktat that visitors must not park within 20 yards of the entrance on the public highway, and he decided that tenants should not have children under 14 to visit.

The worst was him telling us, quite proudly, that he wasn't renewing another tenant's agreement because she had a black boyfriend and he didn't "want that sort in his properties".

He had bought several very big old houses in the 1960s. DP and I invented a whole backstory where the LL had been a professional criminal who had got away with a massive robbery and had used the proceeds to buy the houses!

To be honest LakieLady, another person staying there 4 nights per week is the majority of the time and would breach most leases based on a single ierson occupying, so I'm not surprised the rent was put up.

My ex landlord insisted that the entire house was repainted before I left, ,but it had to be the exact same shade of cream as before. A discontinued colour. Local paint shop offered to mix me some but at ££££. She eventually said we could buy a couple of tins and just touch the paintwork up, so I did. She then kept my full deposit because of 'excess touching up of paintwork', meant she had to fully repaint it. I had lived there 6 years and she wouldn't let me paint or decorate while living there, she also said I broke the dishwasher. I had reported that it wasn't working a couple of months before I left, but she hadn't had it repaired, spoke to the next door neighbour and it turned out that the dishwasher was the same bog standard one that had been installed 15 years previously when the house was built, and had just given up the ghost due to it's age. She kept my deposit to buy a new dishwasher and do the place up to sell it. She also demanded an extra months rent when I left, and said my rent had always been paid in arrears, even though I knew I paid monthly in advance!! I was an utter fool and paid it as I had already paid deposit on new rental by this point.

Friends of mine had to move away for work for a one year contract so they let their house out, they had decorators in to paint the whole house magnolia and put new plain cream carpets in and made it clear it was a 12 month let and there’d be no chance of extending it beyond 12 months.

The tenants moved in, never once paid a full months rent, just drips and drabs but they ripped up all the carpets and replaced them all with patterned bedroom carpets, different in every room, wallpapered every room, badly. Ripped off the kitchen tiles and retailed themselves, badly. Pained the decking in the garden blue, with emulsion paint, messed with the electrics and then had the cheek to knock on the door and ask for their deposit back “because they’d done so much work to improve the house”.

It cost about £10k to put the house right again, it would’ve cost them less to leave the house empty for the year.

I'm just about to move for the 3rd time in 7 years and I'm so grateful we've had no major issues, bar the odd 'typical' grumble.
The house we are about to leave is a 3 bed terrace on a main road, opposite a pub. We moved in nearly 5 years ago as the LL of our previous house was doing it up to either re-let or sell. We were having no luck and running out of time, turned up to view this house only for the agent to turn us away saying the people with the viewing appointment before us were taking it there and then, even nipping out to a cash point to get the deposit. I was fuming. As luck would have it, about a week later they called us to say it had fallen through and were we still interested? I think the couple had split up. We've liked living here, it's handy for us as my widower father lives in the street next to us but the pub has been a nightmare, particularly in the summer months last year after the first lockdown.
This time, we're moving out because the landlady is selling up and we were given notice last October - 6 months due to the Covid situation. Didn't panic at first and said we weren't rushing but several places have come up and gone straight away. We found 2 we liked, booked the first one to view no problem but the 2nd one wasn't having viewings until later the same month so there's no way we could've held off from making a decision until we'd seen both.

We agreed on the first one which was advertised as being available early Jan but there has been lots of complications involving the current tenant but we've finally got a date. I've even asked to pay a weeks rent here so we can give the house a thorough clean after we've moved. I always cringe reading stories about the state some tenants a) live in and b) leave the house in! Just why?? Mess and chaos is one thing, how can people live in such squalor???
One of the stipulations of our agreement is we have to have the carpets professionally cleaned. I asked our agency if we would be ok to rent a machine and do it ourselves (there are no major stains or any damage) and they said we could but if it wasn't done to a professional standard they'd have to get someone in to do it and it'd come out of our deposit. Who judges whether it's been done to their standard?? They've given me the number of the man they use, so I could get a quote. I'm still waiting for him to call me back. Have told them if he doesn't get back to me or he can't fit me in in time, would they mind sorting it with him and he'll just have to do it once we've left.

Right, back to packing. 2 weeks to go!

Dh’s tenants put up false walls and split all of the bedrooms in two them subletted them out and had 15 people living in a 3 bed house.
After the were kicked out we were left with about 35 stolen plastic milk crates that they had been using as bed bases for their mattresses.
Almost 15 years later we are still using those milk crates for storage

As students I was renting a flat with my boyfriend (now DH) in a small block. The letting agent who managed the property called us up to say we were overdue on our rent and we needed to pay or they would evict us. This didn’t make sense because the amount she said we were overdue was not the amount that our rent was.

I asked which month was missing and they said they couldn’t tell me. So I went through our bank statements and provided a copy with each months rent payment highlighted to show that we hadn’t missed any payments. This wasn’t enough for them and they insisted that the system said we were behind on our payments so we just had to pay.

It got quite aggressive with threats of eviction etc until they realised that they had accidentally assigned us another flat that they had in the same building as well as the one we were renting (hence why the amount wasn’t the same as our rent).

Years ago when I was a student landlords were usually vile, did not fix things or give notice for you to move out.

I'm always amazed that someone would not keep on top of their asset but so many will not fix things.

My friend is a landlord and he rented to Chinese students who upon leaving picked up a bag each and left. He found xboxes, TVs, laptops, designer clothing and bags, cosmetics, a garden full of black bags and one even left him a car! Apparently this is quite common because they are wealthy and will just buy more rather than sell or give it away.

@TheRebelle

I’m most that your friends chose plain cream carpets

Friend of a friend of a friend was desperate for somewhere to live with her 4 kids. Moving to the area from 100 miles away from an abusive relationship - apparently . I felt sorry for her starting out again so we left cooker, washing machine, microwave, beds, sofas etc. for her at her request even though it was supposed to be unfurnished. She started not paying rent and got to 6 months unpaid when I threatened eviction. She was telling me council weren't paying her HB. Lovely lady at the council told me in code that she'd had all her HB and that I may want to proceed to eviction. She paid up in full immediately. Her boyfriend died on the sofa from a drugs overdose, there were countless debt letters in her daughters name. Daughter was 12 or 13. Eventually she skipped in the middle of the night without notice taking all the stuff we'd left for her. Ungrateful biatch

@AnaisNun I know, I know! I’m not even sure why they bothered decorating to let it out but they’re nice people, if a bit naïve and they wanted to be good landlords and make it nice for their tenants. They thought it would be better to have someone in there, even if they weren’t paying the full rent than leave the place empty. They know better now!

@TheRebelle

I rent- let me know if your friends ever change their minds and want a long term tenant. They do sound lovely. (No cream carpets though- I have a little boy )

I had tenants ask to move out two weeks after signing a 2 year contract...they just changed their minds

@HighSpecWhistle

I thought the same.

Omg so many that I rented and were all terrible!!

1. Was disgusting and grubby. We thought .. only a few months it will do. Shower up stair leaked on to our tv... LL thought it was funny.

The boiler kept packing up. We went 3 weeks without hot water in winter because he didn’t believe us and refused to send someone round as we were “moaning”

The best bit about this was 3 months after we moved out he phoned me to say I owed him 3 months of utility bills!! He didn’t understand why I wouldn’t pay them and marched me down to the utility company. When they said it’s him decorating etc he still wouldn’t budge... think it was written off in the end. Twat.

1. Riddled with mice. Literally everyone. Was the last straw when one popped out of the toaster as I was getting bread ready to go in.

1. Agreed to take the let if LL cleaned carpets, oven and washed walls. The house STANK of smoke. They agreed. Turned up - they hadn’t done it. We spent a week washing walls, doors etc- it was vile. They were literally dripping yellow nicotine.

The en suite shower didn’t work. They sent their weird mate round to look but told me as we had another shower to use they won’t be fixing.

We had two parking spaces but for some reason the neighbours INSISTED it was their land (we checked - it wasn’t) and kept weeding it (fine) when we parked on the road (3 of us with cars) they went mental as they wanted to park there. Literally screaming in my face... FYI he had space for 3 cars and was just being difficult for no reason!!

Going back to number 1...

We went on holiday for two weeks... when I got back I opened the fridge to find milk in there (one of the first things I do is empty fridge before holiday) ok ... never mind I thought- gross but I’ll deal with it...

... the milk was still in date ... by 5 days. And not the size I usually buy.

I once rented a ground floor flat with a cellar, the washing machine was in the cellar, it was provided as part of the fittings I was paying for.

The cellar flooded, about a foot deep, leaving the washing machine plug socket submerged underwater.

The letting agent didn’t care, it happened repeatedly, I told them time and again and still have no idea if they passed it on to the owner of the building who I had no contact with. They couldn’t understand why I then said I needed a new washing machine and I gave up and used the laundrette and moved out not long after.

I spent well over 12 hours cleaning my flat at the end of my tenancy, I cleaned the top of the cupboards,the window runners,the windows there was nothing left that could have possibly be cleaned. I even washed the duvet and sheets/pillows aired everything the flat was perfect someone could have moved in straight away. However when I left I accidentally left my kids toy so had to return (no keys) when the landlady was there to find her stripping the bed I had just cleaned. 😭 She then had the balls to tell our mutual friend that she spent ages cleaning the flat and we didn't get our damn deposit back I was furious and cried if we weren't in a foreign country with a newborn I would have made such a stink but my ex couldn't be bothered/afraid to upset her friend

Had a landlady in a HMO years ago who was very strange. The house was big and old and not very well maintained. I was young, had two jobs and was out every night so did not care. I did care that over Christmas she let her family members stay in our bedrooms with out asking or telling us, I only twigged because they left my made bed unmade and left the curtains closed, they did much worse in my housemates room-left it a right state. She was truly stumped about why we would be annoyed. We had ant powder down in the summer, she left a note saying she would be calling the police on us due to taking cocain in the house-madness, if anyone did I never noticed, and I very much doubt if anyone did they would leave it all over the floor. It was an old house on a hill and developed subsidence, left a note blaming the whole thing on us the tenants and bemoaning the cost. She used to swap out furniture all the time as well. Very odd women.

sneakysnoopersniper wow, you’re a landlords worst nightmare! Do landlords actually always get references from previous tenancies? Surely that would weed out people like sneakysnooper, who I’m guessing no landlord would touch with a barge pole.