Submitting requests to your landlord for basic maintenance and repairs is pretty similar to trying to get reimbursement from an airline for that hotel you had to book when they stranded you in a strange city because of maintenance issues. And that similarity is that it's impossible; try and plead as you might, it's never going to happen. They're both going to ignore your request for as long as possible while redirecting and gaslighting you, just hoping that you give up and stop asking them.

The tenant knew he had some leverage in this case, but he never expected it to play out so well for him. The OP in this story formerly would sit in on tenant/landlord disputes for an old job of his, so he knew how to work his way around the court. In fact, the OP actually knew he'd get summoned for not paying his rent…which is exactly why he chose to do so. He wanted to blindside his landlord with all of the unlawful schemes the complex has been trying to pull for the last few years...

Renting a home is a challenging experience, living in a place that isn't really your own under some degree of scrutiny from a landlord whose asset you're paying off for them… and that's the situation in the best of circumstances. There are plenty of landlords who won't uphold their basic obligations of maintaining their property to liveable standards, charging you more and more in rent—yet, regarding their tenants as an unfortunate inconvenience to their “investment”—refusing to fix anything wh…

Two words: Polar. Vortex.

It's customary to blame the landlord in most rental apartment disputes, but every so often, you come across a story where the tenant is so outrageous and so out-of-line that you find yourself shockingly siding with the landlord. This is a rare phenomenon, one that I have rarely come across in my own life. Occasionally, you hear stories of people who impulsively paint their walls against their landlord's wishes, but you rarely hear about the tenants who cause $80K in property damage because they…

Being a renter feels like you're perpetually stuck under the foot of the 1%. As you watch your paycheck drain from your bank account into your landlord's every month, it's tough not to feel a certain resentment and resistance to their wealth, since it's you who's paying their restaurant bills, buying their cars, and giving them the means to install indoor pools in their second home in Tahoe. But what if there was a way to get back at your greasy, slime-ball of a landlord?

Renting a house from a third party has benefits and drawbacks. Of course, maintenance is one of the apparent benefits, but no matter how lovely or cozy the apartment is, the drawbacks, depending on how severe they are, can make or break a transaction. In the story below, OP is working at the job of his dreams. His employer has ensured that he would be as comfortable as possible in his new role by arranging for the necessary accommodations beforehand. Theoretically, everything could not have gon…

The heavy hand of retribution falls hardest on a parasitic roommate.

Assigned spots are assigned for a reason, or so you would think. One restaurant owner felt entitled to his neighbor's spot in the parking garage because it served him in the sense that it was close to the restaurant he owned. At first, OP, the neighbor, had no idea that it was the restaurant owner. All they knew was that there was someone parking in their assigned spot. OP would call the restaurant again and again, asking them to move the car, and to stop parking there. Restaurant management co…

I should be able to repeat a few well-known sayings in my sleep by now. My favorite phrase, and the one I have to swear by—are you ready for it? ‘live within your means’. In case you haven't noticed already, the theme of this delightfully intriguing tale will be money—perhaps the most despicable topic in history. However, I guess it gets less painful, and possibly even funny, when we talk about other people's money. The story below is an account of a cynical tenant who has come up with a very c…

I wonder what goes on in landlords' heads when they evict somebody. Do they think about what the grueling process might be like for the evictees? Do they feel sorry for them? Or do they think that they deserved it? Whatever the case may be, I find it intriguing. This landlord attempted to take advantage of his tenants by evicting them with 7 days' notice. He reminded them that any and all equipment that they would be unable to bring with them in that time period would legally become his own. To…

The last thing HOAs seem to do on a daily basis is provide structure and order to a neighborhood. Instead, they are a magnet for that person from high school who would correct the teacher, interrupt people in the classroom, and snitch on everyone without proof or context. This was the kind of person who made more enemies than friends, and as it turns out, they haven't changed in the slightest years down the road. Instead, they have just become more obnoxious and they're an annoying parent now r…

Blink once, blink twice, and oops, a roommate situation has already gone south… That's how quickly it gets ugly. And wouldn't I know… I've been there and even lived through it to tell the tale. I used to live with a bunch of roommates, some of whom were decent, others annoying, but all hail that one person in particular who has etched themself into the deepest, darkest parts of my brain. She did not take the garbage out once in the 3, short but painful months we lived together. Her clothes were…

If there's one thing that can wreck a homeowner's day, it's bamboo. I had a coworker way back who bought a house where—unbeknownst to him—the previous owner had planted bamboo next to the house alongside their deck. From the day I got to know him until the day I left that job, he was constantly battling that blasted plant, having to crawl in and under their low-lying deck structure to keep it from spreading and out of the foundations of the house. The bamboo was his nemesis, the Joker to his Ba…

Landlords seem genetically engineered to find all the possible ways to get as much money out of their tenants as possible. The problem for them is they have to be just as careful about what they say because smart tenants can and most definitely will use their words against them when the time is right. Here we have a silly landlord who told their tenant they could park wherever they wanted and then later tried to keep their security deposit because he told them that their parking spot had damage…

Professional… What does acting in a professional manner actually entail? At a certain age, probably around our early twenties, we are expected to stop acting like children, step it up, and start acting in a manner befitting our age. But wait, who exactly decides whether my behavior is appropriate and should be celebrated or whether my behavior should be condemned? Yeah, that's what I thought, no one knows. Behaviors are attributed to cultures and social environments, therefore, a social outcast…