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…

People like to think of themselves as 'good people', and will go to great lengths to prove to themselves and others that they are decent, kind, welcoming, and helpful. Then comes a day when they wish they could take it all back, and that is usually the day when all their kindness comes back to bite them… Hard. In this case, a few roommates heard that their neighbor was being evicted, and it being Thanksgiving, they just didn't think it was right to leave her out in the cold. So, they did what a…

Moving into a new building is rarely smooth sailing. We've all had noisy neighbors that make us question our entire lives, values, and morals; why did I move to this city in the first place? Why do people even decide to have children? How come I'm polite and other people aren't? Is being noisy something that runs in the family? One woman who recently moved into a brand new apartment with her friends went through this existential crisis after an upstairs neighbor won't stop drilling, stomping, a…

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…

Going through all the clauses in a lease is one of my least favorite things to do in the world. The dull feel of the paper, the tiny writing, the boring yet difficult-to-read legal stuff… It's too much for me. That is why I always get one of my friends in the legal field to check the documents I sign before I sign them. This young tenant did not bother to read certain clauses in her lease, but it all turned out okay in the end because once she did pay attention, she knew what she had to do. It…

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…

There is no such thing as a 'green thumb'… Tending to a garden takes a lot of effort and knowledge, and if you don't put both in, it will show. Now, imagine you were a greenhouse know-it-all who brought home a pot of herbs you had carefully cultivated throughout the months, and then your landlady ripped them all out because she liked the pot you put it in. If that sounds a little too specific, that is because it is. The OP shared on r/pettyrevenge the story of the summer that her landlady did e…

Most landlords only consider temporary solutions without thinking about long-term consequences. Personally, I know the agonizing frustration of having a never-ending roach problem all too well. My first New York apartment was in an old building and by day two after my move-in, roaches started to show up. We got an exterminator, who did the bare minimum and nothing changed. We tried to talk to the landlord about it, but they just sent the same exterminator guy back, who this time informed us tha…

For some odd reason, realtors and landlords seem to think that everyone is sitting around at home all the time. Because they like to think we're loafing around the house at all hours, it means that they can simply pop by at any moment, expecting us to be ready to greet them at the entryway. Newsflash: Tenants have lives and we are not waiting on your beck and call.

How would you feel if you knew your landlord was bringing a baby and a toddler to your place while she showed it to prospective tenants? I think most people would protest that, yet one landlord thinks she's actually perfectly fine bringing the kiddos along. As a parent, you love your kid more than anything else, and you think everything they do is cute and sweet and perfect. Even though you're head over heels in love with them, not everyone is as enamored with your little ones' antics. Parents…

One of the penultimate joys of renting a home is having random strangers traipsing through your house; it will happen on a near monthly basis during your tenancy—or on whatever duration for inspection is dictated in your agreement. Still, whenever this occurs, you'll feel like you've been transported into Shawshank Prison and are awaiting an inspection from a corrupt and hostile warden who may take issue unpredictably at any little thing. Sure, in most cases, the inspection isn't nearly so insi…

Not all heroes wear capes. This time, the hero is just a faceless voice heeding a helpful warning. It all started three years ago when this Redditor lived in a complex that was run by an incompetent landlord. You know, the kind that never responds to you when you have an issue, never fixes anything, and the place gets constant violations because they refuse to do anything they're supposed to when keeping the place up. When you get this kind of landlord, usually you find out too late and have to…

We talk a lot on here about terrible, predatory landlords, and that's only a small part of the constantly ongoing discourse on the topic around the wider internet. And, to be fair, they're an easy group to hate... There's a lot to be said about a group of wealthy investors who bank land and real estate, which pushes up prices for everyone else, who are then forced to rent and service the mortgages of the very same places they were priced out of in the first place, all the while contending with…

Just the knowledge that our landlords probably bought our apartment for 1/10th it's current value and are living fat off of our rent check every month is enough to grind every tenant's gears, but if a landlord has the audacity to wring out a single cent more than our rent amount at the end of the month, we feel the back of our throats prickle with rage.

Opening someone else's mail is not only invasive but it's literally a federal offense. Right up there along with treason, insurance fraud, and money-laundering, opening another person's mail violates their trust and can send you straight to court.Ring cameras and other front-door monitors have caught doormat pirates stealing people's mail, however, there are still a few instances where the perps get away with it– at least, until someone puts them in their place.