Landlord scammed tenants with fake bills so the entire neighborhood teamed up to teach him a lesson

Finding a sensible and kind landlord is harder than we think, and a couple (heavy_ad9344) realized it when they moved to Michigan following a job opportunity. The landlords did everything they could to harass the tenants, but in the end, they regretted it when the entire neighborhood came together to teach them a lesson. The post was shared on Reddit on December 3, where it brought significant delight to several tired tenants.

It was in 2020, when the world was fighting a pandemic, that they found a house within their budget. However, things started falling apart the moment they moved into the apartment. Almost daily, they had to call the landlords to inform them about repair work. Initially, the landlord fixed them for free, but later he asked the tenants to pay him $70 as "service fees." When the tenants confronted, the landlord shut them down by asking them to follow the contract without questioning it. They realized that the area was filled with old houses, and the landlords had been charging people for every repair work because they didn't want to spend their own money.

Since the couple had confronted the owners once, the landlords had started micromanaging their everyday life. They even refused to let the tenants seek professional help for repair work without their intervention. Somehow, the tenants stayed there for two years, and because of the ongoing pandemic, they decided to ask the landlords to extend their lease. "At 11:30 pm on the last day they could still legally inform us, they sent us the lease renewal agreement, which included a 25% rent increase, and a new clause stating that all damages the landlord deemed to be the tenant's fault were to be solely covered by the tenant," they recalled. 

The tenants were obviously not happy with the proposal, so they decided to move to a different house. Just when the couple informed the landlords about their decision, the owners responded with a list of all the repair work they should have finished before moving out. The list included removing modifications, repainting the house, replacing the custom doors, and fixing mold caused by improper installation. In the end, left with no choice, the tenants agreed with the landlords and began the repair work. They had a great relationship with the neighbors, and when they saw the chaos, they stepped in to support the couple. In fact, when the tenants realized they would not be able to complete the work on time, their neighbors came to help with the repairs.

Despite this, the landlord fabricated additional damages to extract more money, but the couple refused to pay and moved out. However, after them, whenever the landlords had a possible tenant come over to look at the house, their neighbor would expose the owners' truth. "The house sat empty for 6 months before they got new renters. I watched the price move up and down on Zillow every month. At first, they tried to rent it out at $800 more than what we had been paying. Then it steadily dropped each month until they were asking nearly what our original rent was," they wrote. The new tenants would eventually realize how the landlords were and move out quickly. In the long term, the house remained empty for over a year despite being available for a very low price.

Meanwhile, reacting to the post, u/faagendazs commented, "What a saga! It's truly criminal what some landlords can do, and there is very little to no recourse for your average family. No one has the money to hire lawyers or the time to take them to small claims court."

u/diatribe1 suggested, "Next time you get a sh***y landlord, talk to a lawyer! Your landlord was making all sorts of demands that they had no ability to enforce. Don't just assume the landlord is not full of sh*t.  You would have saved thousands of dollars if you had spoken to an attorney, even accounting for potential legal fees." Similarly, u/relationshipnice5976 commented, "I was a tenant for many years, and I was always so fortunate with good landlords of privately owned homes. I could tell by the length of this post that you were deeply hurt. In the end, you gained some great friends and a community. What a shame that the landlord couldn't be grateful for multiple good tenants who would likely have stuck around a while."

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