Landlord's son evicted tenant of 40 years to steal her murals. Her parting gift was the ultimate serve

A post by Reddit user u/ZZZ-Top is gaining attention after revealing how a local artist was evicted so the landlord’s daughter could claim the home, along with the murals she had spent decades painting. In the post that gained 34k upvotes, they detailed how the artwork, inspired by Disney and fairy tales, covered nearly every wall.

The woman, who was a retired art teacher and later ran a paint-and-sip business and continued painting full-time, had lived there since the 1980s. "She’s always been nice to everyone, even when I’ve been an a** to her. We worked that out and have been friends since," the user wrote. According to the post, the original landlord had verbally agreed that she could stay and eventually buy the home. But when he passed away, his son visited with his daughter, and they "fell in love and wanted the art house for the daughter." She didn’t have a lease to protect her rights, and so they used the murals as justification to evict her.

"She was devastated," the user wrote, but she still managed to get a new home in another state — one with a full art studio. Before leaving, she intended to keep the murals intact, but her neighbor "offered to restore the house to 'Rebecca standards' for free," referring to the bland, grey-white look common in flipped homes, and she agreed. Her furniture was moved to storage, and she stayed in his guest house in exchange for painting a new mural there. The user clarified how 'Rebecca standards' refers to the common white-washed look of newly renovated homes to be put on the market. They lack any personal touch and stand as barebone versions of the property for new owners to decorate. Obviously turning the beautiful 'art house' into a generic piece of property defeated the very purpose of the eviction.

The following week, the neighbor sanded every wall, erasing the murals completely. "It just looked like blotches of colors," the user wrote. Then they sprayed primer and painted everything in dull greys and whites. The user recalled, "The house looked dead inside when I went in to check it out. It was weird not seeing all the murals." Outside, the faux-cottage facade was removed, the plants were cleared out, and gravel and sand replaced the yard. "The landscaper basically ripped everything out and just dumped gravel and sand with a boulder for decoration," the post noted.

A few days later, the user noticed that the house was still empty and asked a neighbor if anyone had moved in. "He said earlier in the week there were some U-Hauls there, but none of them were unloaded, and that was the last time they remember seeing anyone there. Bet that daughter was in for a surprise when she saw the house get turned into a basic hell hole," they wrote. Although the landlord got his karma, what the woman faced portrays a bigger problems several tenants face. A recent report shared by Urban Institute revealed that 44% of renter households in the US reported feeling pressured to leave their home in the past six months, even without official eviction filings.

The story resonated with a lot of users, and many backed up the move. u/GrannyTurtle wrote, "This is the way to do it. Kick me out? My art goes with me. Enjoy the blank walls." u/girlpower0823 said, "They could have easily asked her for a commission to do the same/similar murals in their own home, but chose to kick her out of her home to steal her art instead. I'm glad this was the outcome." u/Culach01972 said, "The girl and her father participated in pushing a pyrrhic victory. They won the legal battle, but they lost what they really wanted."