'Shark' landlord's sneaky plan to extort student tenants blows up in his face

Students with limited finances often turn to budget apartments or shared co-living spaces. Finding good, affordable housing can be much more challenging for international students trying to settle in another country while completing their education. Reddit user u/GalwayGuy24, a student who had moved to a new apartment while studying abroad, took to the r/MaliciousCompliance forum to share the story of their encounter with a sleazy landlord whom they described as a "real shark." The man had about a dozen properties that he had rented out to students and was infamous for squeezing every last penny out of the tenants.

While his behavior surprised many tenants, the student received a heads-up about what to expect on moving day from someone they dated who had the same landlord. "When she moved out, she had broken a single plate and lost a fork, so somehow got charged for an entirely new matching set of plates and cutlery. She even replaced the plate and fork herself, but that wasn’t good enough for Mr. Sharklord," the student shared in their post. The profit the landlord was making through his underhanded tactics with the tenants was absurd. 

When the student and their best friend moved into their apartment, the landlord proudly informed them about the brand-new mattresses in their room. A year later, as their best friend was moving out, the duo thoroughly cleaned the apartment and ensured they replaced anything that was missing or damaged in the property. But things took a predictable turn when the landlord came in for an inspection and found a little "stain" on the mattress. He charged them for a new mattress, which left the individual's friend furious. 

"But then we had a thought. If he was charging us for a new mattress, then my friend had technically just paid for this one. So, technically, it was his! And it just wouldn't be considerate to leave personal belongings cluttering up the landlord's apartment after he moved out, would it? He couldn’t take the mattress on the plane, obviously, so we hauled it down to a nearby park, where some local homeless people hung out and donated it," the student mentioned in the Reddit post. As the student prepared to move out after their best friend left, the landlord brought in a new tenant to show them the room. He completely lost his cool when he discovered that the mattress was missing. Meanwhile, the student sat quietly and enjoyed the show.

"I almost lost it right there. But I held my composure, played dumb and listened to him fume. And a few days later, when it was my turn to leave? Oh, I knew I was getting nothing back from my deposit. And I too was going to take all of my personal belongings with me. So I took everything I had paid for - the mattress, plates, cutlery, glasses, even the lightbulbs. The friendly neighborhood hobos made out like kings," the post concluded. The Reddit community applauded the student for giving the landlord a taste of his own medicine.

u/Perfect_Sir4820 mentioned, "A lot of jurisdictions have double or triple damages for improperly withheld damage deposits to make it much more worth fighting for in small claims." u/not-rasta-8913 pointed out, "The keywords here are studying abroad. A legal battle with someone in another country gets really expensive really fast and people like this landlord know it." u/rodneedermeyer shared, "I had a similar landlord try this shot with me. I wrote a letter and gave it to an attorney, who mailed it to me using his letterhead (he charged me a nominal fee). The landlord instantly backed down and offered me a thousand bucks."