Landlord disguised a buyer’s inspection as a ‘damage check’ and forced tenants to let strangers in. Tenants maliciously tanked the sale
After the tenant realized they had been fooled, they exaggerated even the littlest of flaws in the apartment that would make them look at it in a horrible way
One clever tenant (u/Numerous-Hawk1471) took gleeful vengeance on their landlord when they realized they were being fooled during an apartment inspection. Who they thought were inspectors turned out to be charlatans from a company intending to buy the house. So when the strangers threw a volley of questions, the tenant tricked them, which ended up tanking the sale. In an August 17, 2026 Reddit post, which has since garnered 11,000 upvotes, the tenant expressed that the malicious compliance was “pretty satisfying.”
I was told to let inspectors into my apt and cooperate with them
by u/Numerous-Hawk1471 in MaliciousCompliance
Property check disguised as home inspection
Their house, the tenant revealed, is owned by an investment company halfway across the country, with most residents being revellers and partygoers, often found carousing in country clubs, bars, and boats. The other day, they received an email from the company that announced an inspection of their building for structural damage. The email told them that it was mandatory to let the inspectors into the apartment and cooperate with them. Since the email was sent from a no-reply address, the tenant couldn’t question the exact schedule and time when the inspectors would arrive.
Playing their own game against them
When the inspectors came for the inspection, the tenant had a strong suspicion something wasn't right. It seemed that they weren’t inside the apartment to inspect the structural damage, but rather to conduct a house survey on behalf of a company that was planning to buy it. So they continued feigning ignorance and innocently blurted out all the flaws, overstating the details that made them look like impossible deformities.
Tricking with exaggeration
The tenant told them that the fire alarm system goes on and off quite randomly, electrical issues often make their lighting and microwave stop all of a sudden, and the walls are so thin they can clearly hear what’s going on in the surrounding bars and on the subway. To intensify the doubts in their mind, the tenant added that they were planning to move out once the lease was up, because no one could live here longer than that. They even stated that if they choose to move out earlier, the current owner would pay them back the entire amount, probably because they were used to tenants moving out abruptly.
By the time the inspection was over, they assumed the stranger had already lowered their bid for the building. Additionally, they decided to reach out to an attorney, show them the email from the company, and sue them for lying to gain access to their apartment. “If I can make their deal slightly less lucrative by telling the truth, I think that’s a win,” the tenant mused.
Friction between landlords and tenants
Just like this tenant, almost a third of renters (30%) report that they don’t trust their current landlord, according to a survey of 2,000 respondents by LendingTree. One of the top reasons for this friction between the landlord and tenant is unexpected visits. Of the surveyed tenants, 31% reported that they had experienced a landlord entering their house without permission. 21% even got into a legal dispute with theirs for this reason.
Tell them about ghosts and asbestos in attics
Readers agreed that although any inspector would have eventually found out the evidence of these discrepancies and flaws in the apartment, nothing could have been more gratifying to the tenant than revealing the truth. u/ToddBauer commented, “As a landlord, that’s horrible. That’s pathetic; they are basically offering a free ‘out’ in exchange for the hope you won’t say much.” u/Jay-Rocket-88 added, “Should have mentioned the structural damage the owners told you about.”
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