Tenant who moved into new building taken aback by bizarre demands from 'overly strict landlord'

Rental agreements are considered sacred by law, but we have seen landlords dictating their terms or tweaking them after the contract is finalized. These unwritten demands and terms have been a matter of debate in the public sphere, yet not everyone likes to follow the rules. Similarly, a landlord recently went a step further in throwing their tantrums, making the life of their tenant nothing less than a nightmare. The tenant—who goes by u/Beginning_Camera953 on Reddit—claimed to have met her more than just “strict” property owner’s bizarre requests two days after moving into the new place.

In the post, a tenant revealed a text communication from her landlord demanding a complete night ban. The property owner asked her not to do any basic living activities, such as showering and cooking after a certain time at night. However, for the tenant, who is diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) coupled with other health-related issues, taking night showers provides a soothing comfort, according to her comment. “Just moved to a new place two days ago. None of this was made known to me before moving in,” she wrote, sharing the screenshot of a message sent by her landlord.

The contents of the message were neither part of the lease nor verbally discussed before the woman moved into the property. Furthermore, the communication exchange started with the property owner laying the terms in the form of multiple reminders.

“Hey, I just wanted to mention a few things. First is just a reminder that quiet hours are between 10:30 pm and 7 am. So, if possible, please refrain from showering, coming and going from the house, cooking, and stuff like that,” the landlord’s brief yet frank request read. They went on to share that the tenant’s bathroom shared a wall with their side of the property, which caused them discomfort at night.

Additionally, the woman had not anticipated that an undeclared bathroom ban was also coming her way. Showing no signs of shyness, the strict landlord wrote, “We share a wall with the bathroom, so it wakes us up every time it’s used past 10 to 10:30 pm.” These requests-cum-demands from the property owner raised an alarm in the tenant’s mind. The tenant described these demands as “crazy” and was put off by the post-contract additions. “If they want me to basically not exist past their bedtime, why rent out a room in their house?” the tenant added in the comments section. When someone suggested paying less rent since she could live at the place for only half the day, the woman said she paid $850 per month to the owner.

“If I had known they’d be like this, I never would have moved here. I’ve had s*** like this happen several times, where landlords purposely don’t give me the full details until after I move in because they just want my money. How can people be like this?” the tenant suffering from PTSD asked, inviting reactions from the subreddit community. Calling the landlord’s demands “disgusting,” u/out-of-spite99 remarked, “If they were worried about the noise that badly, they should not have leased space that is connected to their own home.” “I get home after 1 am every night. There is no way I’d be able to be quiet when I know damn well they wouldn’t do the same when I’m trying to sleep during the day,” u/Acceptable_Gain69 said.