Horrifying Landlord Stories
Landlords can be the worst—and these stories are proof. From the creepy to the controlling to the dangerous, these landlords have made their tenants' lives a waking nightmare.
1. The Old Switcheroo
I once had a landlord scream in my face because, in our contract, he had agreed to remediate the mold in our bathroom. I moved in and the mold was still there.
He flat-out said he had no intention of doing anything about it, so I told him that I had no intention of paying any rent until it was addressed. I then referred him to the relevant section of my state’s housing code.
For some reason, the jerk had the nerve to act like I was being the unreasonable one for expecting him to follow through on what he agreed to do verbally, with a handshake, and in writing.
2. Happy House-Swarming
I lived in a studio apartment above a bar in a downtown area. I had friends who had lived in that building for years, and I was pretty excited to move in. Everything was fine for the first six months, but then I started to have this strange feeling. Almost like the place was haunted. Things would end up in odd places, and I would sometimes see black shadows out of the corner of my eye.
I didn’t put much thought into it until one night when I suddenly saw a few shadowy movements in the kitchen area. I watched as the shadows tipped over my garbage can and turned on the light. They were rats!
And not the cute, little ones that I used to have as pets, either. These were massive, mean-looking “don’t mess with me” rats.
From that moment on, they stopped lurking in the shadows and became extremely gutsy—until it reached a terrifying turning point. I woke up one night to find a giant rat sitting on my chest, staring me down. I turned on the light and it didn’t even flinch! I complained to the landlord every day for a week, but he claimed that there hadn’t been any other reports of rats in the building.
The rats were getting progressively more aggressive. They even tore out sections of carpet, which created a terrifying whack-a-mole type of scenario. They would pop out, take something, disappear, and then reappear on the opposite side of the room.
I provided pictures of all the damage, but the landlord just shrugged it off and told me he had taken care of it.
I brought a friend over to show him how terrible it was, and when I jokingly opened the kitchen cupboards with a dramatic flourish. Big mistake. A literal squirming pile of massive rats came pouring out. That was the moment I walked. My landlord didn’t care that I was moving since I had a month-to-month agreement anyway.
I tried to get a prorated refund for the remainder of that month’s rent with my deposit. They happily gave me one…after deducting the damages to the apartment.
I had to pay for new carpeting, patching the holes that were chewed in the wall, and infestation control, even though I know the owner just sent his son to go look at it.
At the time, I was just so happy to be out of there, that I didn’t care about how much I had to pay, or that I had to replace a lot of my stuff that had been torn apart.
3. Turns Out I’m 100% That Dog
When I moved into my apartment complex, I had to get my dog’s mouth swabbed so that the landlord would have a record of his DNA. The reason why was truly ridiculous. They claimed they would do a DNA test on any dog poop that wasn’t picked up and would then proceed to fine me for it.
4. What’s In The Box?
I used to get medication shipped to me for a medical issue. It was a self-administered shot with a spring-loaded needle casing, and I had a safe disposal method all set up.
Each month, the little coolers of medicine were delivered to the main office of my apartment building, and for the first year, everything went smoothly.
Unfortunately, my building was sold and there was a new person running the place. When I went to pick up my meds for the first time after the sale, I went to the office as I always did, and I was in for a shock.
The previous people would always just pop my package into a fridge in the office that was set up for me. This woman did not.
Even though there was a massive “REFRIGERATE UPON DELIVERY” sticker on my package, this woman chose to leave it in the sweltering hot back room instead. It was pretty inconsiderate, but I could deal with it.
Then when she was passing me the box, she did the thing where she mimed like she was handing it to me and then yanked it back when I reached for it.
She said, “Are these needles? Are you having needles delivered?” And I said, “That’s none of your business. Give me my medication". She kept holding on to it and said, “Well, some of the neighbors are concerned because of the needles".
I knew this was a lie as my neighbors have never even seen my needles, and they have no clue that this is even something I need.
Yet again I told her that this wasn’t any of her business. She finally gave me the box, but every time I received my medication after that, she would give me major stink eye.
