Tenants take to Twitter to share their horror landlord stories

From bubbling sewage to police protection, disgusted housing tenants are sharing their landlord horror stories on Twitter.

One of the true horrors of being a Gen Z or Millenial, is know that you’ll most likely be renting your whole life — which means dealing with landlords.

Now, they’re not all bad, in fact some are downright decent, but still there’s a never-ending supply of horror stories from renters who were treated terribly by their landlords. And when people do share their bad stories, we can’t help but read every word and cringe.It’s like witnessing a car crash.

"We had a landlord who tried to increase our rent on the basis of the financial situation HE was facing in the early months of the pandemic" – @XavierRN

Like listening to my friends recently as they told me that their landlord first of all lied about having separate water and electricity metres for the occupied granny flat out the back, then admitted the lie but still expected my friends to pay for the granny flat tenant. Wild times.

The latest thread of horror was started by writer Liz Duck-Chong, who took to Twitter to get renter’s tales of woe. Boy, did they deliver.

I will regret this but I must know your most cooked landlord stories.

— #2 liz (@lizduckchong) February 28, 2022

They hate spending money on repairs

As we all know, landlords love to cut corners. My current landlord is great, but that didn’t stop them picking the cheapest toilet seat even though it’s too small for the toilet and feels a little bit like surfing every time I sit down.

There’s also my old landlord who thought a solution to the black mould permeating the apartment that gave me pneumonia was to simply paint over it.

Both of these instances are nothing, though, compared to some of the Twitter tales. Like stories of collapsed roofs and sewerage overflow.

sewage bubbling into backyard.... their solution... to hand us a black and gold $1 bottle of disenfectant

— Grace (@birdie_sunshine) February 28, 2022

Ceiling partially collapsed in one bedroom and real estate claimed it was no big deal as it was our “spare” room

— Dr. Sassenach (@Dr_Sassenach) March 1, 2022

I lived in a flat attached to a cafe owned/run by a mad old German bloke who did all the maintenance himself. There was exposed wiring inside and outside and his WHOLE roof drained down the front stairs and right through our kitchen.

— Michael Moncrieff (@m_goeco) February 28, 2022

Although they’re perfectly happy to make you pay

In fact, they hate paying for repairs so much that they are more than OK asking you to pay for issues that have nothing to do with you.

Like a global pandemic, for instance. Or natural disasters. Or even home repairs that should have been done years before you ever arrived.

Found out the house was being demolished when a planning permit went up in the front yard. We got a new place faster than they expected so they hit us up for minor wear-and-tear repairs, then knocked it down.

— anna s-r (@annaspargoryan) February 28, 2022

During hurricane Irene, a tree branch fell on the roof. Thankfully no one was hurt. Landlord said the rent was double to cover the cost of repair and wanted the next month's rent in advance. When we objected, he said the repairs wouldn't be done until the money was paid.

— Pat Margaça (@patmargaca) February 28, 2022

I knew a landlord who finally had to replace the kitchen and bathroom so the tenants had to find other accommodation for a couple of weeks and she still wanted to charge them rent for those weeks that they were not in the house.

— Kate Lee (@carbon_nada) February 28, 2022

we had a landlord who tried to increase our rent on the basis of the financial situation HE was facing in the early months of the pandemic

— shut up, xavier (@XavierRN) February 28, 2022

A landlord just lay carpet over 3 rotted holes in the floorboards. We found 2 of the 3 by falling through the carpet.

— mutant blonde (@Stephcellent) February 28, 2022

Of course, then there’s the downright creepy

Still, I’d choose a cheap landlord over the downright creepy and bizarre any day. When will they realise that if they’re renting out their property, the don’t get to control every move their tenants make? And they certainly don’t get to invite themselves around on a whim.

Landlord implied to my flatmate she could only keep the stray kitten she adopted in exchange for sexual favours https://t.co/JfPnT4jih7

— land_lord_ally (@ljgillin) February 28, 2022

We had a landlord who let himself into our house while we were still asleep - (he thought no one was home, like that matters). And then he wanted us to let him live in one of the rooms Monday to Friday while he came to Sydney for work

— Caitlin Chang (@caitlinchang) March 1, 2022

Someone bangs loudly on the door. I open it. Flustered landlord strides past me & heads into the living room where my flatmates are drinking. He downs my glass of whiskey & sits. Loud banging on the door. I've been with you for hours, he says. I open the door to find the police.

— John Purcell (@Bookeboy) February 28, 2022

Of course, these are only a few entries from a very long thread. Honestly I could sit and read it all day. But the summary is: landlords suck.