Home Owner Films Horrible Changes Tenants Made While Renting His House, Goes Viral With Over 6.1M Views On TikTok
History knows many uncompromising rivalries in various areas of human activity, so popular that they even entered folklore. Red Rose vs. White Rose, Catholics vs. Protestants, Magic vs. Bird, kids vs. parents, pedestrians vs. drivers, tenants vs. landlords…
The internet is full of stories about terrible landlords, and probably a lot of them have a rational basis, because guys who rent houses and apartments to other people often behave in absolutely disgusting ways. But what about the tenants? In fact, there are no fewer stories about nightmare tenants, and here is one of them.
Jeff Kowalczuk, a.k.a. TikToker its_principle, recently made a video in which he told how his tenants literally abused the house he had been renting out to them. The video went viral almost instantly, with over 6.1M views and almost 250K likes, and over 15K people shared it just to espouse what ‘nightmare tenants’ can actually do.
More info: TikTok
The author of the video came to inspect his house after his tenants moved out as their lease expired
Image credits: its_principle
So, Jeff rented out the house, and after the lease expired and the tenants moved out, he went to inspect the condition of the dwelling. What he saw literally shocked the man. No, of course, it’s not just the mountains of garbage around the house and inside it. After all, nobody’s perfect, and Jeff’s former tenants are no exception. The landlord was rather struck by the changes that people had made in his house.
Image credits: its_principle
Image credits: its_principle
It turned out that the tenants made some incredibly tasteless yet DIY-enthusiastic ‘renovations’
If on the move-in day, its interior was quite ordinary and cozy – there are actually thousands and thousands of such homes around the world – then move-out day exposed the incredible DIY enthusiasm of Jeff’s former tenants, coolly mixed with an almost complete lack of any artistic taste.
Image credits: its_principle
Image credits: its_principle
The walls in the rooms were repainted in bright and completely disgusting colors (and, apparently, the painter was doing their job for almost the first time in their entire life), fragments of wallpaper imitating brickwork were also randomly scattered over the walls, and the doors were ineptly (but with a clear desire) stylized as steampunk metal with rivets. And on top of all this, like a cherry on the cake, mountains of garbage and dirty dishes lay in complete disarray…
Image credits: its_principle
Image credits: its_principle
A real estate agent says she has never seen such ‘renovations’ in her entire life
“Of course, it happens that tenants turn out to be extremely unscrupulous, it happens that they make quite radical ‘renovations’ in a rented house, but I must admit that this is the first time I’ve seen such a combination,” says Yulia Shurinova, a real estate agent from Odessa, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for comments on this video. “It would be interesting, of course, to look at the lease agreement – are there such significant changes and the possibility of sanctions for them?”
Image credits: its_principle
Image credits: its_principle
“Usually tenants are more modest and the renovations they make don’t look like the landlord will now have to do a major overhaul in order to move in the next tenants. Perhaps the author of the video should contact his former tenants and try to settle everything at their expense. In any case, he has all the chance of success,” states Yulia.
Image credits: its_principle
Image credits: its_principle
Image credits: its_principle
Image credits: its_principle
Image credits: its_principle
Most of the people in the comments also claim that it somehow just kept getting worse
Many commenters fully agree with the expert, only being completely surprised at the lack of any taste among the tenants. “Why did they have such bad taste OMG,” writes one of the people in the comments. “It somehow just kept getting worse,” notes the second one. “What in the DIY hell?” the third of the commenters asks quite a logical question.
However, the changes made by the residents led many commenters to obvious references in world popular culture. For example, the doors of the freezer reminded people of The Krusty Krab, and people in the comments called the overall impression of what they saw “medieval steampunk.” In any case, as one of the people in the comments summarizes, “personally I wouldn’t have rented to the Addams Family myself.”
@its_principle #landlord #tenantsfromhell #realestateinvesting ♬ Oh No – Kreepa
And now, in order to balance the impressions a little, let’s just remember one more tale – already more classic, about evil landlords. And besides, we, as always, would love to know what you think about this particular situation, so please feel free to write your own comments under this post.
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Exactly. Tasteless industrial fetish at that. I feel like people see pipes and rivets, and automatically say 'steampunk'... but for those who don't know, steampunk has a distinctly victorian style to it. The main colours are brass, browns, reds, purples and oranges. The whole style is basically; what if victorians used steam to power almost everything, and there's a bit of sci-fi technology as well with airships and the like.
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I'd make sure it's in the lease agreement that no alterations done to the house without owner's prior written approval. Hope he kept the damage deposit to pay for fixing this awful mess.
There's no way that deposit is going to cover restoring to the previous beautiful state
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At least those are just stickers and theoretically simple to remove. The doors and bad tile job are more of a hassle.
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I'm interested to know how long the tenant has been in the property. My gf rents and has been in her current place for 15 years. The lease states that redecoration is the responsibility of the tenant. The difference is that we literally just painted the walls with slightly off-white emulsion, and made a better job than the landlord, as I found a section of magnolia (the original colour the builders used) below the radiator. Yes, below, not behind. The lazy SOB couldn't manage to paint the bottom 3 inches of the wall the same colour as the rest! If this had a similar lease and a long term tenant, it is reasonable to expect them to have redecorated, though in future the lease might need to specify something about taste!
These people are why security deposits are SO HIGH. So thanks a******s
They must have money growing on trees. No way would I spend all that money let alone the time it took for something I don't own.
We've had leftover plaster and paint from fixing holes we've made and patched up a couple of patches from previous tenants and things like that but this is nuts.
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I call BS. I am a house flipper and if you go by the video. The renters changed the type of toilet. The stove became a different color and they added original trim back to the window. I believe this person bought it like this and then did a okay remodel but wasn't getting attention so posted the story backwards. Just my opinion and I have had bad renters, but never ones that put up expensive rock tile in a bathroom.
Anyone get the feeling the "after pics" were actually before? Some of the trim work gives me this feel...
The landlord replaced the original thick baseboards the house probably came with with new cheap ones when he reno-ed , not something a tenant would install - or replace. Notice how the toilet supposedly goes from an old style a modern one as well, suggesting the tenants bought a new low flush toilet - that the landlord must have removed. I can easily see the landlord removing the new toilet and replacing it with an old one from his own home, but I can't see the tenants replacing it at their own expense. The "after" pics are definitely "before". Just another dishonest landlord.
Load More Replies... These aren't move out pics, they are eviction pics, given all the personal items left behind. There's more to this story.
Not necessarily. From the state of the home, it looks like they probably had a LOT more junk than they needed to move. They probably just packed what they wanted and left the rest for the landlord to dispose of.
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They look like completely different rooms to me? Like in the bedroom the baseboards are totally different and the outlet in the wall is missing and also looks like the 2nd window is missing as well. The bathroom looked like a different room also
The before and after photos don't really look like the same place, like at all! Windows not in same place or same size, missing doorways? Even electrical outlets are "missing." IDK?
The reflection in the mirror is different. Did they move the stairs? Also, the toilet has changed.
I really dislike the "make my home their own" ..yes, the landlord owns the building but they are in no way interested in making it their own home ..it's unfair to the good tenants out there ..it's like they just have to exist in that place and pay off the landlords mortgage but never have the place feel like their own home ..as long as they aren't knocking down walls and ripping out cabinets etc..then I don't see a problem ..rentals should be repainted before a new tenant moves in anyway ..
Are they allowed to make such renovations without the landlord's approval? I understand changing paint colors. We lived in an apartment for a while that requested any walls we painted needed to be painted back to white before we moved out of else got charged a fee
Does not contract forbid "renovations" like these Or aren't they required to restore the house to its original condition before they leave?
Usually. That's been part of every lease I've ever signed. They definitely are not going to get their deposit back. However, I doubt the landlord will be able to fix this without spending more than the deposit. They would likely win a suit for damages in civil court. Of course, winning and collecting are two different things.
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How anyone can think that a bare, drab home with grey walls is 'lovely' is beyond me. It's like some folks are afraid of actual colors.
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I can only think of one word to describe this and unfortunately it is stupidity. To take something you DO NOT own and change it is a big no no, especially if renting. I work construction for a living and some of these changes are dangerous. The rental deposit will not cover what needs to be done from what I can see and renters like this ruin it for everyone else.
it's not to my taste, but everything was so grey and dull before. neither is good.
Sorry, but this is dishonest, pure and simple. The before and after pics are reversed. The landlord took his pictures AFTER he had the house renovated. Note the small baseboards in the post-reno shots, and the large ones the house would have been built with in the tenant "move out" shots which no tenant would have installed. Also notice the toilet - which goes from a new low flow flush in the tenant move out shots, to an old style toilet in the post-reno shots - and I can more see a landlord removing the nice toilet (to swap with an old one at his own home) than any tenant installing one - and leaving it. I would wager that the landlord bought the property with the tenant already living there, and then evicted the tenant to justify raising the rent several 1000% - and then he has the gall to shame the tenant for a house they probably lived in for decades, and which they modified it with the permission of the previous owner.
No lie, I kinda dig it; I could do it better but I like the idea. *But*, I wouldn't do that at a rented house, that's super weird.
Not renovation, merely decoration: My first rental apartment in San Francisco was small. I pasted colorful old bus transfers on the whitewashed walls for a trippy decorative effect. The landlady was not amused on moving-out day.
I would have made notes do not renovate or alter anything in the house before they moved in, if i came to a house like this i would go absolutely crazy, find them and then send them the bill to get it all fixed up again.
I'm pretty sure everything done was illegal and the owner should take them to court. I've rented two houses and a condo in my lifetime so far before owning the one I have and never did any renovations and when I moved out I probably left them cleaner than when I moved in honestly
That thing they put under the mantle, what is it even supposed to be?
Taste and style aside….I think we can all agreed that those “renovations” took a bit of time and money. I can’t imagine putting all that into a rental!
It's paint, not actual steel. You can see the brush marks.
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It's really not about whether the redecoration was tasteless or not. It's about the fact that if you're *renting*, you don't change the property without permission from the landlord. You don't paint, change the carpet, add or remove walls, etc, unless you're repairing something back to original condition. Aside from spending tons of money on something you're not going to keep, that property isn't yours. And your style isn't for everyone. It's going to cost the landlord a shít ton to restore it back to neutral, rentable condition. Unless you're gonna do that yourself, don't change it. Period. EDIT: But no, these people weren't classy at all. The decor I could've lived with, if I had to. But the fact that they left dirty dishes, ripped curtains, and general filth/destruction everywhere in their wake, shows that they were obviously trashy. I might leave a few scratches or even cracks, don't get me wrong. Things happen. But I always repair them to the best of my ability, take all my stuff, throw away what I don't, and clean the best I can, when I leave a place.
What country was the renter's from? I have a German friend. She has led me to believe that it's standard for long term rentals, for the Tennant to be allowed to do some redecorating. The caveat is that all changes are to be easily removed, and everything is painted plain white when they move out. That said. How can anyone be happy living in concrete grey? Sure it's fashionable - but if you want to live in a concrete house, just go live there instead.
Tweakers. No doubt about it. 35 years clean next March but I was one and recognize the symptoms.
one word for it is YUCK. Why didn't they have their own place. I am pretty sure they had to get the ok from the real estate first.
I get fallout vibes from it. I don't hate it. Just wish it done a little better. But don't do this to a rental house. Do it too your own place. Some one needs to put it back to normal after you leave.
This reinforces to me how lucky I've been with all my tenants. Never had an issue even remotely close to this. This is terrible!
My cousin rented to a guy who did the bathroom in aluminum siding that goes on the outside of a house.
My friends apartment looks like this. Minus the weird medieval thing going on. He is SO lazy. Refuses to clean up after himself. Everything is trashed. And yes, I judge him. He knows it. He is still a lazy sob
Years ago we lived in a rented flat. We did make a few alterations- cat flap, secondary double glazing, storage heaters. When we moved out we put everything back as it was, but left the storage heaters (there was no heating when we moved in) and the DG. Repaired the door and removed the cat flap. Painted every wall clean white. And still the landlord wasn't satisfied and refused to return our deposit. These people need to be found and taken to court for all the damages. It's outrageous they should get away with this.
The before pics are rooms that are all gray! Boring and depressing. The red, yellow and blue at least give the house some personality.
You are renting, WHY would you think you can make any changes to a place you are renting? Did they just crawl out from under a rock and think this is ok?
This is why I stopped renting my house.I was sick of cleaning up the trash left behind and having to repaint and repair.I just gave it to my son when he married.
Exactly. Tasteless industrial fetish at that. I feel like people see pipes and rivets, and automatically say 'steampunk'... but for those who don't know, steampunk has a distinctly victorian style to it. The main colours are brass, browns, reds, purples and oranges. The whole style is basically; what if victorians used steam to power almost everything, and there's a bit of sci-fi technology as well with airships and the like.
Load More Replies... I'd make sure it's in the lease agreement that no alterations done to the house without owner's prior written approval. Hope he kept the damage deposit to pay for fixing this awful mess.
There's no way that deposit is going to cover restoring to the previous beautiful state
Load More Replies... At least those are just stickers and theoretically simple to remove. The doors and bad tile job are more of a hassle.
Load More Replies... I'm interested to know how long the tenant has been in the property. My gf rents and has been in her current place for 15 years. The lease states that redecoration is the responsibility of the tenant. The difference is that we literally just painted the walls with slightly off-white emulsion, and made a better job than the landlord, as I found a section of magnolia (the original colour the builders used) below the radiator. Yes, below, not behind. The lazy SOB couldn't manage to paint the bottom 3 inches of the wall the same colour as the rest! If this had a similar lease and a long term tenant, it is reasonable to expect them to have redecorated, though in future the lease might need to specify something about taste!
These people are why security deposits are SO HIGH. So thanks a******s
They must have money growing on trees. No way would I spend all that money let alone the time it took for something I don't own.
We've had leftover plaster and paint from fixing holes we've made and patched up a couple of patches from previous tenants and things like that but this is nuts.
Load More Replies... I call BS. I am a house flipper and if you go by the video. The renters changed the type of toilet. The stove became a different color and they added original trim back to the window. I believe this person bought it like this and then did a okay remodel but wasn't getting attention so posted the story backwards. Just my opinion and I have had bad renters, but never ones that put up expensive rock tile in a bathroom.
Anyone get the feeling the "after pics" were actually before? Some of the trim work gives me this feel...
The landlord replaced the original thick baseboards the house probably came with with new cheap ones when he reno-ed , not something a tenant would install - or replace. Notice how the toilet supposedly goes from an old style a modern one as well, suggesting the tenants bought a new low flush toilet - that the landlord must have removed. I can easily see the landlord removing the new toilet and replacing it with an old one from his own home, but I can't see the tenants replacing it at their own expense. The "after" pics are definitely "before". Just another dishonest landlord.
Load More Replies... These aren't move out pics, they are eviction pics, given all the personal items left behind. There's more to this story.
Not necessarily. From the state of the home, it looks like they probably had a LOT more junk than they needed to move. They probably just packed what they wanted and left the rest for the landlord to dispose of.
Load More Replies... They look like completely different rooms to me? Like in the bedroom the baseboards are totally different and the outlet in the wall is missing and also looks like the 2nd window is missing as well. The bathroom looked like a different room also
The before and after photos don't really look like the same place, like at all! Windows not in same place or same size, missing doorways? Even electrical outlets are "missing." IDK?
The reflection in the mirror is different. Did they move the stairs? Also, the toilet has changed.
I really dislike the "make my home their own" ..yes, the landlord owns the building but they are in no way interested in making it their own home ..it's unfair to the good tenants out there ..it's like they just have to exist in that place and pay off the landlords mortgage but never have the place feel like their own home ..as long as they aren't knocking down walls and ripping out cabinets etc..then I don't see a problem ..rentals should be repainted before a new tenant moves in anyway ..
Are they allowed to make such renovations without the landlord's approval? I understand changing paint colors. We lived in an apartment for a while that requested any walls we painted needed to be painted back to white before we moved out of else got charged a fee
Does not contract forbid "renovations" like these Or aren't they required to restore the house to its original condition before they leave?
Usually. That's been part of every lease I've ever signed. They definitely are not going to get their deposit back. However, I doubt the landlord will be able to fix this without spending more than the deposit. They would likely win a suit for damages in civil court. Of course, winning and collecting are two different things.
Load More Replies... How anyone can think that a bare, drab home with grey walls is 'lovely' is beyond me. It's like some folks are afraid of actual colors.
Load More Replies... I can only think of one word to describe this and unfortunately it is stupidity. To take something you DO NOT own and change it is a big no no, especially if renting. I work construction for a living and some of these changes are dangerous. The rental deposit will not cover what needs to be done from what I can see and renters like this ruin it for everyone else.
it's not to my taste, but everything was so grey and dull before. neither is good.
Sorry, but this is dishonest, pure and simple. The before and after pics are reversed. The landlord took his pictures AFTER he had the house renovated. Note the small baseboards in the post-reno shots, and the large ones the house would have been built with in the tenant "move out" shots which no tenant would have installed. Also notice the toilet - which goes from a new low flow flush in the tenant move out shots, to an old style toilet in the post-reno shots - and I can more see a landlord removing the nice toilet (to swap with an old one at his own home) than any tenant installing one - and leaving it. I would wager that the landlord bought the property with the tenant already living there, and then evicted the tenant to justify raising the rent several 1000% - and then he has the gall to shame the tenant for a house they probably lived in for decades, and which they modified it with the permission of the previous owner.
No lie, I kinda dig it; I could do it better but I like the idea. *But*, I wouldn't do that at a rented house, that's super weird.
Not renovation, merely decoration: My first rental apartment in San Francisco was small. I pasted colorful old bus transfers on the whitewashed walls for a trippy decorative effect. The landlady was not amused on moving-out day.
I would have made notes do not renovate or alter anything in the house before they moved in, if i came to a house like this i would go absolutely crazy, find them and then send them the bill to get it all fixed up again.
I'm pretty sure everything done was illegal and the owner should take them to court. I've rented two houses and a condo in my lifetime so far before owning the one I have and never did any renovations and when I moved out I probably left them cleaner than when I moved in honestly
That thing they put under the mantle, what is it even supposed to be?
Taste and style aside….I think we can all agreed that those “renovations” took a bit of time and money. I can’t imagine putting all that into a rental!
It's paint, not actual steel. You can see the brush marks.
Load More Replies... It's really not about whether the redecoration was tasteless or not. It's about the fact that if you're *renting*, you don't change the property without permission from the landlord. You don't paint, change the carpet, add or remove walls, etc, unless you're repairing something back to original condition. Aside from spending tons of money on something you're not going to keep, that property isn't yours. And your style isn't for everyone. It's going to cost the landlord a shít ton to restore it back to neutral, rentable condition. Unless you're gonna do that yourself, don't change it. Period. EDIT: But no, these people weren't classy at all. The decor I could've lived with, if I had to. But the fact that they left dirty dishes, ripped curtains, and general filth/destruction everywhere in their wake, shows that they were obviously trashy. I might leave a few scratches or even cracks, don't get me wrong. Things happen. But I always repair them to the best of my ability, take all my stuff, throw away what I don't, and clean the best I can, when I leave a place.
What country was the renter's from? I have a German friend. She has led me to believe that it's standard for long term rentals, for the Tennant to be allowed to do some redecorating. The caveat is that all changes are to be easily removed, and everything is painted plain white when they move out. That said. How can anyone be happy living in concrete grey? Sure it's fashionable - but if you want to live in a concrete house, just go live there instead.
Tweakers. No doubt about it. 35 years clean next March but I was one and recognize the symptoms.
one word for it is YUCK. Why didn't they have their own place. I am pretty sure they had to get the ok from the real estate first.
I get fallout vibes from it. I don't hate it. Just wish it done a little better. But don't do this to a rental house. Do it too your own place. Some one needs to put it back to normal after you leave.
This reinforces to me how lucky I've been with all my tenants. Never had an issue even remotely close to this. This is terrible!
My cousin rented to a guy who did the bathroom in aluminum siding that goes on the outside of a house.
My friends apartment looks like this. Minus the weird medieval thing going on. He is SO lazy. Refuses to clean up after himself. Everything is trashed. And yes, I judge him. He knows it. He is still a lazy sob
Years ago we lived in a rented flat. We did make a few alterations- cat flap, secondary double glazing, storage heaters. When we moved out we put everything back as it was, but left the storage heaters (there was no heating when we moved in) and the DG. Repaired the door and removed the cat flap. Painted every wall clean white. And still the landlord wasn't satisfied and refused to return our deposit. These people need to be found and taken to court for all the damages. It's outrageous they should get away with this.
The before pics are rooms that are all gray! Boring and depressing. The red, yellow and blue at least give the house some personality.
You are renting, WHY would you think you can make any changes to a place you are renting? Did they just crawl out from under a rock and think this is ok?
This is why I stopped renting my house.I was sick of cleaning up the trash left behind and having to repaint and repair.I just gave it to my son when he married.
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