A lot of jerks are only being jerks because they think they can get away with it and just need someone to cut them down to size. That’s why one Reddit user’s story of going above and beyond to make sure a scheming landlord got retribution is exactly the kind of success story we need to make the jerks of the world sleep with one eye open.
The story, posted in r/ProRevenge, starts when a couple decided to move out of their run-down attic after a flippant new landlord decided to almost double their rent. The landlord tried to get $80 out of them on the way out for some vague “cleaning” expenses, but they fought back, even when the disagreement ballooned to him taking their entire deposit.
That’s when a game of legal chicken started. According to the Reddit user’s story, it’s not cheap to take a case like this to the sheriff and most people aren’t willing to take the chance that it’ll pay off (presumably the same reason why jerks like “Jack” are able to keep jerking people around.) But they stuck to their principles, and pay off it did. Not only did the tenants get their entire deposit and their fees back, but Jack got a big, fat order to pay back the rest of the tenants who had reported him for doing the same thing in the past, but hadn’t pressed the issue after the fees scared them off. Not all heroes wear capes.
Image credits: Patrick Haney (Not the actual photo)
Someone shared a story of making sure this landlord got what was coming
Image credits: UnderwhelmingTwin
US housing services directory Porch conducted a survey of tenants and landlords in which they found that 24.8% of landlords admitted to keeping part of a security deposit that a tenant deserved! How many of them do you think do this because they’ve simply never had any consequences, and how many of them would think twice if they messed with a tenant who was prepared to get revenge?
Commenters commended the tenants for their dedication to getting justice
I remember the first apartment I rented cost me $454/m. Paid exactly that for 8 months on a 12m lease. New management came in and started charging everyone water and trash fees of an additional $50/m. I told them it's not in my contract so they sent an eviction notice. I let it ride through the court system until my lease was up and never paid them the extra money. They threatened to keep my $350 security deposit so I just didn't pay them the last months rent. Never be afraid to stand up for yourself. A lot of people I to think they have authority over you but they dont.
I had a place that had a 1/2 month's rent damage deposit and I didn't trust my landlord one tiny little teensy weensy bit so I just was "late" with rent for 2 weeks and moved out suddenly in the middle of the month so I had fully paid for all the time that I was there, and I didn't damage the place at all so he couldn't come after me because I just treated it as if my damage deposit was my 1/2 months rent. That was the only time. I've always gotten 100% of my damage back otherwise.
Load More Replies...This will sound really naive, but I can’t believe any decent person would do this. Or even a trashy one, for that matter....
Look at the videos for a show called "Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords" and prepare to be shocked.
Load More Replies...We had a landlord try to scam us too. We moved into a place that had the original carpet; about 30 years old, not tacked to the floor and wasn't clean. The place was dirty and there were holes in the walls when we moved in. The rent was cheap and the neighborhood was great so we didn't care. I didn't even care if we lost the deposit when moving out. My wife however, was furious when they tried to charge us for cleaning the 30 year old carpet and for replacing it. We did have some broken blinds that we owed for and a couple other things, but she took them to small claims court and won the whole deposit plus costs of $75. The look on that chicks face when she had to hand me that check, was priceless.
Good on him for fighting for it. Let me tell you, this kind of thing is a nightmare in Germany. I lived in 2 flats there: the first had some walls painted blue. In Germany, you have to leave everything painted white and no object anywhere in the flat. I had to buy paint and painted the walls, it took me a week. The landlord wasn't happy with it so kept my entire deposit (about €1000) for paying painters. There was no way it would have cost that. Second place: now we knew about this s**t so were careful. I got everything out and it was white, but we'd drilled a couple of holes in the wall for something but I filled them in again, but couldn't unscrew the light in my bedroom (screw was shredded, I think). Guess what, I lose my entire deposit. €2000 down for living in Germany. Landlords have a very bad reputation there, unless things have changed now. This was 15 years ago.
Friends had rented a house for ages, finally the (now dead) owner's kids wanted them out to "live in the house". So they found a good new place, and scrubbed the house top to bottom. Kids STILL kept their deposit, and then put the house up for sale! Now, in our city, this is veeery illegal! So friend takes them to court. She has all her ducks in a row, great documents, calm demeanor. Of course, she prevails, receiving double the deposit, cleaning fees, and legal fees. Sometimes it's worth it!
I mean... that lan dlord is realy trash man, but.... Paying to police for start investigate that? That is even more trashy!
Now, let me explain my comment here, immediately. I'd like you, the reader, to evaluate your own response to what I said above. You don't have to admit it to anyone but yourself. Now compare that to the fact that the exact same comment, except gender-reversed, went without comment or challenge above. Just something to think about before making any sexist replies.
Load More Replies...I'm picturing the other brother in Step-Brothers as the new landlord. The brother that was a jerk with the family. Also, I love what unit1101 wrote above.
......asked Brian for a sample of his signature, they knew that the check endorsement was a forgery, and refund him a full amount of payment. Now, the bank was after the landlord, what we heard last, was that the state police is looking for him. This time, the scum overdone it.
This is another one: my friend's boyfriend Brian rented a place - found a note in the closet from a previous tenant: 'be careful, this landlord is a scum, took us to court.' Knowing this, what did Brian do when he was moving out at the end of the lease? Believe it or not, he just picked up the phone and called the landlord giving him a 30-day notice. Of course, the landlord denied it, and came up with a copy of the lease, indicating the duration of this lease was extended, so he charged Brian, a late rent fee, penalty for breaking the lease, and refused to return the security deposit, again, Brian did not keep his copy of the lease. At the first court hearing, the judge did not buy it and ordered the landlord to return the full security deposit; landlord appealed; the second judge let the landlord keep half of the security deposit, what he (landlord) did is socking: he made up the check in full amount of rent, and forged Brian's signature (endorsement). The bank......
This can't happen where I live, the only deposit they can collect is the equivalent of the last month's rent, it must be held in an interest bearing account and the interest must be paid to the tenant annually, as set out by the province, regardless of how much interest they actually accrue and it can only be applied to the last month's rent, if they believe they have damages, they must file for them and go through the rental housing tribunal court system to gain judgement and collect, so they must be able to prove everything they are claiming three ways from Sunday.
I managed an apartment building for a few years. 28 states -- including Colorado -- and many municipalities have laws regarding deposits. In Colorado, the landlord must PROVE the tenant caused "damage beyond normal wear-and-tear" and/or didn't clean the apartment (including appliances and windows). THEN the landlord has 30 days to present the ex-tenant with a bill for the amount they spent to cure. If the landlord does not and refuses to pay back the damage deposit, the tenant may be entitled "treble damages" (3X the amount). Consult Small Claims filings, and pay the $20 to have the Sheriff deliver a subpoena to the landlord at their place of business -- or in some cases, at their workplace.
In at least parts of Canada, garbage and mess cannot be counted as damage, which sucks for the landlord. Someone leaves your place after a big party and you're legally stuck with the cleanup and they get 100% of their money back.
Load More Replies...My wife and I have had our troubles too. Over the years, it seems like it always happens when you go from one management that you are comfortable with to these corporations that are looking to revenue stream everything. In our case, they came in with 30 pages of rules that we now had to live by...yikes, lol. I won't deny that rules are necessary; but, it seems like anyway, our latest is trying to dictate every little point in our life. A funny example of our feelings was when I told my wife, if the new and current landlord had its way, we would only have our trailer and one car in the yard. Nothing else.
Not sure if this is possible everywhere, but my deposit is kept in a separate special bank account and can only be accessed when both myself and the landlord give permission for it. Never had an issue with it (even after moving) and it was completely free to open. I mean my landlords also haven't been dickheads, but still ..
I wish some one would help me. I dealing with a slum lord black mold in my residence caused by the neighborhood flooding his apt. They painted over the black mold here where I live its everywhere in here
Call the county health department and report it. Black mold grows in damp conditions and is a serious health hazard, but I don't think you should be penalized because of a careless neighbor flooding the apartments. Chances are the health department will notify the landlord of an immediate need to vacate the apartments with a deadline to remedy the situation; however, if you have no temporary place to stay, that could be a problem.
Load More Replies...In Florida, they have 15 days to notify you that they are withholding your deposit for damages. An amazing number of landlords don't know this.
What if you damage your place with less than 2 weeks to go before moving out?
Load More Replies...We do not hear enough positive feedback about victorious tenants in the court system. In fact the positive feedback is scant because of "the symbiotic relationships" that exist between the judge and the property owner that takes place right before the tenants eyes. I use "property owner". I loathe the term "Land Lord". I loathe the fact that the majority of property owners willfully and intentionally take advantage of tenants. I loathe the fact that the courts legitimate the property owner's "fraud on the court" by siding with most property owners. It is rare when a tenant is deemed credible. I went to court and told the judge that I hired the property owner, for the price of my rent, yet the rental owner was derelict of duty according to my contract. My rent owed me a responsible property owner who worked to keep my rental "habitable", and landlord-tenant law supports my stance. I told the judge the courts view it backwards. Tenants hire rental owners. Rental owners do not hire tenants. FYI: Get your head around that fact and keep it there.
I was in student apartments in college..same one for 6 years (got 3 degrees.) When I moved out, they not only kept our $250 deposit, but tried to charge us an additional $700. I demanded an itemized bill for the charges. It included painting, a damaged cabinet (that was scheduled to be removed anyway due to remodeling) and the replacement of two peel and stick tiles. Then I asked them if they could produce the document showing that they had informed us of the asbestos and lead paint in the apartment before we moved in (required by law and which they hadn't provided.) The clerk at the housing department took the bill and said if we paid $9 for the tiles, she'd let the rest go. Seems they didn't want that to become public or they would have faced fines from the state for not removing the paint and asbestos upon remodeling the other units. They'd already remodeled 24 units....
Aurora Co landlord did the same to.me and other 1194 South Troy 80012 kept my 895 to remodel then pretended he was renting it and sold the place 10/8/14 ‼‼‼ alot of people paid application fee and he had at least 100 ppl do application 50 a pop and he knew he was not renting the place he own places in the ski area does the same thing Jeff
That's fraud and he can be taken to court. Talk to a lawyer about filing a class actions suit. I bet there will be a lot of takers and they will probably go after him for more than the application fees.
Load More Replies...so glad that here the landlord Don't have that kind of power… america as so many s****y thing going on…you seriously need to clean your stuff … high prices scholarity, no heathcare, etc...
You certainly show distain for America. Have you live there and experienced it or are you an internet troll who loves to complain about America because it's trendy?
Load More Replies...I remember the first apartment I rented cost me $454/m. Paid exactly that for 8 months on a 12m lease. New management came in and started charging everyone water and trash fees of an additional $50/m. I told them it's not in my contract so they sent an eviction notice. I let it ride through the court system until my lease was up and never paid them the extra money. They threatened to keep my $350 security deposit so I just didn't pay them the last months rent. Never be afraid to stand up for yourself. A lot of people I to think they have authority over you but they dont.
I had a place that had a 1/2 month's rent damage deposit and I didn't trust my landlord one tiny little teensy weensy bit so I just was "late" with rent for 2 weeks and moved out suddenly in the middle of the month so I had fully paid for all the time that I was there, and I didn't damage the place at all so he couldn't come after me because I just treated it as if my damage deposit was my 1/2 months rent. That was the only time. I've always gotten 100% of my damage back otherwise.
Load More Replies...This will sound really naive, but I can’t believe any decent person would do this. Or even a trashy one, for that matter....
Look at the videos for a show called "Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords" and prepare to be shocked.
Load More Replies...We had a landlord try to scam us too. We moved into a place that had the original carpet; about 30 years old, not tacked to the floor and wasn't clean. The place was dirty and there were holes in the walls when we moved in. The rent was cheap and the neighborhood was great so we didn't care. I didn't even care if we lost the deposit when moving out. My wife however, was furious when they tried to charge us for cleaning the 30 year old carpet and for replacing it. We did have some broken blinds that we owed for and a couple other things, but she took them to small claims court and won the whole deposit plus costs of $75. The look on that chicks face when she had to hand me that check, was priceless.
Good on him for fighting for it. Let me tell you, this kind of thing is a nightmare in Germany. I lived in 2 flats there: the first had some walls painted blue. In Germany, you have to leave everything painted white and no object anywhere in the flat. I had to buy paint and painted the walls, it took me a week. The landlord wasn't happy with it so kept my entire deposit (about €1000) for paying painters. There was no way it would have cost that. Second place: now we knew about this s**t so were careful. I got everything out and it was white, but we'd drilled a couple of holes in the wall for something but I filled them in again, but couldn't unscrew the light in my bedroom (screw was shredded, I think). Guess what, I lose my entire deposit. €2000 down for living in Germany. Landlords have a very bad reputation there, unless things have changed now. This was 15 years ago.
Friends had rented a house for ages, finally the (now dead) owner's kids wanted them out to "live in the house". So they found a good new place, and scrubbed the house top to bottom. Kids STILL kept their deposit, and then put the house up for sale! Now, in our city, this is veeery illegal! So friend takes them to court. She has all her ducks in a row, great documents, calm demeanor. Of course, she prevails, receiving double the deposit, cleaning fees, and legal fees. Sometimes it's worth it!
I mean... that lan dlord is realy trash man, but.... Paying to police for start investigate that? That is even more trashy!
Now, let me explain my comment here, immediately. I'd like you, the reader, to evaluate your own response to what I said above. You don't have to admit it to anyone but yourself. Now compare that to the fact that the exact same comment, except gender-reversed, went without comment or challenge above. Just something to think about before making any sexist replies.
Load More Replies...I'm picturing the other brother in Step-Brothers as the new landlord. The brother that was a jerk with the family. Also, I love what unit1101 wrote above.
......asked Brian for a sample of his signature, they knew that the check endorsement was a forgery, and refund him a full amount of payment. Now, the bank was after the landlord, what we heard last, was that the state police is looking for him. This time, the scum overdone it.
This is another one: my friend's boyfriend Brian rented a place - found a note in the closet from a previous tenant: 'be careful, this landlord is a scum, took us to court.' Knowing this, what did Brian do when he was moving out at the end of the lease? Believe it or not, he just picked up the phone and called the landlord giving him a 30-day notice. Of course, the landlord denied it, and came up with a copy of the lease, indicating the duration of this lease was extended, so he charged Brian, a late rent fee, penalty for breaking the lease, and refused to return the security deposit, again, Brian did not keep his copy of the lease. At the first court hearing, the judge did not buy it and ordered the landlord to return the full security deposit; landlord appealed; the second judge let the landlord keep half of the security deposit, what he (landlord) did is socking: he made up the check in full amount of rent, and forged Brian's signature (endorsement). The bank......
This can't happen where I live, the only deposit they can collect is the equivalent of the last month's rent, it must be held in an interest bearing account and the interest must be paid to the tenant annually, as set out by the province, regardless of how much interest they actually accrue and it can only be applied to the last month's rent, if they believe they have damages, they must file for them and go through the rental housing tribunal court system to gain judgement and collect, so they must be able to prove everything they are claiming three ways from Sunday.
I managed an apartment building for a few years. 28 states -- including Colorado -- and many municipalities have laws regarding deposits. In Colorado, the landlord must PROVE the tenant caused "damage beyond normal wear-and-tear" and/or didn't clean the apartment (including appliances and windows). THEN the landlord has 30 days to present the ex-tenant with a bill for the amount they spent to cure. If the landlord does not and refuses to pay back the damage deposit, the tenant may be entitled "treble damages" (3X the amount). Consult Small Claims filings, and pay the $20 to have the Sheriff deliver a subpoena to the landlord at their place of business -- or in some cases, at their workplace.
In at least parts of Canada, garbage and mess cannot be counted as damage, which sucks for the landlord. Someone leaves your place after a big party and you're legally stuck with the cleanup and they get 100% of their money back.
Load More Replies...My wife and I have had our troubles too. Over the years, it seems like it always happens when you go from one management that you are comfortable with to these corporations that are looking to revenue stream everything. In our case, they came in with 30 pages of rules that we now had to live by...yikes, lol. I won't deny that rules are necessary; but, it seems like anyway, our latest is trying to dictate every little point in our life. A funny example of our feelings was when I told my wife, if the new and current landlord had its way, we would only have our trailer and one car in the yard. Nothing else.
Not sure if this is possible everywhere, but my deposit is kept in a separate special bank account and can only be accessed when both myself and the landlord give permission for it. Never had an issue with it (even after moving) and it was completely free to open. I mean my landlords also haven't been dickheads, but still ..
I wish some one would help me. I dealing with a slum lord black mold in my residence caused by the neighborhood flooding his apt. They painted over the black mold here where I live its everywhere in here
Call the county health department and report it. Black mold grows in damp conditions and is a serious health hazard, but I don't think you should be penalized because of a careless neighbor flooding the apartments. Chances are the health department will notify the landlord of an immediate need to vacate the apartments with a deadline to remedy the situation; however, if you have no temporary place to stay, that could be a problem.
Load More Replies...In Florida, they have 15 days to notify you that they are withholding your deposit for damages. An amazing number of landlords don't know this.
What if you damage your place with less than 2 weeks to go before moving out?
Load More Replies...We do not hear enough positive feedback about victorious tenants in the court system. In fact the positive feedback is scant because of "the symbiotic relationships" that exist between the judge and the property owner that takes place right before the tenants eyes. I use "property owner". I loathe the term "Land Lord". I loathe the fact that the majority of property owners willfully and intentionally take advantage of tenants. I loathe the fact that the courts legitimate the property owner's "fraud on the court" by siding with most property owners. It is rare when a tenant is deemed credible. I went to court and told the judge that I hired the property owner, for the price of my rent, yet the rental owner was derelict of duty according to my contract. My rent owed me a responsible property owner who worked to keep my rental "habitable", and landlord-tenant law supports my stance. I told the judge the courts view it backwards. Tenants hire rental owners. Rental owners do not hire tenants. FYI: Get your head around that fact and keep it there.
I was in student apartments in college..same one for 6 years (got 3 degrees.) When I moved out, they not only kept our $250 deposit, but tried to charge us an additional $700. I demanded an itemized bill for the charges. It included painting, a damaged cabinet (that was scheduled to be removed anyway due to remodeling) and the replacement of two peel and stick tiles. Then I asked them if they could produce the document showing that they had informed us of the asbestos and lead paint in the apartment before we moved in (required by law and which they hadn't provided.) The clerk at the housing department took the bill and said if we paid $9 for the tiles, she'd let the rest go. Seems they didn't want that to become public or they would have faced fines from the state for not removing the paint and asbestos upon remodeling the other units. They'd already remodeled 24 units....
Aurora Co landlord did the same to.me and other 1194 South Troy 80012 kept my 895 to remodel then pretended he was renting it and sold the place 10/8/14 ‼‼‼ alot of people paid application fee and he had at least 100 ppl do application 50 a pop and he knew he was not renting the place he own places in the ski area does the same thing Jeff
That's fraud and he can be taken to court. Talk to a lawyer about filing a class actions suit. I bet there will be a lot of takers and they will probably go after him for more than the application fees.
Load More Replies...so glad that here the landlord Don't have that kind of power… america as so many s****y thing going on…you seriously need to clean your stuff … high prices scholarity, no heathcare, etc...
You certainly show distain for America. Have you live there and experienced it or are you an internet troll who loves to complain about America because it's trendy?
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