“I Don’t Even Know If It Looks All Good”: Tenant Refuses To Sign Inspection Form In The Blind, Is Told That She Wouldn’t Get The Keys Otherwise
Without a doubt, somewhere there is an ideal world where rainbow ponies live, honest politicians rule, and there are also representatives of management companies who never lie to potential tenants about apartments that are rented out.
But our world, alas, is not ideal, so landlords often try to deceive the tenants. Those, of course, are indignant, trying to achieve justice. Sometimes they get it, sometimes they don’t, and lately, they often take it to social media to complain online and warn other people not to repeat their own mistakes.
These tenants certainly include TikToker Jill (@killjill___), who recently recorded a video complaining about the inappropriate behavior of the management company’s representatives. The video went viral with over 328.5K views, so the social effect is likely to prompt the landlord to reconsider.
More info: TikTok
The Original Poster was going to rent an apartment using the online form
Image credits: @killjill___
So, Jill was going to rent an apartment using an online service. She chose the one she liked, filled out the registration form, and was ready to pick up the keys – but there was one problem. The fact is that the management company employees got in touch with her and asked her to sign the inspection form first.
Image credits: @killjill___
Jill was told to sign the inspection form in the blind though she hadn’t yet seen the unit
The woman was surprised because, according to all the rules, the inspection form is signed after the tenant has inspected the apartment, and she has not even seen it yet. The landlord said it was company policy, and after Jill moved in, they would send her a hard copy of the form.
Image credits: @killjill___
In response to Jill’s quite logical outrage, they objected that otherwise, she would not be able to get the keys to the apartment, and the company does this with all new tenants. As a result, the woman decided to record a video to share her thoughts online.
Image credits: @killjill___
Jill already had some bad experiences interacting with landlords in the blind
The fact is that Jill was not in fact indignant – after all, this is not the first time she has faced deceit from a landlord. Earlier, when she was choosing one of her previous rental apartments, building managers even sent her a video review. The woman liked the video, and she signed a contract.
Image credits: @killjill___
When she arrived at the apartment with her things, it turned out that everything was not as good in reality as in the promo video. For instance, the floors were not the best quality, and there was just a big hole instead of a microwave oven. When Jill went to the leasing office, she was told that some apartments come with no microwave at all.
Image credits: @killjill___
Image credits: dahon (not the actual photo)
The woman, of course, was indignant and demanded they buy a microwave for her, but the employees objected that since she had already signed the inspection form, this meant that she completely agreed with the state of the unit, which was the way it was when she arrived for the first time.
@killjill___ Luckily everything looked exactly as it was supposed to 😊👍🏽 #apartmenthunting #mfblackhottie ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show
Commenters massively supported Jill, warning against signing any documents in advance
People in the comments certainly supported the OP, telling many similar stories from their own experiences with dishonest landlords. Moreover, as some commenters note, before leaving the apartment, you can be blamed for all the damage that was in the unit earlier.
However, one of the commenters, posing as the assistant manager of the lease company, stated that Jill received the keys at the same time as the inspection form, after which she was given 72 hours to bring it back. In any case, as we can see, the video had its effect, and the company took certain steps to resolve the conflict.
We’re sure Jill’s situation will finally be fine, but for now, we’re just looking forward to your comments or similar narratives, so feel free to write whatever you think.
I may be wrong, but based on the Poster's experience, even with the signed form, is not "Bait and Switch" illegal?
The problem is proving it was bait and switch. Unless a person saved the video and it was specifically stated that the apartment shown was the one they were renting, or it was in writing that they were renting X apartment at X address and thays the one in the video,, the landlord can say anything. If you here someone say "This is like the one you'll get.", don't believe them.
Load More Replies...My parents payed for a house and they had looked at it and everything and it had a microwave and oven and a refrigerator. The landlord said that the people would be leaving the kitchen appliances. They were more than satisfied with that. When they bought the house they had removed all appliances! When mom called the landlord she said that the people had changed their minds and took it while they were moving out. My mom called the previous owners (friends of family friends) and they said that they apologized but they loved the appliances too much. Well we talked to the mutual friend and she convinced them to buy us an oven and refrigerator but we were all on our own for the microwave. We were satisfied. Until... they gave us 200 dollars for both appliances! No! What is that gonna pay for? They now lived in a three story and they were both surgeons so we knew they could spare 3 times that. This was also the fault of the realtor who had forgotten to call us to inform us of this.
Was she able to view before she signed ? But she could get them in trouble. For False advertising and coercion
You've completely misinterpreted the quoted comments in the article bored panda, the last part of the article is complete trash. That assistant manager comment is nothing to do with the building in question. I'm like surely you should know that but like, you're like maybe not like
That happened to me too. I was shown a very nice unit but then they switched it to a not-so-nice one with very low water pressure, defective appliances and broken fireplace but I was stuck. A year later, they raised the rent by 20% so I broke my lease and moved out. It was a very low quality apartment but in a very nice part of town. Buyer beware!
I wouldn't sign a lease until I saw what I was signing for, I wouldn't ask someone to either ..and I'm a former landlord.
This is probably a low rent apartment. There's too many tenants who only want to pay cheap, but then act like it's an expensive place. Cheap places are cheap for reasons, which are not always bad. Some landlords keep rent low to provide bargain places for people to live...but obviously there's going to be people like this lady who wants to pretend she's a diva. She should have found a more expensive places that divas must have. She picked this online service to rent a place blind, and cheao...then she wants to act like it's a palace. She had the option to get her butt there to see it, or perhaps have a friend or whatever look it over. If she's not satisfied, then she needs to get out of the way of others who'll probably gladly rent it. This is the kind of person who cheated many good landlords out of rent due to the recent anti eviction legislations that popped up from covid and blm type things. This lady is the red flag, not the landlord. I'd reject her.
So the point of the story is that she already fell for the trick of signing an inspection form before seeing the property?
I may be wrong, but based on the Poster's experience, even with the signed form, is not "Bait and Switch" illegal?
The problem is proving it was bait and switch. Unless a person saved the video and it was specifically stated that the apartment shown was the one they were renting, or it was in writing that they were renting X apartment at X address and thays the one in the video,, the landlord can say anything. If you here someone say "This is like the one you'll get.", don't believe them.
Load More Replies...My parents payed for a house and they had looked at it and everything and it had a microwave and oven and a refrigerator. The landlord said that the people would be leaving the kitchen appliances. They were more than satisfied with that. When they bought the house they had removed all appliances! When mom called the landlord she said that the people had changed their minds and took it while they were moving out. My mom called the previous owners (friends of family friends) and they said that they apologized but they loved the appliances too much. Well we talked to the mutual friend and she convinced them to buy us an oven and refrigerator but we were all on our own for the microwave. We were satisfied. Until... they gave us 200 dollars for both appliances! No! What is that gonna pay for? They now lived in a three story and they were both surgeons so we knew they could spare 3 times that. This was also the fault of the realtor who had forgotten to call us to inform us of this.
Was she able to view before she signed ? But she could get them in trouble. For False advertising and coercion
You've completely misinterpreted the quoted comments in the article bored panda, the last part of the article is complete trash. That assistant manager comment is nothing to do with the building in question. I'm like surely you should know that but like, you're like maybe not like
That happened to me too. I was shown a very nice unit but then they switched it to a not-so-nice one with very low water pressure, defective appliances and broken fireplace but I was stuck. A year later, they raised the rent by 20% so I broke my lease and moved out. It was a very low quality apartment but in a very nice part of town. Buyer beware!
I wouldn't sign a lease until I saw what I was signing for, I wouldn't ask someone to either ..and I'm a former landlord.
This is probably a low rent apartment. There's too many tenants who only want to pay cheap, but then act like it's an expensive place. Cheap places are cheap for reasons, which are not always bad. Some landlords keep rent low to provide bargain places for people to live...but obviously there's going to be people like this lady who wants to pretend she's a diva. She should have found a more expensive places that divas must have. She picked this online service to rent a place blind, and cheao...then she wants to act like it's a palace. She had the option to get her butt there to see it, or perhaps have a friend or whatever look it over. If she's not satisfied, then she needs to get out of the way of others who'll probably gladly rent it. This is the kind of person who cheated many good landlords out of rent due to the recent anti eviction legislations that popped up from covid and blm type things. This lady is the red flag, not the landlord. I'd reject her.
So the point of the story is that she already fell for the trick of signing an inspection form before seeing the property?
43
19