Landlord Denies $400 Refund For Repairs, IT Guy Amps Up His Machinery So It Costs Him $500/Month

Chances are, many of you have had to deal with a shoddy landlord at least once or twice. You know, the ones that ignore your complaints and concerns, raise rent prices without justification, hoard security deposits, whatever! 

This IT business owner, for instance, did some maintenance in the building to stop a leakage; however, the so-called “slumlord” refused to reimburse the costs, which essentially prompted the tenant to wreak some petty revenge. 

However, the landlord dodges the $400 bill and snarkily tells the tenant to “sue him”

“Slumlord refuses to pay for $400 building maintenance – pays thousands in electricity instead” – this internet user took to one of Reddit’s most vengeful communities to tell its members a tale of how they got back at their incompetent landlord. The post managed to garner nearly 2K upvotes as well as 114 comments discussing the tenant’s retaliation. 

According to a 2022 piece from iPropertyManagement, an American publisher that provides free resources for landlords, real estate investors, and tenants to help with all aspects of managing rental properties, 44.2 million households rent their homes!

Now, for those who are unfamiliar with internet slang, there’s a little term that summarizes property owners who do the biz in a rather negligent and exploitative manner – “slumlords.”

The unwillingness to make necessary repairs, disregard of safety issues, invasion of privacy, unauthorized rent hikes, mishandling of security deposits, discrimination, harassment, and overall lease violations – whatever it is, it’s safe (though sad) to say that a good portion of that percentage must’ve experienced at least some form of misconduct from their so-called slumlords. 

Yes, of course, there are professionals who live by their field and do everything ethically, making sure that their clients live in contentment and without leaking ceilings, tumbling walls, and, I don’t know, rats in their vents; however, we live in such a money-driven world that a lot of people simply lose their mind and only focus on the Benjamins. 

There are a couple of ways that you can fight it; for instance, by contacting local housing authorities, seeking legal advice, filing a gazillion complaints, or for the sake of saving your nerves, just packing up and leaving without looking back; however, in regard to today’s story per se, dipping into another building is hard when you’re a business owner, so when being civil only gets you a snarky “sue me” – perhaps revenge doesn’t sound so bad. 

The OP refused to take no for an answer and cranked up the electricity usage as petty revenge

Anywho, the story is pretty ordinary! 

u/Doctorphate, the author of the post, is an IT business owner who recently took to r/pettyrevenge to tell folks about their own horror story with a slumlord. 

Everything seemed to have been going relatively smoothly; the business had just moved into a decent building – however, life happens, and the AC unit that sits above theirs decided to act up and cause a leakage. The OP took the repairs into their own hands, knowing that once they were done, the landlord would reimburse the cost as the building is legally required to cover all heating, ventilation, and air conditioning issues. 

But! Instead of doing what he ought to have done, the landlord dodged the bill and told the netizen to “sue him,” knowing full well that getting the authorities involved for $400 wouldn’t be worth their time. 

Now, prior to this unfortunate event, the OP was very cautious about power usage, essentially aiming to somehow ease the stress of our already dying planet and save some cash for the building. Yet, after a lovely discussion with their landlord, they decided to retaliate and crank up their electricity, making the man pay around 500 bucks a month.

Fellow online community members shared their thoughts and opinions on the situation