“Go Ahead, Call The City Inspector”: Tenant Finally Puts Landlord In His Place After Calling His Bluff

Landlords are a peculiar bunch. They’re either some of the sweetest, most welcoming and heart-warming people you’ll ever meet or they’re terrible tyrants who are greedier for your gold than a dragon. There seem to be hardly any landlords in between the two extremes.

Redditor u/movingtocincinnati shared their story about having to deal with an awful landlord, a corporation. The post quickly blew up on the r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit. After failing (i.e. not wanting) to fix recurring issues, the landlord didn’t believe that the redditor would ever dare to call the city inspector. But that’s exactly what they did. And the result was powerful.

Scroll down for the full story. When you’re done enjoying this oh-so-satisfying case of justice being served, tell us what you think of what happened. And if you’d like to vent about having to deal with horrible landlords, we’re all ears!

Bored Panda got in touch with u/movingtocincinnati, the author of the post, and they were kind enough to answer our questions. Read on for the full interview, including the redditor's advice on what you should do if you're ever in a similar sticky situation.

Once redditor u/movingtocincinnati got in touch with the city inspector, they set off an unstoppable chain of events that were great for the tenants. The inspector put the landlord in their place.

“The city inspector, the owner and the property manager came two weeks after that, the city inspector was whooping their asses. He laid it to them, it was bad. They have to deal with structural and foundational issues and some safety issues too,” the OP writes.

In the end, the landlord had to shell out way much more money than they would have fixing the issues in the building. Not only did they have to pay for all of the repairs, they also had to pay to relocate the tenants.

According to the redditor, the other tenants received compensation as well and got their moving costs covered, too. Meanwhile, the place the OP relocated to was closer to work, had cheaper rent, and had a very friendly neighborhood. Later on, they moved into their own house.

Bored Panda wanted to get redditor u/movingtocincinnati's take on why their thread became so popular on the platform so quickly.

"I think it has gone viral because a lot of people have been in my shoes, they might have [bad] landlords too, and it's just nice to hear a story where you just don't take it and fight back," they explained that the core of the story appealed to people's sense of justice and similar experiences.

The OP believes that landlords think that their tenants depend entirely on them which is why they allow themselves to treat them badly and avoid repairing what they have to. In short, some landlords think that the tenants are too desperate to stand up for themselves.

"This is so true in so many cases. Some tenants may be far away from home, have no support system, in a tight budget, need to stay in a certain school district, etc.," u/movingtocincinnati said.

According to the redditor, they talked to their lawyer right after calling the city inspector. "At first, they were just telling us to move out. I asked a lawyer what we were entitled to and he explained it to us. I would say cover your bases and know where to complain," they gave some advice for anyone who's ever in a similar situation with their landlord.

Before moving into a new place, it’s very important to have an honest chat with your landlord. You need to find out how long they’ve owned the property, how long the previous tenants stayed, why they left, etc. What’s more, you should have everything in writing so that there’s no vagueness in the future if things go south.

That means that if you need something fixed, do so in writing as well, so there’s a clear record. Furthermore, having a clear understanding of rental laws in your area can save you a world of trouble. And it’ll help you identify if your landlord is trying to take advantage of you.

According to the BMG Group, it’s incredibly important to ask the landlord about how maintenance and repair issues are resolved: who is responsible for what, how quickly things are done. If the apartment looks very worn-down, it might be a sign that the landlord doesn’t spend much on upkeeping the place. And that, in turn, might indicate that they won’t be willing to spend so much as a dime on repairs when you need them.

At the end of the day, knowing whether or not to rent a place comes down to a mix of doing your research and what your instincts say. Check up on what people are saying about the property online and what the landlord’s track record is.

Don’t forget to trust your gut. If you feel that something’s off, that something’s way too good to be true, it’s probably best not to rush into anything. And remember: read the contract thoroughly before signing. The sign of a good landlord is that they’re open to your comments about the lease. Meanwhile, a bad landlord will be unwilling to even discuss altering anything or might not even give you a contract to sign at all.