#2 The Landlord Didn’t Accept My Offer To Buy The House (I've Lived Here For 11 Years), So I Removed My Orchard
Misery loves company, and as a renter, you have a lot of company around you. A LendingTree Renters Survey found that 58% of renters have had at least one landlord they genuinely disliked. And as people in the statistics community would say, that is a majority.
So, most people who have ever rented a property walk around with at least one landlord-shaped wound and a very specific look that crosses their face whenever someone mentions security deposits. The remaining 42% either got extremely lucky, are landlords themselves, or have simply chosen not to think about it, which is a coping mechanism we fully respect.
#4 My Landlord Gave Me My 30-Day Notice
#5 The Landlord Thinks It’s Ok To Prop Dozens Of Units Open Like This For Hours, With The Residents Not Home
To understand why the landlord-tenant relationship so consistently produces the kind of stories that end up on lists like this one, it helps to understand the fundamental dynamic at play. Housing is not a luxury. It is not a lifestyle upgrade. It is a basic human need, in the same category as food, water, and not being rained on.
And the system we have built around it places the control of that need almost entirely in the hands of one party, while the other party hands over a significant chunk of their monthly income and hopes for the best. When profit motive and basic living conditions share the same postcode, tension is not a bug in the system. It is a feature. And some landlords have leaned into that feature with extraordinary enthusiasm.
#7 The Landlord Stapled A Notice On All The Antique Doors To Tell Us That It's Very Important We Don't Damage The Antique Doors
#8 Is This Legal?
#9 My Friend Woke Up To Her Entire Second-Story Patio Ripped Out. No Notice From The Landlord That This Was Happening
While a truly terrible landlord can be found in virtually every corner of the globe (they are, in that sense, a gift the world gives equally), renter advocacy reports consistently single out Australia and the UK as particularly rough places to be a tenant.
Both countries are in the grip of severe housing crises that have left renters with shrinking options, soaring rents, and the kind of negotiating power that comes from having absolutely no leverage whatsoever. When demand so dramatically outstrips supply, landlords don't need to be good at their jobs. They just need to own something. And some of them are making the absolute most of that arrangement.
#10 Email From Landlord About Appliances Being Left Plugged In, And The Appliances In Question
We pay the utilities separately from our rent! Our landlord doesn't handle the electric bill in any way, shape, or form.
They gave us 24 hours' notice before the inspection, which is standard in the US. From my understanding of the lease, I don't think we are allowed to decline inspections.
Our lease does not state anything about unplugging appliances when they are not in use.
Our landlord uses a company to manage everything. So we get hit with a double whammy of our landlord's feelings and the company's rules.
Thank you all for your input and recommendations! I have learned SO much. After hearing all of the horror stories/general fear about house fires being caused by rogue toasters, I will unplug it between uses (BUT only because I feel like it and not because my landlord told me to).
#11 Landlord Removed My Only Toilet Without Warning
No one offered me temporary accommodations, access to another bathroom, or even explained how long this would last. I spoke with the local health department today, and they confirmed this is a serious issue. Called the DOB, the apartment did not get a permit for this. This whole thing is not just involving my apartment; it's the whole line of apartments from the basement to the top floor. I can literally see the downstairs neighbor's bathroom (also without a toilet) through the hole where the toilet was removed.
For the sake of everyone's blood pressure, here is proof that things don't have to be this way. Germany has built one of the most tenant-friendly rental systems on the planet because landlords have very limited ability to evict tenants, and rent increases are so heavily regulated that "I'm just going to put it up by 40% because I feel like it" is simply not an option available to them.
Sweden requires at least three months' notice before eviction and caps annual rent increases at a reasonable rate. France even gives tenants the right to renew their lease indefinitely. Spain makes landlords give a full year's notice before eviction and restricts rent increases to once every three years. These countries exist and the blueprint is there. Some places have simply chosen not to consult it.
#13 A Landlord Looking For Advice On How To Charge Their Tenants And The Unborn Child
#15 The Property Manager Is Asking Us To Get Lost While They Try Renting Out The Unit Downstairs?
On the other end of the spectrum, there are some places where renters become bottom feeders, according to IREA. Dubai tops the list, offering zero property taxes on rental income and a legal system so flexible it practically does a backflip for investors.
Georgia (the country, not the state) allows evictions in as little as three days, which is a timeline so aggressive it barely leaves room for a strongly worded letter. Panama offers no state-mandated rent control and an eviction process designed for efficiency rather than compassion. Thailand features no rent control limits and eviction procedures that take one to two months. Basically, buy or stay away!
#16 I Left A Cup Of Water On My Windowsill To See If It Would Freeze Overnight, And My Landlord Fined Me For Littering
#17 The Landlord Keeps Entering My Apartment Without Notice
About a month ago, the outlet in my bathroom stopped working. I asked him on a Friday if he could come by to take a look at it. As I’m in the shower, I hear him in my hallway AGAIN, yelling, “Hello?” There is absolutely no way he didn’t hear the shower going from where the hallway is, but still decided to stand not even 3 feet away from where I was revealing. I yelled at him to get out and that I was showering. He said he would wait outside my front door. After I got dressed, I let him in and asked him why he let himself in while I was showering. He said he didn’t know I was in the shower, but that didn’t answer my question!
Today I came home from work around 8:30 PM and noticed that my trash can, which I keep propped up against the back door, was moved out of place, as if someone had let themselves in through my back door. My heart immediately sank. I thought someone had broken in. I sent the text attached, where he admits he was in my apartment while I wasn’t home. He sent no text message stating he would be here. No form of communication that he was coming by. Nothing.
I’m a single female living alone. I feel uncomfortable, unsafe, and extremely creeped out that she has invited himself into my apartment without any sort of permission or notice multiple times now. At this point, I’m wondering how many other times he’s done this.
#18 The Landlord Left A Note Saying, “No Hot Water. Sorry For The Inconvenience.” What He Really Meant Was
If you are a landlord asking yourself, "How can I be better?", the Lang Development Group offers some help. They treat renting as a business, yes, but they treat their tenants as people. Prompt maintenance. Clear communication. A basic respect for the fact that the property they own is also the home someone else is living in.
Privacy respected. Problems addressed. Messages returned within a timeframe that doesn't require a formal complaint to unlock. It is not a complicated standard. It is, frankly, the minimum. And yet these landlords in this list apparently found it aspirational.
#19 The Landlord Just Installed Cameras That Let Them See Inside My Apartment Through A Window
I'm aware of the concept of blinds, and will be putting them up. I am a little upset that my nighttime access to cold, fresh air is being obstructed, but I’ll be looking for a new apartment. It seems like folks are saying that if I can be seen by other tenants in the building in my living room, then I can be recorded by the landlord. Something about that feels very weird, but I guess I get the logic.
What I’ve learned the most from this post is that my wife and I are weird for not minding other tenants and the landlord being able to see our living room when they walk by.
Not seen in this picture is another newly installed camera that is pointed directly at our door by the exit sign. This camera also captures stairs leading up to our unit, so I’m not claiming the intent was only to watch us, but it does have that effect. I’m less concerned about that camera than I am the one pointed at my window.
#20 I Wish I Were Making This Up (Maryland, USA). It's Me, My Landlord's Personal Banking Service
