The internet is full of stories about evil and treacherous landlords, and there is a serious belief that they are one of the roots of all world evil. Moreover, we fully admit that even J.R.R. Tolkien wanted to call his legendary novel "Landlord of the Rings", but later changed his mind, not wanting to spoil relations with his own landlord.
But what if things aren't really that simple? Let's conduct a thought experiment and imagine that landlords are also people, with their own inner world, thoughts and experiences, that they appeared in this world not as an evil force designed to oppress the unfortunate tenants, but when they do something bad, they are also tormented with remorse. To do this, let's just try to look at the world through the eyes of one of these landlords.
For example, the author of this post on the AITA Reddit community, user u/otisthegreat69420, whose story, published about a year ago, has approximately 6.4K upvotes and over 2.1K comments as of today. Moreover, it's more proof of the validity of our experiment as most readers of the original post are convinced that the landlord at least partially wasn't wrong. Don't believe it? Let's figure it out together!
More info: Reddit
The author of the post is a landlord with several units they rent to different people
Image credits: Old Photo Profile (not the actual image)
So, according to the author of the post, they have several apartments that they rent to different people. Among these premises is an old trailer from 1955, which the Original Poster put up on their land, and for several years now has been renting out to a single mother with a 14-year-old daughter.
Image credits: u/otisthegreat69420
The landlord had been renting out an old trailer for $600 to a woman and her teen daughter for several years
According to the OP, the rental terms they offer are quite affordable - $600 per month, with the OP personally checking that she has working electric, water, hot water, heat and so on. However, according to the landlord's own words, in neighboring mobile home parking lots, the rent exceeds $500, and you have to pay for the trailer and have neighbors, but here, the trailer is on its own one-acre lot.
Image credits: u/otisthegreat69420
This went on for several years, until finally the roof of the trailer fell into complete disrepair. We must say that earlier the OP repaired the roof several times, but now, after analyzing the current situation, they just realized that it would be easier and cheaper to demolish the trailer and put a modular house in its place.
Image credits: u/otisthegreat69420
After the roof fell into disrepair, the landlord finally decided to tear the trailer down
So the landlord warned the woman in advance that they planned to demolish this unit, and that she had to look for a new home. Imagine their surprise when, by the appointed time, no one was even going to move out, and the OP did not receive money for rent either. Moreover, in the month that passed since the notice, the tenant has not even mowed the lawn in front of the trailer, which she has never done before.
Image credits: Mark Moz (not the actual image)
As a result, the woman simply refused to pay and move out, putting the landlord in a difficult position. Then they accepted the "rules of the game" and "moved" into the trailer themselves, declaring that they would now live here next to the tenant and her daughter. The woman got angry and called the police.
Image credits: u/otisthegreat69420
The tenant, however, refused paying rent as well as moving out, even facing the police
To no avail, as having familiarized himself with the situation, the officer sided with the OP, but at the same time stated that he had no right to evict non-paying tenants, since this was a rather civil law matter. The woman was even more upset, called the landlord all sorts of curse words - but still refused to leave.
Image credits: u/otisthegreat69420
The OP was even ready to make concessions and let her live on if she would pay - but now the tenant also refused to pay them. As a result, the OP found themselves in a difficult situation where they technically cannot evict the tenants, but they also cannot afford to lose income from their own property.
Image credits: Tyler (not the actual image)
Some people in the comments called the landlord "heartless", some just gave them wholesome advice
However, literally the very first comment turned out to be very sensible. Its author advised the landlord to call the building code people in their area so that they can deem the building unsafe and the tenant will have to move. The Original Poster was recommended to tell the woman they're calling code enforcement because they may not even let her enter to get her stuff if it is that unsafe.
On the other hand, the author of the post is literally blasted for being heartless as they allegedly provide unlivable facilities for $600. Some commenters have stated that, reading almost all the posts written by landlords, they wonder how it is even possible to be so cold and insensitive people.
You've probably already made up your mind about this story too, so it's time to sum up our thought experiment. It is likely that you have already changed your mind about landlords, or maybe you still consider them absolute evil. Whatever it was, we are waiting for your comments below.
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