When you rent a house or an apartment, it comes with certain common sense expectations. Like the idea that your landlord won’t barge in any time they want to without prior notice. Or that their family members won’t be on the premises partying in your pool.
However, some landlords take advantage of their tenants by adding loopholes to the contract that benefit them. Redditor u/gordorioaquinno went viral after sharing such a situation with the r/pettyrevenge community. The OP revealed that her landlord’s family members had been using her swimming pool and how the entire situation escalated from there. Read on for the story in full!
Probably the last thing you'd expect is to see your landlord's family partying in your pool
Image credits: Jonathon Burton (not the actual photo)
One tenant shared how she turned her landlord's lease loophole against him
Image credits: Timur Weber (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Pixabay (not the actual photo)
Image credits: gordorioaquinno
Be on the lookout for potential red flags before signing any lease
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
The first step before signing any lease is to read it in detail. Then, read it again. If you know any landlords or lawyers, you might even want to consider having them look through the agreement. They might spot any red flags or iffy wording that you might have missed.
Generally speaking, you can tell a lot about a landlord based on how they phrase the contract and how they react to you reading and criticizing it. Trustworthy landlords have no issue with you giving suggestions about clarifying wording or avoiding vague terms.
Meanwhile, someone who tries to pressure you to sign ASAP might have something to hide. Above everything, you want to make sure that you get the main conditions crystal clear. From what happens to your security deposit once you move out to who’s responsible for maintenance and what happens if you accidentally damage a piece of furniture.
It’s important to physically visit the property you’ll be renting and check every corner of the place. Don’t be scared to ask questions about the plumbing, the wiring, or any damage that you spot.
Make sure to check out the property in person before you agree to anything
Image credits: Max Rahubovskiy (not the actual photo)
Seeing the place in person will also give you a sense of the local area. If you’re particularly worried about noisy neighbors, you can always visit the place during different times of the day to get a feel for the atmosphere.
If you happen to have some more time on your hands, you can always swing by the local shops and talk to the clerks about what the neighborhood is like. They’ll probably be more objective than the landlord who simply wants you to move in ASAP. You should never agree to rent a property without inspecting it.
However, as redditor u/gordorioaquinno’s story proves, all of us can miss something in the terms and conditions. We can’t account for all possibilities. Especially if there’s something that’s been specifically left out of the lease. Say, that the landlord’s relatives can swim in your pool but can’t go into the rental property itself.
Whether or not the tenant and landlord can find some sort of compromise depends entirely on them
Image credits: Ono Kosuki (not the actual photo)
As the OP showed, someone who’s creative enough can turn the same loophole against the landlord. In this case, the tenant maliciously complied with the terms of the lease to get the strangers to stop using her pool.
In a way, it’s poetic. All the trash the strangers left behind ended up ruining their future pool parties.
What happens from thereon out will depend entirely on the author and their landlord. Hopefully, they can come to some sort of amicable agreement. For instance, they could decide that the tenant gets exclusive access to the pool for the entirety of her stay.
Or that the landlord’s family might have access to the pool on predetermined dates… but only if they clean up after themselves and maybe if the rent is reduced ever so slightly.
Many internet users shared their perspectives and gave the author some advice
