rental horror stories.

[httpwebwitch]

these are all true & happened to me personally
* * *
Previous tenants had had cats. They left the litter boxes behind, full and stinky. Fridge full of mouldy food. an old smelly couch with questionable stains. Landlord offered a deal if we cleaned up the place before moving in, which we accepted. While cleaning, pulled up the carpet under the cat litter boxes to find the floor crawling with thousands and thousands of maggots
* * *
landlord had fixed a large hole (size of a dinner plate) in a plaster wall by gluing newspaper over the hole, then painting over the paper. Imperceptible, until someone leaned against it and their arm pushed through the wall.
* * *
same place as above:
Bathroom had a window, or rather, a hole where a window once was. In its place were sheets of plastic film wrap, layered 4 or 5 thick and taped around the edges and held to the window frame using thumbtacks. It let in light, and kept out rain (mostly).
In the winter that bathroom was so cold it was not uncommon for the bowl to be iced over in the morning. We had a plunger on hand to break the ice before using it.
* * *
different time and place:
lived one floor below from a "woman of the night", purveyor of the world's oldest profession, who would frequently have loud yelling arguments with her "business manager", she leaning out the window, he on the street yelling up at her. Sometimes they threw bottles at each other, and sometimes their aim wasn't so good.
* * *
another place rented by some friends of mine
the heat was kaput, and it was really cold inside. We attempted to heat the apartment by building a campfire inside a big canning pot on the living room table, and for fuel they used a pile of old Archie+Veronica comics found in the attic crawlspace. Not a good idea, in case you wondered. Burning comic books will produce hundreds of small "Cincinnati fire kites [youtube.com]". They managed to contain the fire... but the curtains were badly singed. Not to mention the toxic smoke and carbon monoxide. Note to self: do not burn Archie comics indoors to stay warm, unless you have a chimney.

[Yoshimi]

Hmmm, I moved in with a bunch of lads my (now) DH was living with and had to spend 10 minutes a day, for the first month chipping 1/2" thick limescale off the toilet.

Moved into a flat with DH, came downstairs one morning to find the area cordoned off with police tape, the guy upstairs had kidnapped and tried to rape a young boy :(

Went outside into my back yard 3 weeks ago, to find a policeman knocking on the door of the flat next door, he asked me a few questions, I couldn't help, but half an hour later he came back with a colleague and proceeded to kick the door down and search the place (still haven't found out what that was about)

Ok admittedly not so much horror rental stories as much as general house horror stories, but all have happened while renting and I have no others as I have had some great flats and great land lords :)

[LifeinAsia]

Not quite as bad, but in our last apartment we lived next to a couple who fought often. The walls weren't THAT thin, but they (well, she) often screamed at the top of her lungs. Apparently, he often cheated on her and for some reason she didn't seem to like it very much. The guy would try to hide in the bedroom, but she would go through the apartment slamming doors and then screaming some more at him. The entire building would shake when she slammed the doors.

I'm actually shocked that the cops never came (that I was aware of). I was half expecting them (and/or the paramedics) to show up one day because on or both of them had gotten seriously injured (or killed).

[wheel]

You haven't rented until you've been woken up at 3:00 in the morning because of roaches crawling on your face.

Stood me right up out of bed, that one did.

[limoshawn]

Hopefully it never happens to any of you but imagine if you will paying the rent on the 1st and getting a 3 day notice to vacate on the 2nd because the landlord got foreclosed on.
You wouldn’t believe how often it is happening!

[Jane_Doe]

You wouldn’t believe how often it is happening!

I do believe it because I know someone else it happened to. It's too bad there aren't consistent laws everywhere giving unsuspecting tenants reasonable notice to find a new place to live.

[Essex_boy]

Viewed a falt in Liverpool once, the kitchen window had three small holes in it, what are tehy then asked I, bulletholes was the reply.

There had been a shoot out last week in teh alley behind the flat.

Then there was the house in Hackney London, where you could smell it before you entered from about 15 foot away, the flat had to be gutted and rebuilt internally.

Then of course there was the partially eaten body (cats) a friend found in a house in Southend on sea.

Oh the joys of social housing.

[Essex_boy]

Moved into ahouse once really run down landlord didnt care and the rent was really, really cheap, sadly the previous occupant had used it as a place of business running shall we say a 'very personal service' type business.

For about 6 months after I moved these blokes kept knocking at the door, wonder what they wanted...

[Habtom]

For about 6 months after I moved these blokes kept knocking at the door, wonder what they wanted...

Didn't the guy leave "I have moved" banner at the door, how can he afford to lose this many customers. ;)

I have shifted quite a few times in the last 3 years (I think 5 times or so), I haven't seen that many problems. One time though, I shared a two bedroom flat with a couple of ladies including one who didn't mind passing by the door half-naked :) Does that count as a horror?

[edited by: Habtom at 12:17 pm (utc) on Jan. 8, 2009]

[Lexur]

Didn't the guy leave "I have moved" banner at the door, how can he afford to lose this many customers. ;)

Not everyone is so smart like us to fullfill dozens of threads with 301 and .htaccess to mantain every single web user. :)

[ken_b]

Wow... I hope 2009 brings you guys enough success that you can move into decent housing in better areas. :)

[engine]

I used to live next door to a completely crazy alcoholic woman. She'd return when the pubs threw her out and would be completely, incoherently drunk. She'd play the same track at full volume for hours upon hours. Some days, nothing, most days, lots of noise. It was no use knocking on the door as she'd not hear it. Even if she answered you'd guarantee a tirade of incoherenet abuse and spitting.

When the noise started I would often sleep in my car for a peaceful night.

When approached the next day she'd not remember a thing.

Incredibly, she had her 5 year-old kid in the property with her.

[wheelie34]

She'd play the same track at full volume for hours upon hours

I had a flat over 10 years ago and the guy next door also played his music over and over, even when sober!

My father made me a gismo that we hooked up to an amp for the neighbours enjoyment, the gismo had a microphone and took the sound in, delayed it for about a second then sent it back out to a speaker, well I put a nice big speaker against the wall and played his cr@p back to him same volume but delayed, he got the picture.

It was either that or a hiding

[iamlost]

A long time ago when I was in the HVAC business:
* called out by a landlord to a rental property to check a non-functioning furnace found the last disgruntled renter had shoved cut up fish/meat into the oil tank...

* another cut out the wallplates in the attic and stuffed whole fish down inside the walls...

* a surprisingly popular 'finger' to an evicting landlord was disconnecting the waste plumbing in the crawlspace...

[piatkow]

A former girlfriend of mine once found that her landlord and drilled a spyhole in the bedroom wall.

[LifeinAsia]

well I put a nice big speaker against the wall and played his cr@p back to him same volume but delayed, he got the picture.

I forgot to mention the apartment in Korea that had 2 small kids upstairs who used to run around ALL the time on their hardwood floor. Complaining to them did absolutely nothing. Oh, did I mention that the parents owned a small grocery store, so would come home around 2:00 AM and the kids would usually be hyper?

Finally, one morning after an exceptionally annoying tirade, I decided to turn the tables on them when I got up at 6:00 for work. I turned all the stereo speakers facing upwards (including a pair that I strategically placed under the kids' room), turned the volume up to 10 (I really wished I had one that went to 11 for that event!), and put on "Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains.

They moved out a couple of weeks later. :)

I still get a smile whenever I hear that song on the radio.

[Rugles]

"Man in the Box" by Alice in Chains

Excellent choice.

[swa66]

Old one: new upstairs neighbors would play bowling at home on their hard floor every night. First they move the furniture about, then you get the rolling ball, the falling pins, the heels tripping to the pins, the replacement of the pins, the trip back on the heels and it starts over for an hour or two. Every so often a loud cheer to top it off. "strike" yeah!. After that, the movement of the furniture back to the original position is a real blessing.

Luckily we moved out before too long.

[blend27]

Our Apartment was in a House that was wall to wall to another house, we were on the second floor. The Next door neighbors on the second floor had a Dog that was blind from simply being very old. They would let it out on the balcony 3 times a day. It was a small dog, hairless (most of the hair fall out), it tried to scratch it self into the oblivion, some spots reminded me of the dogs that were in Resident Evil, and it barked and barked and barked - none stop. It also went after the Mailman several times by jumping onto the roof of the car parked below and trying to get the poor fellow.

Some time had passed and on one sunny afternoon! we were surprised that the dog was not barking anymore, so I asked the neighbor, and she said that the Dog had retired.

And when all things started to look normal, guess what? I come out to the balcony, for a breath of "Fresh Air" and I hear even Louder barking noise coming from inside the house next door. But it was not a dog; it was a Talking Parrot, Large one that had decided that it was just too quiet and started mimicking the dogs barking.

There was nothing we could do about it so we moved...

[youfoundjake]

it pains me to wonder how much the archie and veronica comics were..

[Habtom]

There was nothing we could do about it

Barking dogs and noisy neighbours [knowsley.gov.uk]

[blend27]

Thanks for the link Habtom.

The owners daughter of the house we rented the apartment in was a best childhood friend of the lady’s daughter whose dog was barking and that daughter started dating the Chief of a local police department after he should up for the complains about the dog. We are in a small borough in North Jersey, US. Things are a bit different here. So complaining to the police was useless, totally.

At the end there was nothing that we wanted to do, BUT I took it out on a Chief a bit different way. Apparently I was the only one that was allowed to Vote in Mayoral Elections from 3 houses to the left and 4 houses to the right. So when the Mayor showed up a front of my door with the Chief of Police to get me to go and vote for him, I let it all out, all of it! That got their attention very well, the storry even made it to the small local newspaper ;)

[Essex_boy]

Incredibly, she had her 5 year-old kid in the property with her - Not that odd, I see it all the time in my line of work. very upsettig

[henry0]

<<<
It's too bad there aren't consistent laws everywhere giving unsuspecting tenants reasonable notice to find a new place to live
>>>>
Done! at least in the USA

[Bewenched]

No rental nightmares, but my husband and I were house shopping a few years ago and saw one that was incredible.. would have been perfect. We go back for a second look before making an offer on it and I just happened to notice some dark spots on the bedroom ceiling. Upon closer inspection nearly the whole bedroom ceiling and small "splatter" spots! Yea .. blood. The agent had failed to tell us that someone had done themselves in! Apparently violent crimes have to be disclosed if someone dies, but if it's by their own hand they do not!

[ytswy]

One of my landlords from my student days wanted to come round and lay new lino in the kitchen. Fair enough as it was filthy.

Came in to found him laying the new stuff directly on top of the old... then he found the kitchen door wouldn't open since the floor level had raised, so he cut the bottom of the door :)

For all that it was very cheap, and he was genuinely helpful when there was a non lino-related problem.

[piatkow]

A friend of mine landed job in London when she graduated and was looking for a flat. She found one she liked in a nice central location but the rent seemed far too high. She commented on this to the landlord whose repsonse was that there were "ways for a girl to make extra money".

She ended up in a low rent but respectable working class suburb instead.

[Yoshimi]

I have to give my current land lord dues here as he came round yesterday, in the last 3 years they have replaced the bathroom, and acid stripped all of the doors (which are original to the house and beautiful) he beeswaxed all of the doors, except 2, which he left because we have pet rats and he was aware that they have respiratory problems and he didn't want to cause them harm.

We moved the rats out of their room yesterday so he could finish the doors, while he was up seeing about getting a new fireplace fit, and while he didn't get round to doing the doors, he did leave us some daffodils! in nearly 3 years we haven't had a rent rise, and they were even ok when we told them that the rats had chewed some of the carpet up (because they know we will replace it if/when we move out) The neighbours may be a PITA, but the land lord is great :)

[johnhh]

We used to have a flat next to a "blue movie" club in London.

We never have had any problem with the "rain coat brigade" but more problems with the fights every Friday and Saturday night from the two pubs at the end of the street.

One Sunday we woke up to find 2 policemen standing in our bedroom - one of the flat mates had come home late and left the door open.

In the end the flat was to "redeveloped" but the landlord said its oK you can stay rent-free until you find somewhere else.
Oddly the same flats are on the market for major sums these days.

[martinibuster]

Twenty or so years ago I lived beneath a speed freak who'd frequently be up blasting metal and whatnot from Thursday night through Saturday and would crash on Sunday. Day and night total mayhem, with his awful laugh weaving in and out. His laughter was annoying, a muffled huh,huh,huh,huh,huh. It was the aural equivalent of rubbing salt into the wound of our sleeplessness.

So once, on a Sunday morning as the sunshine was pouring through my windows, I positioned the speakers close to the ceilings and cranked up some hardcore New York Industrial noise from The Swans [youtube.com]. After awhile I'd let him go back to sleep. But not for long. The Swans would be back on the turntable. Wash, rinse, repeat for as long as I was in the apartment. He never complained. He took his punishment as if he understood he had it coming and deserved every wrenching moment.

Another time there were two fatties living upstairs that enjoyed making love with exaggerated screaming. Then some nights the girl would pick a fight with the guy and we could hear it coming to blows. Only it was HER abusing HIM. One night he called the cops on her and they dragged that scary drug addled woman away. She finally left him and returned to Canada.

Months later I walked past the guy in the hallway and he was whining about how he missed her. I told him about the times I saw her hanging off drug dealers arms as she brought them up to his apartment while he was away and remarked that he was better off without her. He responded that he still loved her.