A while back, we asked the BuzzFeed Community about infuriating experiences they've had with landlords. We also recently wrote about terrible landlords, and people had their own submissions in the comments. So now we're back for even more — here are 27 more awful landlords that shouldn't even own property in the first place.
*I also took to Reddit's r/mildlyinfuriating and r/landlordlove for a few more examples.
1. "The morning after my Mom died, her landlord first thing in the morning came by her apartment to ask me if I had found the rent check for the next month. No 'I'm sorry for your loss,' nothing. Just, 'did you come across a rent check?'"
2. "My landlord used my bath towels to clean up sealant, then threw them away. My house has had a very bad mold and dampness problem for as long as I've been living here. There's black mold everywhere as well as huge cracks in the wall, and in January, my bathroom floor finally collapsed. I've been having to shower at the gym since January and have been begging them to fix it ever since. It wasn't until we threatened to report them to the health agency that they finally got their ass into gear and came to fix it. I arrived home to marvel at the shiny new shower, only to notice all of my bath towels and flannels were gone. I look in the bin, and whoever fixed the shower used all my towels to wipe up various different bits of sealant and this pasty looking stuff, then just chucked them away."
3. "My landlord texted me asking if I could turn off a faulty alarm system in THEIR building that happens to be outside my apartment. At the time, I was out of town at my brother's funeral. Even if I was in town, I cannot physically access it and do not know how to turn it off, all of which she knows. This was her response. While I was at my brother's FUNERAL."
4. "My mom was in the hospital being tested for cancer, and because of COVID, I couldn’t see her for a month. Her rent needed to be paid, but I was unable to drop off her checkbook. I called her landlord to explain, and he said that if it’s later than the 1st of the month, there’s a $25 late fee for every day it was late. I told him the situation, and he said, 'Cancer is not my problem; being paid on time is!'"
"I gave him my mortgage payment to ease her mind. He near doubled her rent since she moved in. He owned a beverage and liquor store and had at least 10 rentals I knew of — not to mention, she rented from him over a decade. We found out a week later that she was stage 4. She came to my house for hospice, and I was so happy she didn’t have to return there. I don’t think I could face the heartless POS again."
5. "A year ago today Oregon was recovering from a pretty bad winter storm. I came home from work and started making dinner when I heard a crash. The two balconies above my patio had crumbled from the weight of the snow and horrible dry rot and fell onto my patio. The apartment claimed they weren’t at fault. People could have died. They still haven’t replaced the balconies, either."
6. "My landlord was arrested with 12 charges for drugs and firearms, including meth and fentanyl, a little over a week ago. I just got a phone call from him during which he asked me to increase the rent I pay by more than $500 per month to cover the mortgage while he's in jail and/or prison. He's basically saying, 'If you want to continue to live in the house, then you're going to need to pay for it it while I can't.' Now, I've already paid $100 to go get his dog out of the pound, because it was with him when he was arrested, and brought it home with me to care for (guess I have a dog now). I've also paid an HVAC repair guy $65 to come out and fix our heat on top of continuing to send my rent via CashApp because I didn't know he wasn't getting it. I don't mind helping the guy out a bit, especially when it means I get to stay in my home, but I'm not paying his mortgage for him."
"Also, to be clear, he's not saying that he will pay me back after it's all said and done. Not that that would change anything. He wants me to assume this financial responsibility simply for the privilege of living in a home that I've lived in for more than a year now. My wife and I are going to start looking for a new place tomorrow."
7. "My landlord came into the apartment with no notice days before I was set to be out (though I wasn't staying there due to some issues making the apartment unlivable). I had piles of stuff set to go different places, such as my new place, to friends or family, the dump, or to donate, but I came in to clean one day, and things were moved from one pile to another, boxes that were closed had been opened, all of the spare apartment keys had been moved to another room, and when I walked into my old bedroom, which I hadn't cleaned out entirely yet, there were a few pairs of my underwear on the floor in the middle of my room, despite the fact that I had already moved my clothing out (I genuinely have no clue where the underwear came from, but it was definitely mine), and my jar of cash for my wedding fund was out in the open."
"I counted the money, but it had been a while since I had counted, so I could not tell if any was taken, but I know someone went through the jar, because I had all the bills in an envelope with a snarky note from my grandma, and the envelope was gone. It was the most unsettling and violated feeling, knowing someone had been going through my life without permission or my knowledge. I tried calling him on it, and though he wouldn't admit that he had done that, he dropped the issue of the last month's rent (which I would not pay, because the bathroom had been raining piss and feces from the ceiling every time the toilet in the upstairs unit flushed for two months, which is why I wasn't staying there)."
8. "I had a bad rat problem that was there before the move-in, and it just got worse the year I lived there. I kept texting and asking for help and an exterminator, but they were vegan and said they weren’t going to pay to have the rats killed (which is understandable), so they went with humane traps that caught, like, 2 of the 50. So, when I left and there was a still a rat problem, I was like, whatever, they can deal with it. I not only moved out of the city but out of the state. Well, I get a call from animal control saying I was reported for abandoning the rats, and the landlords had apparently told them I 'rescued them from outside and decided to domesticate them.'”
"I ended up having to send every screenshot of me asking for help and being ignored, as well as text convos with the old tenant before I moved in discussing the rat problem, to the head of the city animal control to avoid this whole abandonment charge."
9. "My girlfriend recently had her flat burgled. She is currently living alone in a three-bedroom flat as two roommates have moved out. Her landlord was having viewings for people who were interested and gave one group of people a key without taking any of their identification. They gave the key back as they said they did not want the room, and weeks later, when she was out of the flat, her room was completely ransacked. The door was locked when she left and open when she got back with the lock unharmed, so can be assumed they had made a copy. Her laptop for university along with thousands of pounds worth of clothing, electronics, and toiletries were taken along with all her drawers and diaries had been looked through and her room turned upside down. A bottle of what appears to be urine was left on her bedside table."
"The burglars had left an empty plate and cutlery from when they have apparently had a meal in the flat during all of this.The police have been called and originally said they would be round today and would be sending forensics round to investigate the flat and examine the plate and cutlery but have instead now said they will take a crime report over the phone on tomorrow and nothing else. So essentially nothing will be done or come of it (had not discovered the bottle when first spoke to police so will ask them to come look at that when on the phone tomorrow). Her landlord had initially said he will cover the cost of her losses as he is at fault for giving them access to the flat but has now said he will pay for her laptop and nothing else."
10. "My old landlord asked my husband to do some repairs around the house, and he agreed to take off some of the rent. So my husband did them, and the landlord accused him of tearing up his property. [We] ended up being evicted."
11. "When we mentioned that one of our dogs was still sick, she replied, 'Hasn’t your dog been dying for, like, two years!?'"
12. "Our condo had a water leak from a condo two floors above which ended up causing a black mold issue throughout our kitchen and guest bedroom. They brought in mold specialists and ServPro to fix the leak and treat the mold. While out of town, ServPro came to open up the ceiling and do some extensive repairs. I left my cat at the condo and checked the pet cam to check on my little guy and make sure he was okay and overheard ServPro telling our property manager that it appeared that mold has spread all the way down the hall and into the master bedroom, and mentioned they could demo and treat it, but insurance won’t cover it because it appears the mold has been there for quite some time. Our property manager replied, 'Only demo and treat the mold that’s covered under insurance. A little mold won’t hurt anybody.' And then left."
"After months of chronic headaches, rashes, hormonal imbalances, constant dry and red eyes, a persistent cough, and allergy-like symptoms, it was clear that mold was the culprit of what was making me feel so sick. Mold toxicity/mold illness is a real thing, and the fact our property manager wasn’t going to disclose the additional mold and was going to let us continue to live in a mold-infested condo completely disgusts me. The icing on the cake — we’ve been trying to contact our property manager for over two and a half weeks to let them know we are breaking our lease, and no one will return our phone calls, texts, and emails. And they’re never in the office either. [They're] the worst property management company I’ve ever encountered."
13. "I couldn’t stand this guy the entire time I rented from him. After I moved out, I wrote reviews on Google and Facebook detailing all the things he did. About eight months after moving out, I accidentally had an Amazon package sent to that apartment. I texted to see if he had it, and he tried to blackmail me into changing my review. I had to get the police involved to get my package."
14. "My landlord told me that hair down the drain caused my sink and shower to back up black gunk, and it was my responsibility to get it fixed. I had a shaved head at the time. He knew this, as we had met in person numerous times. Not sure how powerful he thought my pubes were."
15. "A few years ago, I mailed my rent check out about two weeks prior to Christmas before heading home for the holidays. Rent was due the 1st. The 5th rolls around, and I get a call from my landlord asking if there was something I was forgetting. I was shocked to learn it hadn’t yet arrived. I had lived there for, like, seven years at this point, never missed a payment before. He then threatened to evict me if he didn’t receive it the next day. Panicking, made it work, was able to get a check the next day. The following day after that, the original check arrived."
16. "When my old apartment building was sold to a new owner, he turned off the baseboard heat to all of the apartments (previously, heat and hot water were to be included with our rent) and installed two electric heating units, one in the living room, and one in the bedroom, making the heating of the apartments the tenant's responsibility. They were NOT sufficient at ALL — I used to be able to see my breath on winter mornings in the bathroom."
"That wasn't the worst part...there were fleas infesting the property, starting in the spring (I'd been there for seven years and had never had an issue until then). When I asked him to please treat the property outside and inside the building, he insisted that 'fleas don't come from outside, they come from animals.' So my indoor cats who suddenly have fleas are just...manifesting them? One of my cats died as a result. I couldn't wait to get out of that place."
17. "[I] was renting from a large rental company when I informed them that my suite had bedbugs. They refused to come check and kept insisting they were probably ladybugs (lmaooo)."
18. "When I moved in the spring, there was a soft spot in my bedroom ceiling that I asked about and was told it was fine. In the winter, I was woken up by a drip from the spot. The entire bed and myself were soaking wet. My apartment manager came and took a look, shrugged their shoulders, and said, 'I don't know what to do. I have a tarp we can put down?' A few days later, the maintenance guy came and wasn’t able to get a good look, so the manager told him to RIP OUT MY WET CEILING enough for him to stick himself through to look. This hole was huge. It was cold, and I’m on the top floor, so the hole served as direct access to the roof. I could see sunlight through this hole. They told me not to be too surprised if any 'furry friends' drop in. This giant hole existed, dripping on my bedroom carpet, for almost a full month."
"Then, they had to patch it twice because it was still dripping. We still don’t know what the real issue was."
19. "When we first moved in, I agreed to clean the house because our landlord had just lost her father and had a lot on her plate. I didn’t realize how filthy it really was. The worst was when we checked out the dryer vents because the dryer was taking forever to dry clothes. The vents were so full of lint, we don’t know how there wasn’t a fire."
"Almost completely full. I texted her with a picture and said, 'Thank god there wasn’t a fire when the dogs were home alone.' Her reply: 'Well, you told me you were going to clean.'”
20. "My last landlord said he was having issues with his bank because he moved, so he would just charge our card to his business at the beginning of each month. Fine, no issues, until we told him we were moving. All of a sudden, he started having money issues and then would 'accidentally' charge us for rent twice a month. Then, our last month we were there, he charged us for rent a month early after stealing our credit card information and then tried to evict us so he could sell his house. We moved out because he wouldn't stop harassing us, and we didn't feel safe."
"He said he would refund our rent and give us our deposit back. He didn't refund either. He said that we stole a priceless family artifact that he left at the house (we didn't) and that he wouldn't give us our money back until we gave it back. I tried pressing charges for theft, and they said it was a civil matter, and we would have to take him to court, but he most likely wouldn't show up or pay what he owed: $4,000."
21. "I recently moved in a granny flat (about three months ago) out of desperation after living in my car for 18 months. In order to get to my home, I have to walk through the owner's backyard where there are a pair of overly protective small dogs. The male of the two has even nipped me a few times. Today I overheard one of the occupants of the house giving the dog a bloody treat for barking at me just traveling to my home. No wonder the dog does it if it gets a treat every time. ... FYI, it's not just me — there's an adjoining flat where a guy has lived for more than two years, and he still gets harassed by these critters."
22. "I live in New England. This winter, I’ve had an ongoing problem with heat working in my apartment. I’ve notified the 'property manager' multiple times and was never given a good answer. At one point, I ended up without hot water for an entire day. I was told too many people were taking long showers. (At the time, my car and the property manager's cars were the only ones in the driveway.) After a short exchange in which I was told the boiler was 'more than adequate' even though it clearly wasn’t, based on my not having water, I was treated with some wrong-number texts that I assume were between the property manager and landlord. What a mess."
23. "[My] landlord added that no AC units are to be installed in the windows in the lease. Mind you, it was the dead of summer in New York City. And there is no central air! Good thing I read that lease because I pointed it out immediately, and he removed that line."
24. "I used to live in an old barn. I had issues with raccoons managing to break their way in through the roof and into my room. Sometimes, I’d see their little paws sticking and waving out the air vent. Obviously, I got a rabies vaccine…classic apartment issue. Anyway, one time I called the landlord, and his response was, 'I’m just going to leave a gun there for you to use if needed.'"
"I hate guns. I never used it."
25. "I subleased a room in a house. The landlord who owned this house also lived there. He also owned a dog and a cat. I lived upstairs. The floor downstairs is hardwood and tile, right? Upstairs, it’s all carpet except the bathroom. There comes a point — about three weeks in — when I start noticing little red bites on my legs. I think they’re mosquito bites at first. It’s another week later before I realize that they’re not mosquito bites, they’re FLEA bites, because I see jumping dots on my white socks."
"I mention this to said landlord, who owns said animals, who certainly tracked in said fleas. He tells me he’ll do a bug bomb before he calls the exterminator. It takes him a day or two to buy said bombs. I set it off myself. It does not work. I text him and tell him so, but he’s gone on vacation. At this point, it’s an infestation — they’re everywhere. I can’t walk without them on me. He calls an exterminator, but I guess it was a shit one because they’re all still there the next day. He texts back, 'I’ve never had one jump on me. Are you sure that's a flea?' Yes, I am, as I have eyes, and my feet and legs are dotted red. He says he’ll call again. Two days later, I ask about whether he’s called. He texts back, 'I’m extremely busy.' (He is not. I’ve seen him gaming on his PC.) He then texts that he hasn’t seen any downstairs. He’ll check upstairs later. Allegedly, he does. Texts, 'I don’t see a single bug.' I’m like, fuck it. I’ll send videos after work. I send seven, which I record in the span of two minutes. He texts back, 'Oh. Is that what they look like?' By a stroke of God’s grace, I don’t murder him in cold blood in the four days it takes the exterminator to come back and finally kill the fuckers."
26. "My landlord refused to hire an exterminator for a severe cockroach infestation and insisted on dealing with the teeming number of bugs himself. It would take 'only' 10 days for it to *maybe* work, meaning that my asthmatic self would have 10 days minimum stuck in an apartment riddled with bugs."
27. And finally... "Landlord in the first duplex my ex and I shared decided to plant a bunch of trees on the property. During the summer, he expected to use our water hose nearly every weekday to water the trees...but he never used the neighbor's hose. When we complained (our water bills were HUGE for two people), he threatened to add a monthly fee to our rent."
"He also regularly entered the unit while we were at work without warning because he 'needed to use the kitchen while he was working.'"
What are your worst landlord stories? Let us know in the comments!
Submissions have been edited for length/clarity.