Seething Tenants Get Satisfying Revenge On Landlord Trying To Unfairly Evict Them

In many parts of the world, there's no greater headache than participating in the rental market (if you're a renter). Landlords can be a notoriously tricky bunch, and there are far too many out there who want nothing more than to swindle those they rely on for their passive income.

Nonetheless, millions of us have no choice but to brave renting if we want the privilege of a place to live. All too often, it feels like those who own our homes have us over a barrel — which is why it's nice to hear stories of people getting some justified revenge.

This was the case with the cousin of u/EpicWinterWolf, who took matters into her own hands after finding out that her landlord was plotting to evict almost everybody in her building on false grounds, so he could renovate and bump up the rent. In a perfect example of malicious compliance, she and many of her neighbors got permission to do some repainting before their eviction notices got served. However, they didn't specify how they would redecorate.


 

Author image for Ally Perry Ally Perry
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  • 01

    The tenants first learned something was up when one of them discovered papers at the landlord's property.

    Font - r/MaliciousCompliance u/EpicWinterWolf • 11h 7 2 2 2 Let us paint the walls however we like while secretly trying to evict us? Okay! Not mine but my cousin's story she recently shared with me. Bit of a long one. On mobile Background: my cousin, her wife, and their two kids lived in a rented apartment along with five other resident units in a European country. It's not completely upscale but it's definitely not slum, and it's a really beautiful place. And by lived, their "landlord" decided
    via EpicWinterWolf
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  • 02
    Font - According to my cousin, who lived in apartment 3, they kept finding bags of garbage outside their door. Not theirs, but ones full of fast food take-out and very.. unsettling magazines. My cousin is vegetarian. She and her wife try not to eat take out. It's definitely not their garbage. But back to the story: basically, my cousin, her wife, and the other residents came together in their courtyard and realized that their landlord was faking these sorts of things to get them all evicted... w
    via EpicWinterWolf

    As the evidence mounted for the case that he was trying to build against them, they began to think of a way to counter it.

  • 03

    They took their free pass to redecorate to extremes.

    Font - Ali suggested that they all get permission to repaint their places, but in HORRENDOUS ways. Then move out quickly. Everyone except the older couple jumped on board, which as my cousin explained to me, they didn't want to start a fight in a losing battle. The older couple later managed to move into a retirement community that one of the families found for them to go to. Anyways. The rest of the residents agreed to it, and Scum Lord was sent email requests for repaints. And he basically sai
    via EpicWinterWolf
  • 04
    Font - So, while juggling their normal lives, my cousin's family and the other four units all have to find new places, start packing, set up everything for the painting and repaint their walls. My cousin decided to be extra vindictive, and buys a shit ton of black paint, along with varying neon colours. She and Ali then painted on as many layers of black paint that they could (after using primer of course), in every. Single. Room. Even the bathrooms and ceilings weren't spared! They finished in
    via EpicWinterWolf

    The tenants really got creative with the paint.

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  • 05
    Font - Cousin and Ali obliged. Court day comes and Scum Lord actually had a lawyer, and was suing all five of the former resident families at once. He claimed a whole bunch of crap, including all the reasons for the evictions... Maintenance guy destroyed him. Provided proof about the fake eviction evidence (ex. apparently some of the garbage included receipts from Scum Lord's own purchases, that damage to the sink in apartment 6 was actually from Scum Lord trying to fix it, etc). Then, they all
    via EpicWinterWolf
  • 06
    Font - Edit: formatting Edit 2: to clarify, former tenants want NOTHING to do with the old apartment anymore. And as for repainting.. I wasn't kidding when I said a shit ton of paint was bought and used. According to cousin, they painted in so many layers that every wall had over an INCH in thickness. And the ceiling was in centimetres. So imagine trying to clean up all THAT. And Lord knows how much paint was applied in the other units!
    via EpicWinterWolf
  • 07

    Redditors were delighted that the plan had worked out perfectly.

    Font - The-Original_Pancake 10h I'm a painter by trade. Roll out walls every day pretty much. When I saw black..holy shit I got the heavy breathing. When I saw CEILING?? Yea your cousin is a fucking sadist and I love her 6 Reply 4 Vote EpicWinterWolf OP 10h Thanks! Oh yeah she and Ali were PISSED. I think they might've saw another story online of scorned tenants using black paint so... I mean I recall a story about a guy painting every wall black and then using glow-in-the-dark paint to paint de
    via The-Original_Pancake
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  • 08
    Font - simpleredstar 9h As soon as I saw "paint" in the title I KNEW black was coming and was not disappointed. Good on your cousin OP! I hope they took pics, I gotta say the activity sounds incredibly fun!
    via simpleredstar
  • 09
    Rectangle - CoderJoe1 10h Ha! Scum lord painted himself into a corner. G Reply Vote + robotcrackle 9h He really couldn't brush it off. Vote 3 Alexis_J_M 8h Color me surprised. Vote theevilatheist 8h I bet he nearly had a stroke Vote 3 revchewie 5h He's a stain on humanity.
    via CoderJoe1
  • 10
    Organism - kittyprOnz 9h personally, I wouldn't mind a goth/Lisa Frank house with glitter paint. G Reply Vote e wildassedguess 4h Glitter- that's a nice refinement. By nice, I mean awful. I salute you.
    via kittypr0nz
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  • 11
    Font - Deikov 9h If only they had used oil based paint for this! G Reply Vote Dear_Analysis_5116 8h I have another suggestion: Epoxy. 1 Vote notthinkinghard 8h The real ideas are always in the comments. This made me laugh so hard.
    via Deikov
  • 12
    Font - savwatson13 7h Maintenance guys are the best. The one who was doing our rented house's maintenance came in to fix our bathtub after fixing a sink or something fuming. "He (landlord) told me to buy the cheapest one but that's why it keeps breaking. So I bought a super expensive one and he's just gonna have to pay for it". Super sweet guy
    via savwatson13
  • 13
    Human body - grauenwolf 8h tl;dr; Tenets do the landlord a favor by ensuring everything was freshly painted with the most durable paint they could find.
    via grauenwolf

    Unethical landlord practices were clearly no match for these quick thinkers. It just goes to show that there's power in numbers, if we're willing to put the work in.

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Tags

pro revenge landlord malicious compliance house funny story revenge redecoration rent eviction renting painting Reddit home
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