'My tenant did over $50,000 in damages': Guy gives an atrocious tenant a good referral after her future landlord gets snarky on the phone with him

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Sep 13, 2023 10:00 AM EDT

There's a fragile balance of power when renters hand over a check to their landlord every month. Landlords need that money to come in and tenants need to live somewhere, so there's a predictable symbiosis in their relationship. Usually landlords are the ones with the bad rep, thwarting their power over a renter's desperation, but sometimes, landlords turn on other landlords when they get out-landlorded in public. When two apex landlords go head-to-head, there's no longer a predictable balance of powers– there's just pettiness and power flexing that almost always get out of hand. 

In this case, a property owner walks us through a hellacious tale of the world's worst tenant, a woman who singlehandedly cost him $50,000 in damages by flushing unflushable plastics down the drain. As fate would have it, after barely surviving the ordeal of dismantling his property to fish out the drain obstructions, OP's tenant had the audacity to ask him to be a character referral on her next rental. Lo and behold, the balance of power reared its ugly head once again. 

OP was fully prepared to warn the next landlord about his horrible experience, but when the new guy called him up to ask about the woman, his snarky, demeaning attitude made OP think twice about saving him the trouble. Scroll for the full story of how a landlord turned on another landlord when he was out-landlorded. Next, read on about another arrogant guy who gets exactly what he deserves after cutting corners on safety protocol at work, starting a raging wildfire and getting fired in the process.  

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  • 01
    Rectangle - er/pettyrevenge Posted by u/Xerzajik 2 days ago My Tenant Did Over $50,000 in Damages and Asked Then Asked Me For A Character Referral
    via Xerzajik
  • 02
    Font - Sorry, this is a little long. When my wife (24F) and I (28M) were starting out, we had a little old rental house downtown that we leased to male students. When we moved out of the county for a job I figured it would be easier to rent to one family rather than chase around six separate broke students for rent (shared bedrooms).
    via Xerzajik
  • 03
    Font - The first family that we put in there turned out to be a bad choice on my part. Misty (40F) was fine for the first four months or so. When I visited in person the house was noticeably getting gross. They weren't taking care of things. This might've been
    via Xerzajik
  • 04
    Font - somewhat forgivable but then Misty stopped paying rent on time. To make matters worse there was a plumbing issue that sounded expensive. The toilets were backing up and sewage was soaking the carpets in the basement. The whole place stank. I didn't even know why.
    via Xerzajik
  • 05
    Font - The plumber ran a camera down the pipes to see what was happening. He informed me that the clog was a result of a build-up of needles. You know, the kind one might use for drugs. I opted to pay $1,000 to have them use high pressure to flush out the system.
    via Xerzajik
  • 06
    Font - Unfortunately, my house was nearly a hundred years old so the high pressure destroyed the clay connector to the city's sewage system. The only way to fix it was to shut down a major residential road and dig to it for $30,000. Insurance wasn't in any hurry to pay either. I didn't have that kind of cash sitting around at the moment and Misty was still in there.
    via Xerzajik
  • 07
    Font - I wanted to evict Misty but it would be a long process and I knew that she would fight tooth and nail to stay as she didn't want to go back to her parents, who lived just down the street. By this point, my house resembled a hoarder's home
    via Xerzajik
  • 08
    Font - Rather than evicting Misty, I called the Health Department because they were living with no running water and a porta-potty that they rented in the backyard. It was gross. They also had two girls there under the age of 10. It took a visit from a team of sheriffs to get her out and only well after the property was condemned.
    via Xerzajik
  • 09
    Font - When Misty finally did leave she left about a hundred pounds of rotting meat on the front lawn. She also left the house a giant mess and stole many of my things. I was so relieved that she was gone that I almost didn't
    via Xerzajik
  • 10
    Font - care. She was a major source of stress in my life and in my marriage. It ended up taking several hundred hours and over $50,000 to fix up the house. Eventually, insurance came through for part of it.
    via Xerzajik
  • 11
    Font - Oddly, Misty had the gal text me to ask for a character referral for a new place since she didn't have anyone else. (other than her parents presumably) I was dumbfounded but texted back a thumbs up. Maybe I could save the next guy.
    via Xerzajik
  • 12
    Font - Eventually, I did get the call from the next guy asking about Misty. He was an apple to me on the phone. He was talking over me and talking down to me. He was an expert landlord doing his due diligence etc. I tried to get my story about Misty in but then I paused. I listened to him talk
    via Xerzajik
  • 13
    Font - down to me some more (I'm a total stranger, what the ho and then I waited until it was my turn. I told him "You know, Misty was great, I had some major plumbing issues otherwise she'd still be with me. Also, she's got a cute family."
    via Xerzajik
  • 14
    Font - Treat me with disrespect? Good luck with Misty!! You two deserve each other! Misty got the place and thanked me. Then I never heard from either of them again. Petty me.
    via Xerzajik
  • 15
    Font - panicboy333 2 days ago That did not end like I thought it would! 2.7k Reply Share OblongAndKneeless 1 day ago edited 19 hr. ago Long story about the tenant, petty revenge against their next landlord.
    via panicboy333
  • 16
    Facial expression - Budget_Elderberry903 - 1 day ago "You had me in the first part"
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  • 17
    Rectangle - zoology-holly 12 hr. ago On one hand I want Misty to face the karma gods, on the other hand (in general not to all of them) $2009 landlords especially this guy
    via zoology-holly
  • 18
    Font - CheckIntelligent7828 Always be polite to other people. Esp in the same business. You never know when 2 days ago you'll need something (the truth, a favor, help...) and, ya know, it's just a good thing to do.
    via CheckIntelligent7828
  • 19
    Rectangle - Neutrollized 1 day ago I loved it. You had me going thinking the petty revenge was against Misty, but then the plot twist was so unexpected.
    via Neutrollized
  • 20
    Organism - Thephilosopherkmh - 2 days ago It blows my mind when someone who wants a favor from you is an ? hole to you. What do they expect from that? They are always going to get sooped and they deserve it.
    via Thephilosopherkmh
  • 21
    Font - readical87 2 days ago Maybe message Misty "treat your new home the way you treated your last home."
    via readical87
  • 22
    Font - BurpFartBurp. 1 day ago Call him up in a year and ask how Misty is doing. 27 Reply Share ultraTay 1 day ago this was a very good petty revenge story like JUST the right stuff lol thank u for posting:)
    via BurpFartBurp
  • 23
    Rectangle - NioneAlmie 1 day ago I love how the petty revenge ended up being giving her a good reference lol
    via NioneAlmie
  • 24
    Gesture - disrespect? Good luck with Misty!" "Treat me with
    via u/canva

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deserved landlord revenge referral tenant landlords attitude petty revenge plot twist reddit thread Reddit payback
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