Landlord tries to falsely pin $5600 of rental damages on tenant after they move out, so they compile evidence from other tenants to prevent landlord from scamming again

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Sep 28, 2024 9:00 AM EDT

When you're renting, it's important that you document everything. Even when you think you've struck gold with your "seemingly nice" landlord, it takes a while for their true colors to show. Landlords are usually against you more than they're with you. It's a constant power struggle. At the end of the day, you are reliant on them for housing and utilities, and they can take that away from you in an instant. If you don't comply, you'll end up getting screwed over when it's time to move out and you're charged thousands of dollars worth of damages that you aren't responsible for.

The tenant in this Reddit story dealt with this a while ago when they lived in Germany. They lived in this apartment for seven years and the landlord privately owned the entire structure. A mom-and-pop landlord, if you will. The original poster (OP) writes that the landlord was always "super responsive" and got things done when needed. The OP expresses that he was nervous to move out, especially given the fact that he's heard horror stories about legal battles between this landlord and former tenants.

Well, upon moving out, the OP gets slammed with thousands of dollars worth of damages, one of which was price-gouged to the extreme and the other, completely untrue. With the help of their fiancé, they managed to get the damages down to 50 euros (56 USD). But, to prevent this landlord from exploiting current and future tenants, he compiles stories, photos, and documents to defame his landlord-ing character. Scroll to read the entire story and additionally, some stories from Redditors who've had their fair share of shady landlords.

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  • 01
    "[Every] single one of them had stories to tell, one regarding an illegal termination."
    via George Becker
  • 02
    Seemingly nice landlord tried to f me with the deposit after moving out
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 03
    tl;dr: my landlord tried to claim multiple thousands of € in damages after moving out based on mostly made of stuff, managed to not only drop that claim but also left him a "mini-union" of the tenants to work with.
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 04
    I lived in a rental apartment in Germany, Berlin for 7 years I rented the place from a private person who owns the whole house. The relationship was always very professionally and friendly. During the the
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 05
    lease, the landlord was super responsive if there was something wrong with the house or apartment. I only had to contact him something like 3-4 times during those 7 years though. I always feared
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 06
    the time of moving out because the landlord was suuuper correct in many aspects and I heard stories about legal issues between them and former tenants (nothing specific unfortunately). After I
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 07
    moved out and we did a hand over of the apartment (to the son of the landlord), I received a letter with an attached invoice of roughly five thousand €, almost the amount f the deposit which I still needed back
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 08
    desperately. I was shocked. It was a whole list of things he claimed damages for, best off:
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 09
    • a piece in the cheap off-brand build-in kitchen broke of (not relevant for usage) and they wanted me to pay for a brand new brand-made device with all sorts of fancy functions + the recycling of the
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 10
    old device, almost 1 € in total ... • he claimed panels on top of the kitchen and in the bath were missing but they were never there. It's either bad memory or just lying by purpose.
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 11
    Anyway, I sat down for the better part of three days in my holiday and destroyed. every single point to that was only 50 € worth of damages left, peanuts in comparison to the absurd amount I paid to him in rent over the years. Using
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 12
    the legal background of my fiancé, we send a strongly worded letter building on my input. As a result the landlord paid the deposit in full two weeks later and I never heard back of him (11 months now).
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 13
    I was so I, that he even tries this and that other people without the time and legal capacity at hand would have probably at least paid a share of it, wanted to get back on him.
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 14
    Revenge: I created a simple, nicely structured Drive Folder and uploaded all documents from my struggle but also all other documents, for example the rental contract and my yearly ancillary cost settlements of the past years. Then I invited the
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 15
    current tenants of the building (except 1 who might be close to the landlord) and explained my idea: Let's share insights about how this guy wants to screw us. I made all of them aware of the way he acts and how
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 16
    to deal with it and invited them to share their documents as well. Via one of the other tenants who lives there for 25 years already I could also get in contact with three other former tenants. All single one of them had stories to tell, one
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 17
    regarding an illegal termination. I think it will become way harder for him to screw with any of them. hehe Lesson: never trust a landlord, always document everything if you rent.
    via SouthFlimsy8047
  • 18
    • No-Court-2969 1d ago • Best defensive strategy is to take photos of everything both on entering and exiting property. If you do this with the landlord and document any damage and both sign the paperwork, you've just created a paper trail. I've found landlords or agents don't try bs when you do this with them openly.
    via No-Court-2969
  • 19
    ScowlyBrows... 22h ago. Document from the time you move in: photos of scratches, missing tiles or whatever, paint color, window blinds, etc.
    via ScowlyBrowSpinster
  • 20
    Labradawgz90 · 1d ago Whenever I rented, I took pictures of everything upon entering with the landlord there or realtor and when I left. (This was prior to digital age.) They didn't know I would be doing that and were always surprised. I rented one condo and it was
    via Labradawgz90
  • 21
    the realtor who was in the pictures. I took pictures of the rug. It was not only stained but was coming up by the door. The owner tried to hit me up for the rug when I left. I had pictures with the receipt of when the pictures were developed. He had to return the deposit.
    via Labradawgz90

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