Greedy landlords raise rent by $80,000 and give current tenants 1 week's notice, tenant's friends make house look 'as undesirable as possible'

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 7, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Welcome to our home, yes it is completely awful, have a look around! 

If only all realtors could be so honest when they're showing off new homes. Their words are often cloaked in disguise. They may say it's a "vibrant neighborhood," and what they mean is that it's very noisy 24/7. They may call a home "newly refurbished," but all they mean is that it got the "landlord special" consisting of a layer of thick white paint everywhere. Have you ever toured an apartment, only to notice baby roaches running around the kitchen, or heard rats in the walls as you walked around? 

No matter how grimy a home may be, there's someone out there who will buy it. So just imagine the lengths you'd have to go to, the sheer scale of plotting you'd need to do, in order to sabotage the landlord who's trying to sell it in the first place! 

This person is a great friend. They went above and beyond to help out their friends, who got a mere 7-day notice that they were about to be priced out of their own home. It's truly a masterclass on home-selling sabotage, as you can check out below. 

Next up, read about a DnD night that got cancelled all because one guest refused to take their shoes off: "I overheard his wife telling the other guests… I made a huge scene." 

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  • 01
    Man in suit gesturing ahead next to man and woman who are smiling, with messy house in background
    via Şahin Sezer Dinçer on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 02
    "Gazumping occurs when an agent or seller accepts an offer you make to buy a property at an agreed price but the property is sold to someone else. This usually happens when the vendor sells the property for a higher amount."
    via u/fibeenn
  • 03
    This happened 15 years ago and it is one of the proudest moments of my life. My best friend and her husband have 5 kids together. They lived in an expensive city and rented an old 4 bedroom house for $400 per week. The house was very rundown with a disgusting kitchen and stink drains but it was all they could afford at the time. Still, they made it work. The owner was a nice old lady who as extremely wealthy and very fond of my
    via u/fibeenn
  • 04
    friend. She froze the rent for 5 years and promised to let them buy the house once they had saved enough to get a loan from the bank. As she had helped other people in a similar way, they knew they could trust her and so they saved every cent they could. It took them 5 years but they finally told her they were ready.. Two days later, the nice old lady passed away; before anything was put in writing.
    via u/fibeenn
  • 05
    Enter the new owners. The lady's 4 children. Each extremely wealthy in their own right; they inherited a huge portfolio of properties. When they first spoke to my friends, they assured them that the sale would still go through but they would have to wait until probate had settled. Confident, my friends started making some changes to the place. They started by stripping wallpaper, painting and making plans. Finally probate was settled
    via u/fibeenn
  • 06
    and the owners agreed to go ahead with the sale for the previously agreed price. My friends applied for the loan but to their shock, it was refused. The owners had raised the asking price by $80000 without telling my friends. To make things even worse, the house would be put on the open market. In 7 days there would be an Open House and, with the market the way it was, it would probably sell immediately.
    via u/fibeenn
  • 07
    My friends were devastated. They might be able to borrow enough but it would take longer than a week to get. To make matters worse, property prices and soared recently and rents had gone up a lot whilst theirs had been frozen. Not only were my friends going to struggle to get the money. If the place was sold to someone else and they were asked for a higher rent or were evicted, it would be nearly impossible to find an affordable place with more than 2
    via u/fibeenn
  • 08
    bedrooms. I was scared for my friends but I was also incandescently angry. Those greedy sods were some of the wealthiest people in the city. They were over a struggling family for less than $20000 each. They didn't need the money. It as pure greed and it was obvious that they'd always planned to do this.
    via u/fibeenn
  • 09
    So while my friends scrambled to come up with the money, I started plotting. I looked up advice on what helps to make a sale. We needed to make the place as undesirable as possible without making my friends look like bad tenants.
    via u/fibeenn
  • 10
    Uncluttered: We moved all the furniture in from the walls, added some extra furniture and borrowed ornaments and hung a load of motorcycle memorabilia on the walls. The place felt more smaller. Smell: My friend boiled a head of cabbage on the stove and we sprayed ammonia around the front and back doors (because it smells like all the neighbourhood cats had been marking their territory). We also poured 2
    via u/fibeenn
  • 11
    dozen rotten eggs down the drain to make it smell like sewer gas Neighbourhood: We obtained a mouldy old couch and dumped in front yard of the neighbour across the road (with permission of course). Neighbourhood x2: We started calling friends for help. Anybody with a loud and crappy car was asked to do a few laps in front of the block during the Open Day. The street was unusually busy
    via u/fibeenn
  • 12
    that day. Everyone we knew found a reason to drive by. It was practically rush hour. Neighbourhood x3: We called out mates from the rugby club (full contact football without any of that soft padding). A big portion of our club are very large men. The next door neighbour set up a bbq in their front yard and we offered free food and cheap beer. They came on motorcycles, wearing their roughest gear. There was quite a crowd.
    via u/fibeenn
  • 13
    Man in navy suit gestures toward white room with plant, gray couch, and yellow rug, next to man and woman wearing jeans and smiling
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 14
    A lot of people showed up for the Open Day. Quite a few were in and out within minutes. One lady sat in her car and watched the party next door before driving away. The one bloke who stayed any length time, was brave enough to start up a conversation with someone leaving the party. He asked if they were often there and was told every couple of weeks or so, they have an after party morning and the party the night before was 3 doors up. The
    via u/fibeenn
  • 15
    party goer also helpfully mentioned the troublesome drains that are always getting blocked by tree roots and stinking up the place. The potential buyer left without making an offer. So my friends were the only ones to make an offer. They still had to pay more than they'd planned but not as much as the greed wanted. My friends signed the papers and paid the deposit that day. So when the
    via u/fibeenn
  • 16
    brave buyer put in an offer of $30000 more than my friends, there was nothing the owners could do about it (strict anti gazumping laws). I would have loved to see the owners faces when they found out. For all the people who are saying they had cheap rent. They didn't. $400 was the rent in 2004 and that was pretty high back then. By the time the lady d d, average rent for a house that size had only gone up by about $40.
    via u/fibeenn
  • 17
    Nowadays, 4 bedroom houses in that area go for approximately $800 per week.
    via u/fibeenn

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landlord housing house landlords apartment entitled people
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