Landlord reprimands tenant for not reminding him that their lease was expiring: 'He gets money for being a landlord but doesn’t want the responsibility that comes with being a landlord?'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Apr 12, 2026 10:00 AM EDT

Should you have to remind your landlord about when your lease is up?

Dealing with a landlord is one of the more annoying things that most of us have to deal with in our lives. It's never fun, and it always leaves you feeling that you wish you could afford to buy a house. But that dream is probably a long way off, and so you're left to deal with annoying landlords who do not like to do their jobs. Everyone should feel comfortable in their own space. If you can't feel comfortable at home, then where are you going to feel comfortable? You want to be able to set it up in a way that suits your needs and makes you feel good. If a landlord is always intruding on your space, then how are you to deal with that? 

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  • A landlord holds keys in front of a set of stairs
    via Jakub Żerdzicki

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Landlord is mad at me because I didn't remind him to kick me out.

    I've been living in my apartment for over 10 years now. I've never really had altercations with my landlord, and I was under the impression that he was content and that I could stay here until I maybe find an affordable alternative with more modern facilities.
    via Sowizo
  • Recently I signed another five- year lease after my landlord's lawyers reminded me the rental contract is about to expire. Which, for me, is not a problem at all because in such an event the lease is extended automatically. The thing is, his lawyers disclosed that he actually wants me gone but since the deadline was exceeded, his only option would've been to sue and evict me.
    via Sowizo
  • Welp, I guess I got lucky for once. A few weeks later, he's ringing my doorbell. Unannounced, of course. Obligingly, I let him in and hear him out. Not only did he go off on a rant about some new EU law that's really, really distressing for poor landlords like him, he also had the nerve to criticize my terrace (too many leaves) and my couch (too close to the wall).
    via Sowizo
  • He's seen my couch at least five times over the course of the last 10 years and now all of a sudden "the walls can't breathe" because of it? I can only assume he would've found more problems as he was about to go explore the rest of the apartment, but I stopped him and told him it's not a good time (it really wasn't as my lunch was getting cold) and that he should call me for another meeting.
    via Sowizo
  • Alas, the best (or worst) part was what I mentioned in the title: During his rant and prompted by some questions of mine, he emphasized how badly he wanted to throw me out of my apartment in order to renovate and rent it out to a café that is supposed to open here (oh, so that's why he hasn't fixed the various flaws in the apartment yet). Finally, he reprimanded me for not reminding him the lease
    via Sowizo
  • was about to expire! He admitted he didn't know whether the contract says I have to do that (it doesn't), but apparently, he very much felt like I should be obligated to. What the f lol It'll be a cold day in h I when I start watching out for the interests of my landlord.
    via Sowizo
  • Honorable mentions: his proposal to informally shorten the new contract to 3 years and his contradictory statements about my chances in case the whole thing would go to court. LL F landlords. Houses should be owned by those who live in them.
    via Sowizo
  • Home and land purchase contracts sit on a desk
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • It's frustrating to have to deal with people who don't want to do their jobs. It brings you back to that old middle school feeling of being put in a group project with people who are going to dump all the work onto you. No matter how much you nag them, they just won't do it without some external management. You didn't sign up for that extra responsibility, but you're saddled with it no matter what. This can happen at work, at school, or even with your own landlord, as this one tenant learned. His landlord wanted the perks of the job, but not the actual responsibility, which put him in an odd position. After months of fielding his complaints, the tenant had to draw the line somewhere. He didn't know how to proceed without everything coming crashing down on him. Nobody wants to deal with a pesky landlord, especially someone who is going to make you feel bad about your life choices. Keep scrolling to see what happened here and see how the tenant dealt with it. And then be grateful that this isn't your landlord, and that you're not the main character in this story.

  • Commenters gave their takes on this situation.

    bananaramaworld Wait wait wait.... His job in this scenario is "landlord". He gets money for being a landlord but doesn't want the responsibility that comes with being a landlord? You know like knowing when leases end?
    via bananaramaworld
  • Smiley001987 "the walls can't breathe" this made me lol.
    via Smiley001987
  • SilkMuse- if your landlord wants you out that badly, he should've just sent a "kick me out" reminder card instead of expecting you to do his job good luck with that cafe.
    via SilkMuse-
  • short_fat_and_si... Won't this break zoning laws? At least he would need a bunch of permits to go through with it. Plus those kind of businesses have a high failure rate so he could end up losing rent for months.
    via short_fat_and_single
  • Shooter61 If you find another rental... Offer up a mutual termination of the lease early for a cash incentive. Cash for keys is the expression used in the states.
    via Shooter61
  • Slow-Boysenberr... lol i had a landlord get mad at me for not reminding him my lease was up. didnt technically have a lease for 2 months, then he wanted to evict me on the first day of the month but make me pay for that whole month. stupid
    via Slow-Boysenberry2399
  • rf31415 Seems there is money to be made from him buying you out.
    via rf31415
  • TrueManufacture Call him back and say you're OK with cutting the duration of the lease to three years, as long as he cuts the rent by 3/5 too.
    via TrueManufacture
  • Repulsive_Incide... In the US, specifically Florida, landlords can tack on "junk fees" like if cops go to your house because of noise and LL finds out it then you can get charged $50-$100. Junk fees cover random things the landlord wants to prioritize. All they always charge a cleaning fee but never put it towards cleaning.
    via Repulsive_Incident27
  • No_Piece1281 Congrats he wants to make a fuss but he just gave you tons of evidence to sue him. Time for him to start fixing up the apartment or pay the piper.
    via No_Piece1281
  • Conceptualizati... Reminder in a lot of places it's the tenants responsibility to only reasonably clean the apartment and broom sweep clean the floors. Any meticulous or ridiculous cleaning standards they have most likely won't apply to you and are the landlord's responsibility to ensure is clean. Not like it won't all be getting renovated anyways.
    via Conceptualization1
  • Don't do more than you have to make sure to review your lease agreement to know all your responsibilities and don't do anything you don't have to just because he "feels" you should've done this. Take pictures of all the rooms after the final cleaning to ensure he can't claim damages and try to steal your security deposit.
    via Conceptualization1
  • Unable-Ad-6339 I'm sorry your landlord is such an AH. You don't owe him any reminders. Your only obligation is to honor the contract. You are NTA for this.
    via Unable-Ad-6339
  • That being said, you're generalizing recklessly. Landlords are not by nature AH's, specific people are. "Houses should be owned by those who live in them" - and who should be responsible for paying the mortgage, insurance, rates and taxes, maintenance etc? Do you have any idea what
    via Unable-Ad-6339
  • that costs? Do you have any idea how long it takes to save for a deposit? The only thing you're doing with this. statement is making people think you're grossly uninformed. Or a communist. For that, YTA.
    via Unable-Ad-6339
  • realAndytheCann... If "houses should be owned by the people that live in them" buy a house. It is 't as easy as it seems and it sounds like he wants to go commercial instead of residential. Won't have those problems if you buy a house.
    via realAndytheCannibal

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bad landlords landlord tenants rights lease tenant landlords bad landlord money
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