Landlord Won't Pay to Fix Washing Machine, So Woman Racks Up Laundry Bill to Force His Hand

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Eric Lund
Aug 26, 2019 12:00 AM EDT

Landlords always seem to promise things like working dishwashers and hot water, but sometimes fall short of their ability to provide an adequate living situation in exchange for your cash. Rent is expensive too, so paying a whole lot to live in a place with a terrible landlord who doesn't fix anything is an absolute nightmare. When this woman's boyfriend was being taken advantage of, she stepped in and made it too expensive for the landlord to NOT get the washing machine fixed.

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  • 01
    Text - r/MaliciousCompliance u/spare_princess - 12 hours ago Not so handy Landlord Won't Properly Fix Washing Machine and Dryer oc M About 20 years ago and I was dating the man I would later marry. He had an apartment that was a quad but wasn't surrounded by the best neighbors. It was sold, but he was kept on as a tenant by the new landlord. He wasn't a bad landlord per se, but he fancied himself a handyman. And he was cheap
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  • 02
    Text - So the washer and dryer (included in the rental) both break, and the landlord comes in to fix my boyfriend's set up. It works, but only temporarily, and they keep breaking, over and over again. It goes on for months. Boyfriend (who is a model tenant) finally complains lightly, saying that he's been going over to his mom's to do laundry, but sometimes he has to do it late, so he's been having to spend money at the laundromat. The landlord says that my boyfriend can bill him for the laundry
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  • 03
    Text - They broke again I'm far less tolerant about these things, but my SO doesn't like to be any trouble to anyone. Still, he's really tired of not being able to do his laundry at home, but thought it was really good of the landlord to offer to pay for his quarters at the laundromat.
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  • 04
    Text - Bless his heart and cue Malicious Compliance. This problem has gone on for 6 months, and I'm going to be solving it. I tell my boyfriend that hell then have to keep track of the quarters he spends, by date time and amount, and since there's no receipt, they might have to fight it out over the amount. And I just know he hates conflict. Plus, there's the time and gas he spends, which, while he could bill for it, any lawyer would argue that he would have spent time awaiting his laundry anywa
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  • 05
    Text - "But won't that be expensive?" he asks I grin inwardly and say: "It might be, but it's the only way to provide adequate documentation he's asking for. You can't prove what you spent at a laundromat. But you can with a laundry service. You'll include a copy of the bills with your rent, and a note saying that you've subtracted the amount that it cost to do your laundry this month, as a washer and dryer has
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  • 06
    Text - been included in the rental agreement and hasn't been working consistently properly for six months. Since there isn't documentation for the last six months, of course, we won't be retroactively billing him. Don't worry sweetheart, I'll write the note, and I will be SURE to thank him for providing this in lieu of getting it fixed. It really is nice of him." "Ok," he says, "that sounds good, but how do you even arrange for that? I know dry cleaning, but this is just laundry."
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  • 07
    Text - "I'll take care of the details, no problem," I reply. They charged by the pound and load, so I made sure to also include all the stuff he had put off washing since it wasn't a top priority. He'd only been doing the essentials for fear one or the other would break mid-cycle, and because he felt he was taking advantage of his mother. And boy howdy, it really WAS expensive having a laundry service do all his laundry. I arranged for regular pick up and drop off that was convenient for my SO.
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  • 08
    Text - The rent check he handed over w substantially lighter by more than $200. But all receipt copies did have the time, date and amount. Faced with the prospect of such a "bill" each month, the landlord scheduled an actual repairman to fix the machines one day after rent was handed over.
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  • 09
    Text - Mahhrat Score hidden 11 hours ago wipes away tear That's just beautiful
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  • 10
    Text - HammerOfThe Heretics Score hidden 11 h Nice. Reminds me of a line by Milton Friedman to the effect that reform happens not when the right people gain power, but when it becomes profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing. In this case, reform happened when it became less costly for the landlord to do the right thing, because you put the costs for his bad choices where they belonged: on him
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boyfriend laundry landlord awesome washing machine girlfriend nice clothes expensive money win
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