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"She accused me of harassment." 7 Australian renters share their landlord horror stories.

 

Anyone who’s rented a home before has at least one landlord horror story.

From arriving completely unannounced to refusing to fix broken windows, we’ve all got a disturbing story to tell.

But to be honest, none of them top Steffy’s landlord horror story.

Steffy, who lives in London, went viral on Twitter over the weekend after he shared that he was evicted from his upstairs flat because his landlord (who lives in the downstairs flat) wanted to use the entire property to host his 50th birthday party. (Yes, really.)

After Steffy told his landlord that he felt uncomfortable with him using the communal areas in his flat, the landlord said that he had “very little option” but to evict him. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

landlord horror stories
Steffy shared the email from his landlord on Twitter. Image: Twitter.
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"My landlord served us notice because he wanted to have a party using the whole house," Steffy wrote on Twitter, responding to a tweet about renting in London.

"London landlords are the dregs of society," he added.

After reading Steffy's story, we decided to reach out to Mamamia readers about their landlord horror stories.

Here's what they shared:

Sarah

"I had a terrible one where the woman accused me of harassment and said she was afraid for her life because I kept asking her to fix our air conditioning. I was 19 at the time and had just moved to Sydney so I told her my dad had permission to be my proxy to communicate with her.

"She basically told me she was going to call the cops because she was in fear of her life because of my constant harassment. I sent her emails asking her when the air conditioning was going to be fixed because I was taught to always have a paper trail.

"Whenever I called her, she would yell down the phone at me that I was overstepping and thought I knew better than her and was an uppity little girl who should know her place."

Jane

"I found a decent-sized hole under the kitchen sink of our fifth-story Bondi apartment that went to the outside.

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"The landlord refused to patch it up, so we just had to lean a board against it because they told us if we drilled into the wall, they'd keep our bond."

Laura

"We have a giant hole in the wall from a possum (which is also huge) which the landlord refuses to fix so we have had to put duct tape all over the hole and move a speaker in front of it to stop it from getting inside. The possum runs around in the roof making the scariest sounds at 3am and scratching the wall.

"One time it broke through the tape and in the morning, half of its back and its tail were hanging out of the wall while it slept... yet the landlord still won't fix it. She keeps saying she fixed the hole in the roof so it can't get in but evidently, it hasn't been fixed."

Mamamia Confessions: The absolute worst things housemates do. Post continues after video.

Rachel

"We moved into an apartment and then realised that none of the windows actually opened so we had no natural airflow. It took us months to convince the landlord that this was an issue and also a basic requirement."

Elise

"My brother's landlord kept going into their place without telling them and then denying it. After the third or so time, they caught him on a baby monitor, which they were using to watch their new puppy."

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Bridget

"When I lived in London, I moved into the smallest room in a house share of five people in Hackney. The room was actually a converted bathroom – it had tiled floor, no plug sockets and a pulley light switch.

"There was a massive hole in one of the windows that had previously been used for bathroom ventilation. When I asked the landlord to fix it, he covered it up with an old Cornflakes box."

Cara

"I reported a blocked sink in the ensuite of our apartment (I share the apartment but have the room with the ensuite). The real estate agent didn’t reply after multiple hours so I texted the landlord (which he has told us to do if the real estate were not responding).

"He told me a plumber was a waste of money and just to use Draino. I told him I have tried three Draino treatments over the past month but it hadn’t helped. He said he would just fix it himself so came over when I was at work (which I agreed to).

"When I got home, the sink was no longer blocked but my beautiful hand towel was covered in black gunk from the drain, there were black marks all over the ensuite tiles and bedroom carpet from his boots AND he had used the toilet (and not for a number 1). I know it is technically his apartment but... still."

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