Internet Backs Tenants' Revenge On Landlord Over $400 Fine For Non-Existent Dog

A ruthless couple have been praised after regaling the internet with the story of how they struck back against a landlord who attempted to charge them $400 for breaking their lease by having a dog.

The only problem being, of course, that they never had one.

In a post shared to Reddit's "MaliciousCompliance" subreddit, a woman detailed how she and her husband had begun renting a house while they tried to buy their own place.

At the time the landlord "seemed so nice" and she said they felt they had landed themselves in a "great situation." After finding a place to buy, they gave notice on the rental, sending their landlord their information along with the keys to the property.

It was only when they got their deposit back some two months later that they discovered he had taken $400 out. "We were shocked to say the least," she wrote.

The issue centered on the condition of a section of outdoor carpet which she said was in a "gross" state when they got there due to the fact it was unprotected from the elements.

The landlord, it turns out, told them in a letter "he was taking out the $400 because we had broken the lease by having a dog, and his proof was the condition of that carpet."

Obviously this was the source of some considerable frustration to the couple who "did not have a dog" and had put up with the "gross" carpet for several years.

Yet when they tried to explain that to the landlord he "was having none of it" and ignored their attempts to contact him.

It's a painful scenario and one that, unfortunately, will be familiar to many who have dealt with difficult landlords in the past. A study by Porch.com revealed 11 percent of tenants said their landlords failed to take due care of property repairs.

More concerning though, the study found 23.8 percent of tenants also felt landlords unfairly held back part of their security deposit, while 24 percent of property owners polled in the same research admitted they did exactly that.

Things appeared to be heading in a similar direction for the couple dealing with this particular landlord, until they decided to fight back. According to the woman posting to Reddit, they discovered that under their state laws "landlords have exactly one month to send the deposit back."

"He took two," she added.

Under the state law, their landlord was therefore liable to pay back three times the original deposit amount, which totaled out at $1,800. "So we sued," she said. "We no longer wanted the $400 back; we wanted $5400."

Though the lawsuit proved "somewhat painful" with their landlord dodging their attempts to serve him papers, he was eventually forced to hire an attorney and the matter was settled out of court with the couple taking home $2,000 on top of the original $1,400 deposit money they first got back.

Plus they filed with the help of a friend rather than an attorney meaning they made off with the majority of the money, and all because their landlord tried to charge them over a non-existent dog.

Her concluding message was simple: "Know your rights as tenants," and the internet wholeheartedly agreed.

One user, DonaIDTrump urged tenants moving out to play the system. "When I move out anymore I don't mention the security deposit at all until the 30 days is up," they advised. "Don't remind them that it's time-sensitive."

Others like JFungus_ offered a perspective from abroad. "Stories like this make me glad to live in Australia," they wrote. "Our bond doesn't go to the landlord but a third party and they don't get it unless meeting the requirements etc. You can refuse their claims."

There was lots of advice.

Far_Administration41 commented: "Never rent privately from an owner; always go through a real estate agent. Owners know sweet f*** all about tenancy laws and will break them repeatedly and then try not to give the bond back."

Decibelsperkilo, meanwhile, said: "My grandma was a dodgy real estate agent and she advised me to take a bazillion photos so I've always done it.

"Tofuroll agreed: "I took about 300–400 photos of our apartment prior to moving in. If I need photographic proof, there'll be a picture of it somewhere."

Newsweek contacted the original poster for comment.

While some tenants obviously get given a rough ride by their landlords, it's not all one-way traffic. One landlord with three properties in New York has been left essentially homeless. She is owed thousands of dollars in uncollected rent from tenants but can't kick out due to state and federal moratoriums.

Elsewhere, another landlord went viral after offering up a glimpse of the faeces-covered state one of her properties was left in by a former tenant.