Tenant Praised for Not Telling Landlord They're Leaving After Buying House

A home buyer has been praised for not telling their landlord they're moving out, after he forgot to send over the lease renewal.

The former tenant shared their dilemma to Reddit's Am I The A**hole forum, under username u/Dogidagg, where they revealed they'd recently purchased a house.

While the renter didn't specify where they're based, in the U.S. the average price of a home was $355,852 as of July, according to Zillow.

Zillow's figures showed the average price of a property was $300,000 the same month in 2021, as it noted: "United States home values have gone up 18.2 percent over the past year."

As stated, house prices have soared in the U.S. recently, which has seen many first-time buyers and those looking to move priced out of the market.

"Homebuyer demand has faltered this summer, as lingering economic uncertainty, high inflation, and still-high mortgage rates caused many prospective buyers to delay their home search," Edward Seiler, Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) associate vice president of housing economics, explained in a release published earlier this month.

The chart below, provided by Statista, shows opinion towards homebuying in America.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Despite the volatile market, the Redditor managed to get their foot on the property ladder, revealing they'd previously rented from a "pretty typical landlord," who they said did "as few repairs as cheap as possible."

Another area about which the landlord also seemed lackadaisical was getting the lease signed, which the renter explained should be sent out two months prior to renewal, according to their contract.

After living in the building for a few years, they noted: "Every year he procrastinates until the last week or two of the lease."

As they closed on the house sale four months before their lease was up, they decided to have an overlap between the properties so they could make a few repairs to the house.

As suspected, two months before the lease was up the landlord didn't send over the paperwork for renewal.

"I thought of telling him I wouldn't be renewing, then I remembered that my neighbors who moved had trouble with him bringing way too many potential tenants to tour," they admitted.

They decided to keep their mouth shut, saying: "I just kept fixing up the house and moving my stuff."

One week before the lease was up, the landlord texted the renewal over, and that's when the Redditor explained they wouldn't be staying on.

"I told him I didn't plan on renewing, and he got really angry. Demanding to know what apartment I was moving to next. (I got the impression he wanted to call my next landlord to b***h about me.)

"Anyway I told him I was moving back in with my parents. I didn't wanna tell him about the house because of the temper he was getting with me," they said.

As suspected, the landlord immediately began conducting viewings, but the former tenant wasn't fussed as they'd already moved their stuff out.

But they got into an argument over the deposit, as they continued: "But when I stopped by to turn in my keys, and ask for my security deposit, he got angry saying that I had some nerve asking for $1,300 when I'd just screwed him out of a month rent by not giving notice.

"I told him that the security deposit was for damages, and if he wanted to withhold it he would have to send over an itemized list of damages and receipts for repairs.

"He gave me the security deposit back but yelled at me that he took care of his tenants and I was selfish for leaving without notice. I just left but I guess I'm feeling kinda conflicted.

"On one hand, it is literally his job... His only job.. to handle leases and find out who's renewing. And if he forgot that's not really my problem."

The user questioned whether they were in the right in the post, which has racked up more than 8,000 upvotes since being posted on Monday, and can be read here.

The top comment, from Whatsmypassword73, amassed more than 10,000 upvotes alone, and said: "NTA, if you want to be a landlord, and you expect to earn that 'passive income' you need to take care of the basics."

Others also sided with the former tenant, with Urdadisugly saying: "Always satisfying to 'screw over' a lousy landlord and he screwed himself over in this case. Not your job to remind him to do his job (sounds like he works less in a year for a property than most of us do in a day.) Congrats on the home you bought."

Stinstin555 said: "I am a Landlord and lease renewals go out on time every year. I set a calendar reminder. Technology works well if you use it. NTA."

Although some questioned whether they broke the contract, as the outgoing renter shared a comment, clarifying: "He was supposed to gi[ve] me the option to renew or not renew my lease months ago and kept procrastinating on it just assuming I was so desperate I couldn't afford my own place... Like tbh I feel like that's on him if he just wants to assume I'm too broke to leave."

Newsweek reached out to u/Dogidagg for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.