Ah, rentals. Doesn’t everyone love guessing whether or not the person they’re renting from (or two) is going to ruin their live within a few short months?
There are so many sob stories that it can start to feel like you’re taking your health and happiness into your hands signing a lease.
OP had to move for work, and his company took care of his rental.
Two months ago, due to a work promotion, I had to relocate to another city. All accommodations were paid for, housing included.
The company rents a nice place for me in the vicinity of the branch office. It’s a modern minimalist two-storey house which I will be going to live in for the next ten months.
It’s privately-owned and comes with a spacious front-yard and a small oval-shaped swimming pool in the spacious side-yard adjacent to a gazebo where I usually hang out on my days off.
Things were going great, until he woke up to a mess by the pool.
Sometimes my colleagues come over to use the swimming pool which I have encouraged them to because why not?
The owner of the house used to live in the newly-built house for a couple years before he and his family moved to another city to accommodate their kids’ education since they would be going to a university there.
Everything was great and went smoothly until a few weeks ago. It was my day off. I was taking a nap when I woke up to loud splashing and people laughing and talking.
Assuming it was probably just my friends showing up unannounced and enjoying their Sunday afternoon, I went back to sleep.
But when I woke up a few hours later, I was shocked to find empty cans of coke, cigarette butts, and food wraps strewn about on the ground near the gazebo.
One day, he caught the culprits.
I rang my friends up to remind them to pick their stuff up next time before leaving but they told me they had no idea what I was talking about since they hadn’t come over that day.
I resorted to random guessing: The Neighbours had trespassed, thinking I was not home. But since I had no proof (no security camera around the side yard), and had no idea who the culprit was, I decided to wait and see.
The following week, when I returned home after picking up lunch, I found five teenage boys hanging out by the swimming pool.
To say I was surprised is an understatement. I asked them who they were and what they were doing at my place and they told me they’re the family of the owner of the house and he told them they could use the swimming pool whenever they wanted.
I was shocked beyond comprehension.
I told them that this house is being rented to me and the rental cost has been paid fully and the lease agreement is not even nearing the end of its terms yet.
I am the rightful ‘owner’ of it at least for the next ten months and responsible for it and I really don’t appreciate them just showing up unannounced like that when I am supposed to have the house for myself legally according to the lease agreement.
The owner of the house said the lease was not for the pool.
One of them told me “Ask my brother, then. He told me we can still come over and use the swimming pool. We won’t go into the house or touch your stuff or anything like that. It’s just the swimming pool.”
Apparently they live in the same neighborhood and have access to the back-yard, through which they get to the swimming pool because the owner gave them the key to it.
I insisted that the house come with the swimming pool and they have no right to just barge in whenever they feel like it. And he insisted I call his brother.
Which I did later that night after they left. Much to my annoyance, the owner told me that yes he has given permission to his family to use the swimming pool.
I have the house all to myself, yes. They won’t get inside. But they’re free to use the swimming pool. Nowhere does it say specifically on the contract that I have full temporary ownership of the swimming pool or that he or any of his family members is not allowed to use it.
Like his brother had said earlier. It’s just the house.
So, OP stopped cleaning up after them.
I asked him why he didn’t mention this to me or my manager before we signed the lease, because if he had, I would have made sure we wouldn’t be renting his place.
He calmly said he didn’t think that would be a problem at all. I was fuming.
I rang up my manager and he agreed with me that there’s a considerable amount of bull going on here, and he would get someone to contact the owner.
All in all there isn’t much we can do. So last week, again I went home to find empty plastic cans, cigarette butts and other trash strewn about across the side yard.
This time I didn’t bother cleaning up the mess they had left behind. And the more they came over, the more food leftovers and other trash they left behind, some of which had ‘accidentally’ fallen into the pool, contaminating it with grease and dirt.
Once the pool was too dirty to use, he exacts his revenge.
One afternoon, the boys showed up again. But since the pool was too dirty to swim in, they started knocking on my back and front door repeatedly but I ignored them.
That night, the owner of the house rang me up to ask if I was home, and I said yes. He said great and told me his brother would be coming over to drain and clean the pool.
But he needed to connect a hose to the tap which is in the back bathroom, which you guess, is INSIDE the house.
Here comes my second petty revenge. I said no. They can have all the pool to themselves since nowhere does it say on the contract that I have full temporary ownership of the swimming pool or that he or any of his family members is not allowed to use it.
He tried to reason with me saying it would take only a few hours for his brother to clean and fill it and he’d be out of my face before I knew it was over.
But I wouldn’t budge. I recited to him the part of the lease agreement that says I have all the house to myself, which of course includes the downstairs bathroom.
I even went on to warn him that if his brother or any of the family members tried to break in, I would make sure the police got involved.
It’s been more than a week now. They haven’t shown up. The side yard and the pool are reeking of death baking in the sun for days. I just close all the windows and turn on the AC.
I bet Reddit found this one super satisfying.
The top comment says his lack of care for the property is going to be a bigger problem.
Others are concerned with liability issues.
They can’t have their cake and eat it too.
And yeah, OP needs to check that lease a little closer.
Because people don’t think that’s how leases work.
I think his response was perfect.
But I hope he gets the rest of this sorted out.
If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.