Dealing with a landlord can sometimes be tricky, especially when they overstep their boundaries.

It’s one thing to handle necessary repairs, but it’s a whole different story when they start pushing their luck.

So, what would you do if your landlord tried to strongarm you into letting him do extra work in your home without proper notice?

This tenant decided to take a stand.

Let’s see what went down.

Landlord tried to strongarm me into letting him into the home. Did not go well.

A few years ago, we lived in a small 2.5-bedroom apartment. The landlord never talked to us, but we paid on time and kept everything neat and tidy.

Well, one day, his Lordship decides he wants to sell the place. That’s no problem.

He also wants to give the place a bit of paint. Also, not a problem.

He told us he would be sanding the walls of the staircase (the main area of the house was upstairs, downstairs had a bedroom, office, and garage attached), and that would be that.

Fine, no problem, off you go.

Here’s the landlord’s first mistake.

But instead of stopping at the top of the stairs, he decided to carry on one of the walls that led into my son’s room.

Had we known he wanted to do this, we would have done what was necessary. But we didn’t know, and so every inch of my son’s room, his clothes, carpets, bed, toys, the lot, were covered in a very fine dust from sanding the painted drywall.

It took hours of wiping down and vacuuming to get it back, and he had to sleep elsewhere for two nights after his breathing and skin suffered.

I mentioned this to the property manager (who was an absolute delight to work with), and she said he would advise him that we would need more details about what work he wanted to do.

This seemed fine.

Then, he tried to lie.

He then wanted to come back and do some painting.

Again, that’s not a problem. It’s value to the house and looks better, etc.

However, he told us he would be there for 4 hours. 8 hours later, he decided that was enough for the day and called it.

That night, he messaged me, saying he wanted to come back and do more painting the next day.

I said that didn’t work for us, wasn’t enough notice, didn’t allow us peace of living etc.

He then tried to claim that our contract (the tenancy contract he called it) stated that we must allow him to complete projects in a timely fashion, and if I were to decline him entry, then the cost of the rest of the project and it’s completion would lie with me and be my responsibility. Heh.

This must have been torture.

So I sent his texts (it’s always nice when people lie to you in writing) to the lovely property manager again, who called me and said not to worry; she would sort it out.

About a week goes by, and I get a text asking very nicely if I would allow them access in a few days to complete the work.

No problem!

His Lordship and a pal arrived to carry on painting and were there for ANOTHER 8 hours. However, this time, I don’t think they took any pleasure in it.

My PC is next to my PS5, so on my PC I put on ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips’ on repeat for the full 8 hours. Max volume.

I just popped my headphones into my controller and gamed all day long.

After 8 hours, his Lordship came up the stairs and ‘into’ the lounge (it’s open planned) and said, with great strain and weariness of a man worn down, that they had finally finished.

Without breaking eye contact with my screen I said ‘K, bye’ and he just hovered for a second before shakily walking out.

As soon as I heard the front door close I turned the music off. No doubt, it was for you big boy.

Don’t lie to people, especially those who can, ya know, read a contract.

Wow! Great choice of songs!

Let’s see what the fine folks over at Reddit had to say about this story.

It wouldn’t have been torture for this person.

According to this person, the landlord’s actions were probably illegal.

This! That song is the worst for getting stuck in your head!

Here’s a landlord with decency.

The landlord asked for it.

Maybe next time, he’ll stay true to his word.

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.