One would think that life in a retirement community would follow a slow, predictable rhythm.

But when new, corrupt management takes the reins, things became anything but predictable.

When new management imposed suffocating rules, the residents showed just how rebellious they could be.

Read on for the full story.

Property Management company gets more than they Bargained for with Retirement Community

My mother lives in a retirement community that is for Seniors, but most are still very active.

Prior to the start of all the drama, the property management running her community were respectfully lax in enforcing the rules and guidelines.

They stepped up when things got out of hand, but mostly stayed out of people’s way.

But soon came trouble in paradise.

About 6 years ago, the property management were outbid and immediately the new changes made were ruffling the feathers of many residents.

Changes included a strict enforcement of 3″ blades of grass on the front lawn and that laundry drying on lines could not be seen, even if it was in the backyard.

It was clear new management was after profit and profit alone.

Anything and everything that took away from the visual curb appeal of the houses they were in charge of was made into a community rule.

Even outdoor lights that illuminated the front house (excluding the porch light) had to be “dark” at 10:30pm.

No exceptions were made for anyone.

It was determined that one person’s house had “excessive” outdoor lights and rather than confront this person individually, the whole community had to abide by the rules.

One day, management’s oversteps began to put resident safety at risk.

Things came to a boiling point when a couple of residents, who were swimming in the community pool after hours, got a rude awakening.

They found the gate was padlocked by the new night security rent-a-cop who didn’t even check to see if the pool was occupied while doing his rounds.

It was clear management cut corners to save cash.

Because the new property management was too cheap to hire a full-time guy, this rent-a-cop would do a sweep of the community then leave to patrol other communities as well.

There was nobody to contact to get the residents out, and the fire department had to be called with bolt cutters.

But leadership only doubled down on their ill-advised rules.

There was a huge community uproar over this but rather than own up to their massive screw up, the property management tightened the reins even further.

Community bulletins were posting new rules on $100 gate card fees if you lost yours, and noise levels after 10:30pm were now in effect.

Hello?! Retirement community? Old people are hard of hearing and have to blare their TVs.

Then came the nickel-and-diming.

The one that irked me personally was the association dues suddenly went up $30 a month for “community bandwidth.”

When I inquired about this, it was an [optional] fee that got tacked onto the previous month’s bill in fine print.

It was for “Wi-Fi” access to the Town Hall and pool house that was already free to use up to that point.

What struck me as low was that the fine print said, “If you wish to opt out of this fee, check this box, else the charge will automatically be added to your next month’s bill.”

Many residents began getting their lawyers involved, but to no avail.

Residents started taking legal actions and means to fight these changes but were being squashed and buried in paperwork by the courts and opposing lawyers.

How so? Oh!

The Property Management was owned by the very lawyers squashing them with paperwork and reversals.

They had their own free lawyers to tie up things that they wished to squash.

So then they turned to petty revenge.

One resident decided to take action in the most petty way possible.

For several nights in a row, the pool gate lock would be snapped off with bolt cutters.

Management thought they could squash the rebellion, but they only fueled it further.

Pieces were discovered each morning, and sure enough, a news bulletin went out strictly forbidding this action as “vandals” and “rogue individuals lowering the property value of your homes,” etc.

This had the opposite effect.

The rebellion continued on.

Over the course of the next two weeks, a mass wave of petty acts was taken against Property Management.

Fountain filters were found clogged with sand and gravel.

The beautiful landscaping they spent months redoing was found sickly, dead, or dying from plant killers and heavy amounts of salt in the dirt.

Security cameras were installed and this only led to the wires being snipped or the lens blacked out with paint.

But management couldn’t beat the sheer coordination of the determined residents.

Security patrols were beefed up to catch the culprit, completely unaware it was close to 30 residents doing all this in teams, no less.

Diversion teams were even set up to distract the patrol while the other team performed the vandalism.

Finally, the leaders were worn down by all the mischief.

It took nearly 5 years, but the lawyers from the Property Management company finally had enough.

Another company was brought in, and things settled down significantly.

There are still open lawsuits and legal actions out there for the previous Property Management company that are pending.

The residents showed management they still had a lot of rebellion left in them, despite their age.

What did Reddit have to say?

This company messed with the wrong people.

The sheer commitment and coordination is what makes this revenge so impressive.

The mental image this story evokes is just too good.

This redditor would wager that some of these retirees were drawing from past experiences.

This management company found out the hard way that when you push retirees, they push back even harder.

In a battle of wills, these seniors came out on top.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.