Some landlords are simply inconsiderate and unreasonable.

This man shares his story about himself and his best friend who were renting an apartment that had a few big problems.

The problems got even bigger when the landlady saw the electric bill!

Read the story below for the full details.

Landlord Tries to Evict Us in the Middle of Winter. Ends Up Costing Her More Money.

About 5 months after leaving my wife, my best friend had a falling out with his girlfriend.

We ended up moving in together in a one-bedroom basement apartment near downtown.

Here is the cast for the story:

My best friend is Joe; the landlord is Carol; the fire marshal is Bill; health inspector is Jenny.

Our lawyer is Jim, and the building inspector is Charles.

This man and his friend moved into a small apartment.

We ended up moving in during the spring of 2007.

It was a small apartment and the utilities were included in the rent.

We were paying $600 a month.

I took the bedroom, while Joe slept in the small living room/kitchenette on the couch.

They fixed a few small things in the property.

There were some problems with a couple of items, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t fix.

Carol didn’t mind me putting down new cement for the basement steps or fixing the awning outside of our door so it wouldn’t leak.

There were even bigger problems.

Things were looking good until the fall and winter hit.

Every time it rained, the water would come down and flood the basement.

I had to invest in a shop-vac to suck up the water.

When it got cold, the heating ducts were virtually useless, so we had to run the stove to keep warm.

This worked out okay until February the next year, when Carol got her electric bill.

Carol asked them to leave because of the high electric bill.

I worked nights, and was sleeping when she came down, and told Joe that we had to leave because her electric was so high.

He tried to explain to her that the heat down here didn’t work, and we were freezing. She didn’t care.

Joe wakes me up and tells me this.

I was not having it.

They went down to the City Hall to try and get some help.

Joe and I went down to City Hall, and went to the Board of Health office.

That is where we met Jenny.

We explained our situation to her, and she set up a time to investigate it with Bill and Charles.

The lawyer, fire marshal, and health inspector went to Carol’s house.

About 3 days later, Jenny, Bill, and Charles show up at Carol’s door and demand to investigate the basement.

Carol is pissed.

As they all come into our apartment, they start listing all the violations.

These include inadequate heat, unpadded carpet flooring, no second egress (exit), no access to fuse panels or circuit breakers.

Carol argued with them.

Carol started arguing with Joe about this.

She didn’t want to talk to me, because I was white and Joe was black as she was.

But Joe is Blackfoot, she is Haitian. Even still, Joe didn’t like her.

Here’s how the conversation went…

Carol: Why did you call them?

Joe: I didn’t.

Carol: Who did?

Me: I did.

Carol: You had no right to do this. We don’t have a lease.

Me: Oh no? What do you call this then?

She was ordered to repair all the damages in the basement.

I pull out the agreement we all signed, and showed her that electric was included in the rent.

Jenny and Charles looked at it as well, and said this does constitute a tenancy at will agreement.

She was ordered by the city to repair and bring the basement up to code as long as we were living there.

The county sheriff presented them with eviction letters.

About 2 weeks later, HVAC contractors showed up to start working on putting a separate heating system in for the basement.

Also a county sheriff showed up about another 4 weeks after, with letters of eviction for both Joe and I.

In Massachusetts, eviction cases go through civil court, but the tenant’s lawyer can have the case moved to housing court.

Housing court leans more towards the tenant than the landlord.

Their lawyer said they could at least get their security deposit back.

We speak to our lawyer Jim who believes we can get our security deposit back, but not much else.

Joe is looking to move in with his new girlfriend.

And I’m planning on taking her old place which is only around the block from where we live now.

In the meantime, while we are still there at her house, she still has to get it up to code and we don’t have to pay her.

They all went to housing court.

We show up to housing court when Jim tells us about our hearing.

Carol does show up with her lawyer.

We wait quietly on the other side of the hall, while Jim goes to speak to Carol and her attorney.

Jim gives here the proposal for her to pay our security deposit back and Jim’s fee.

Carol refused the offer.

She refuses the offer, and Jim tells her that we will go to trial then.

He comes back and tells Joe and I this, and says he will call us when we have to appear.

We agree and we all leave.

Eventually, she did pay them back their deposit and the lawyer’s fees.

As we are leaving, I see Carol having an argument with the meter maid who is writing her a ticket for not putting money in the meter.

Joe and I are laughing so hard as we drive by her.

After Joe and I moved out, she settled for the deposit and lawyer’s fees.

I ended up getting $600 dollars back.

But after we left, the inspectors all came back and told her she couldn’t rent out the basement anymore.

She then put the house on the market

With everything totalled up, she ended spending over $7000 in upgrades, another $1100 in both mine and her attorney fees, plus my $600.

She ended up putting the house on the market.

No one would buy it. I think to this day it is still up for sale.

Any takers? Hahahaha!

She never should’ve rented out the basement with all of those problems!

Let’s check out what others have to say about this story on Reddit…

This user shares their personal experience.

This person commends the fire marshall.

Short but straightforward comment.

Finally, people really hate obnoxious landlords.

If you can’t accommodate the needs of your tenants, you better not rent out your property!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.