You never know what kind of people you’re gonna have to deal with when you rent a house or an apartment, and, unless you want to be taken advantage of, it’s a good idea to know your rights as a tenant and to stand up for yourself.

A person talked about how he and his girlfriend got even with a property manager who thought he could do as he pleased when it came to their living situation.

Check out what he had to say in the story below.

Hippity Hoppity, this is no longer your Property (to manage).

“After graduating college my girlfriend and I moved to a new state where she was accepted into an engineering program.

We found a lovely garden apartment style complex that advertised 100 Mbps internet speed included in the price among a few other amenities. When we met the property manager, he seemed strict but well mannered, nothing out of the ordinary.

Uh oh…

Until we signed the lease…

The first problem:

Suddenly, walking into his office was not allowed without an appointment.

I had come by to ask a question, saw him browsing social media, and figured he was as available as he made himself to us when we first came by, unannounced, to view a model apartment.

Nope.

He refused to answer my question and asked me to make an appointment via email.

The second problem:

The terms of our lease included an attachment to complete within 48 hours of accepting the keys that details all discrepancies within the unit. We submitted the attachment via email around the 40th hour.

What?!?!

The property manager responded that the terms recently changed from 48 to 24 hours and since we had passed 24 hours, we would be held liable for all found damages.

When citing our copy of the lease which explicitly stated 48 hours, he informs us that we signed an outdated copy and would need to make an appointment to come by the office and sign a new lease.

The third problem:

The internet speed was not 100 Mbps as advertised. It was less than 15 Mbps off peak and about ~5 Mbps on peak. We again contacted the property manager to complain but were referred to make an appointment.

The fourth problem:

We made an appointment to address the previous three problems. During this meeting and after I finished voicing our issues, the property manager leans forward and says, “There are other communities in this neighborhood that may be more accepting of people like you and your girlfriend. You’re welcome to break the lease and leave.”

“People like you and your girlfriend”

Wow…

I had thought he was referencing our no nonsense response to his nonsense (daily communication, scheduling multiple meetings to address these issues, etc) but my girlfriend believed he was speaking towards our skin colors.

Her, a black woman, and myself, a white man. My girlfriend jokingly told me to check my privilege before getting serious and explaining to me that we were experiencing discrimination at the very least.

The solution:

I did some research and discovered the property manager worked for a larger organization that owned several complexes throughout the country. I found their director of human resources on LinkedIn and made a connection.

I then emailed her copies of all email correspondence, screenshots of the lease, pictures of the internet speed flags advertised by the road, and more screenshots of online speed tests.

We further noted his comment and the implications behind it.

The human resources director replied within a few hours and promised us she would look into the issue.

About two days later, the property manager called and asked us to come by his office at our convenience. We showed up near the end of the day, and sat down across from him.

This guy knew that he messed up.

He then proceeded to ask us if we would be willing to write a letter stating we accepted his apology (despite not yet offering said apology) and in return he would credit us a month’s rent, accept our damages attachment, and promise to have the ISP on site within a week to assess the internet issues.

We declined. He got personal with us and revealed his job may be at stake and asked us to reconsider.

My girlfriend leaned forward and said, “There are other communities in this neighborhood that may be more accepting of people like you. You’re welcome to leave.”

The property manager was replaced in a week with a super sweet older woman who not only gave us all the things the original property manager had promised; the one month credit, accepting the damages attachment and then further scheduling maintenance to fix said damages, having the ISP assess and upgrade the internet to promised speeds, but she also made it clear her office was always open for anything we may need.

I looked up the old property manager about a few months later on LinkedIn. Still unemployed.”

Here’s what folks had to say on Reddit.

This person chimed in.

Another individual had a lot to say.

This Reddit user shared their thoughts.

Another individual spoke up.

And this person weighed in.

If you treat people badly at work, it’s eventually gonna come back and bite you!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.