Imagine looking at an apartment and deciding you want to live there, but when you move in, you realize that it looks quite a bit different than it did when you looked at it before. In fact, it’s not even livable.

Would you put in the work and pay for repairs to make the apartment livable, or would you try to break your lease?

In this story, one newlywed couple is in this situation. They go with the first option, but when it’s time to move out, they give the landlord a taste of his own medicine.

Keep reading for all the details.

Awful landlord wanted his apartment painted at the end of the lease

This actually happened a few years to my mom’s neighbor.

A few years ago she and her husband wanted to rent an apartment, as a newlyweds and somehow new in the country, they didn’t have lots of money so they ended up renting at a bad town.

The landlord wasn’t very nice to begin with, but the price was reasonable and the place looked OK.

After negotiating about the price and terms they signed a contract with him. They’re good independent people so they thought they wouldn’t need to be in contact with him.

This is crazy!

Time has come to move in, they tried to meet him so he’ll give them the keys, but he avoided them for a few days, until one day he told them that the keys are in the mailbox.

They got in and they were in shock.

The jerk left them with an EMPTY apartment. And by empty I mean. No lights/lamps, he took out the air-conditioners, he even took out the power outlets and switches. Left on tap in the kitchen.

They spent huge sums of money just to be able to live there.

He was a horrible landlord.

Of course he could hardly be reached.

If there was something wrong with the place infrastructure he didn’t repair it or stalling them for long periods of time so they will give up and pay for the repairs themselves.

Nearing the end of the lease, the couple decided to give the man a taste of his own medicine.

They met him so he can examine the place before legally releasing them from the contract and give them back their collaterals.

He thought everything looked fine.

Everything was ok, the place was painted and they took everything that the installed, it was fine by him.

They told him that the contract is to be voided tomorrow they will spend the night at the apartment and leave the keys in the mailbox.

He said ok and left.

They stayed up all night.

They spent whole night repainting his apartment. But this time in black, they literally painted every inch of the place black.

By the time they finished the place looked like a bat cave.

The contract said that the apartment should be given back painted. But it didn’t say what color it should be.

Of course he called the next day, and of course they didn’t answer.

Wow! I love it! They really gave the landlord a taste of his own medicine!

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This is ridiculous!

Here’s a story about an awful paint job.

An idealistic rental situation isn’t very satisfying to read about.

Here’s a funny idea!

The landlord got off easy!

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