Imagine renting a house from a landlord who has always been pretty nice and easy going. Then, one day he makes a demand that you don’t have time to fulfill at that moment. If he threatened to evict you, would you simply comply with his demand or double down on your legal rights?

In this story, one family was in this exact situation, and they refused to comply with the landlord. The situation actually escalated very quickly!

Let’s read all about it.

“I want it to look nice around here”

I live in a very tenant-friendly area. We have rent control, and landlords are not allowed to do things like demand security deposits, enter the property without proper written notice, or include no pet clauses in leases, which renew automatically every month after a fixed term ends.

For the last 11 years, my husband and I have had a great relationship with our landlord, Joe (fake name).

We’ve been very lenient in regards to repairs, and Joe was very forgiving when my husband and I both lost our jobs at the same time in 2016 and fell a few months behind on rent.

We are now ahead on rent, but Joe is still very behind in maintenance and repairs. We have a whole laundry list of issues my landlord is aware of, but hasn’t done anything about for years, but we didn’t care because he left us alone and has been overall very kind to us.

It’s always nice to have somewhere to store things you typically use outside.

A few years ago our landlord allowed us to start storing stuff in an old, run-down, shed in behind our rented portion of the yard.

We never stored anything valuable out there, because it’s falling apart, and squirrels have been using it to cache walnuts from the numerous walnut trees in our yard..

We had an old BBQ, lawnmower, ladders, and outside toys for my kids in there….. until recently.

Joe asked about the shed.

A few months ago, Joe shows up asking about the shed, wanting to know what we had stored out there.

I told him “just some old junk we’ll probably throw out soon”.

He told us that the family next door has a mouse problem (we don’t), and he wants us to clear out the shed to “prevent issues” and because “I want it to look nice around here”.

I said, ok I’ll talk to my husband and we’ll get it cleared out whenever we get a chance.”

Cleaning out the shed was way more important to Joe than to this couple.

I have an infant at home, so I can’t go out back and clean it out myself unless someone else is here to watch the baby. My husband had scheduled surgery, so he wasn’t able to do any heavy lifting until after he recovered.

Admittedly, cleaning out the old shed was not a high priority.

Then, Joe sent me a passive aggressive text. “I just wanted to remind you that tomorrow is garbage day (we know, garbage pick-up has always been on Monday), and we need to work together to keep the rental property nice for everyone to enjoy.”

I replied asking him if he had plans to fix the shed, to remove his scrap pick up truck, or to remove his open compost piles and heaps of mixed concrete and scrap metal he has out by the shed he wants us to clean. I also explained that my husband just had surgery and that we weren’t planning on cleaning the shed that day.

Yikes!

He did not like that.

He showed up unannounced, walked inside and proceeded to yell at us in front of our kids.

He complained about his personal finances and the economy (inflation, property taxes), swore at us about our “freaking garbage”, told us we can’t use the shed anymore, and threatened to evict us because “clearly you don’t like living here, and I can get way more for this house than what you’re paying now”.

We told him to leave, and that we will not communicate with him anymore unless in writing.

He said “Fine, we’ll do it all by the book from now on!” and stormed out.

That escalated quickly!

The next day he put an eviction notice in our mailbox complaining that we have “excessive garbage and waste in outbuildings” that we “refused to discuss this issue and corrective action with the landlord” and even adding that he felt it was “unreasonable” given the fact that he didn’t evict us for late rent back in 2016.

The notice gives us 7 days to correct the issues, or else my landlord can file for an eviction hearing.

The next day, while I cleaned out everything belonging to us, sans the walnuts and squirrel poop, from the shed, my husband got busy contacting local bylaw and the rental housing enforcement agency (traffic cops for landlords).

He was given information on how to file against the landlord for refusing to do repairs, illegal entry, loss of an amenity (the shed) and harassment.

Joe is in a lot of trouble!

After a surprise inspection that happened last week, we were given a report that said Joe was given 90 days to: fix the roof, plumbing, and weeping tile. He must demolish the shed and either erect a new shed or give us a rent reduction, because the shed was an assumed amenity.

According to my neighbors with the mice issue, the provincial government is also involved now because apparently he filled in a pond without a permit, and now the fire department doesn’t have a nearby water source in case of a fire (no hydrants out here).

The city (bylaw enforcement) threatened to fine him for every day that he leaves his large pile of broken concrete and rebar out back.

Joe’s still breaking the laws.

The cherry on top happened yesterday.

He sent me a text to tell me that him and the plumber were going to be there “within the hour”.

Normally, I’d be ok with short notice, despite the law saying he must provide 24 hour written notice.

Not this time. I told him we need 24 hour notice.

He showed up, knocked on the door, and when I reminded him that I won’t speak to him in person anymore, he called the police saying that I was being hostile towards him and he doesn’t feel safe coming here.

The police were on her side.

He sat outside for 4 hours waiting for the police, who later called me instead of showing up.

The officer who called said that Joe was told to stop harassing us, and that he needs to provide 24 hours notice to enter the home. He wanted to make sure Joe left and gave proper notice, and asked me if I wanted an officer there tomorrow to “keep the peace”.

If Joe doesn’t do the repairs he’s supposed to, we plan to take him to court and file for a rent reduction, and for a lien to be put on the property so he can’t just sell it.

We’re just doing it “by the book” from now on, and just “want it to look nice”.

I love how the police ended up siding with her. Joe is so out of line it’s not even funny.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person liked the revenge.

Another person thinks Joe got what he deserved.

One person takes a guess at where OP lives.

This was the landlord’s biggest mistake.

There are consequences for breaking the law.

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