A lot of people hate on landlords. While I’m sure there are good landlords out there, the bad ones give them a bad reputation.

The landlord in this story is no exception. He fits the stereotype of the awful landlord who refuses to fix any problems and also insists on keeping the security deposit.

If you were in that situation, would you move as soon as possible or take legal action to make the landlord pay up?

In this story, two roommates and college students are in this situation. They chose the apartment because of its close proximity to class, but it ended up being an awful place to live. If the landlord had fixed the problems and taken their requests seriously, it wouldn’t have been so bad.

But then, at move-out time, he proved to be an awful landlord by making up excuses to keep their security deposit. That was the final straw. Keep reading to see all the problems this landlord didn’t fix and how the roommates refused to let him get away with keeping their security deposit.

Landlord ended up paying me £3000

I am a 21F and an international student in the UK. When I started first year in university, the apartment I was renting out was a “last minute” thing. Basically I didn’t have a choice.

Before moving in, my friend and I paid our deposit (£1200 in total). After moving in, the place was great actually, 5 minute walk to university, great location.

The first incident was that both our bed’s legs (friend and mine) were very bent. I brought this up to my landlord and he said that he would be happy to replace them..at our own cost..AND we had to leave the beds after we’ve moved out…let that sink in.

So basically..he wants me to buy a new bed..for his apartment.. We were like screw that.

The next problem is even bigger.

The second incident was when there were a lot of break ins around the area we lived in. Eventually the homeless and drug users were camping in our apartment, stealing people’s parcels, letters and even taking drugs in the hallways.

My friend and I felt extremely unsafe, so I texted my landlord requesting another lock for our front door (there was only one lock, which was the main lock) and his response was that it would be too expensive to do that and that he is sure that the area is safe.

Says the guy who doesn’t even live there.

This happened after she moved out.

The third incident was after I moved out, I called him asking him what I should do with the keys.

He told me to hang on to them until he gets back.

About 3 WEEKS later he contacts me asking me for the keys, which were not with me at the time as I was away. The keys were in my new house and my room door was locked.

So I had my landlord and housemate get my spare room key and give it to the guy.

(There are so much more but those three incidents are the most significant ones)

Here’s the final problem.

A few days later I texted him asking him about my deposit, he didn’t respond until the next day. I woke up to a text from him telling me to call him, so I did.

He told me he is taking ALL the deposit money cause I “broke” the bed and I left the apartment completely trashed so he had to hire “cleaners”.

We got into a pretty heated argument and I have not spoken to him since.

But the landlord ended up having to pay.

Obviously, I am not letting him get away with it.

I got in contact with a deposit claim agent recommended by my university. My (ex)landlord isn’t so smart after all, because by law, he is supposed to put the deposit money into a Tenancy Deposit Scheme, which he didn’t. Easily that alone, I got my deposit back PLUS compensation.

He ended up paying my friend and I £1200 each. The additional money goes to the deposit agency.

Never Miss a Story

Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a tenant who called the landlord after they hadn’t seen or heard their neighbor in days.

What an awful landlord! Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This is true.

Another person feels bad for international students.

It’s not okay.

Another person shares their thoughts.

It may have been a short walk to class, but broken beds and an unsafe area to live in don’t make it worth it. I’m so glad she got out of there and got paid! I’m sure some students would’ve just walked away, glad to be done with the landlord. But if he never learns his lesson and keeps getting away with it, then other students will end up in the same situation, with the cycle continuing over and over and over again.

If the apartment is listed online anywhere, she could also write a review, basically warning other potential renters not to rent from this guy.

In the end, she got her money and got out, which is important. I hope she found a much nicer place to live with a much better landlord who actually fixes things that are broken and doesn’t try to steal the security deposit.