Having a great landlord who you get along well with is a real blessing.

What would you do if the landlady who you thought was your friend suddenly started treating you poorly and eventually decided to end your lease?

That is what happened to the renter in this story, so he reported her unethical activity to the authorities and left fish on her property to stink up the place.

Check it out.

My landlady screwed me over so I returned the favour

I had an older landlady (in her 60s) who was great for the first year.

I rented an ensuite off the main house, which was pretty much a bedroom, kitchenette and bathroom, for $150 (AUD) a week.

This was a fair price as it was pre-covid and it was pretty small.

She had also built two “sheds” on her suburban property – simple one room cabins that she also rented out for a ridiculous amounts.

She called them “meditation retreats”.

She also had a community book shed at the bottom of her property.

This sounds like a great place to live.

She would bring around soup, we would play table tennis in her shed, I thought we had a great relationship and I dare say, friendship.

I would take green waste to the tip for her and get her pet food from the pet shop I worked at.

She was a regular pot smoker, which I didn’t really care about but sadly still illegal in Aus, so it’s not real cheap to come by.

Towards the end of my second year there, she sat down with me and asked me to pay more rent.

I would have been open to that within reason, but she also wanted me to stop claiming government rent assistance so she could have everything in cash and undeclared.

That way she could maximize her pension.

I was working a casual job, desperately trying to save for a house, and covid had just come along and messed everything up.

There was no way I could afford to lose what little government assistance I got so she could buy more pot.

It wasn’t just a small increase either – it was an extra $50 a week!

We had a serious discussion where we compromised on $350 a fortnight, and I emailed her later saying that I understood if she wanted me to move out so she could get more for the room, but she insisted that she didn’t want me to go.

But after this she started putting distance between us.

I didn’t notice for a while, until I saw that she was playing table tennis with some other friends of hers and she barely spoke to me when I said hello.

There hadn’t been any soups for a while either.

She refused help with green waste or pet food.

I could definitely feel something was off.

Why doesn’t she just tell you?

She soon began to pick issues and started entering my bedsit regularly while I wasn’t there, and even took photos of my room and mess.

Not going to lie, I have ADHD and executive dysfunction along with stress and depression made it hard for me to be tidy.

She claimed that my mess had attracted rats and mice, even though she had chickens that she left food out for and left her back door open for them to waltz in.

(My mess wasn’t as bad as that and there were no signs of mice in there.)

She claimed her next door neighbors complained about me but when I spoke to them, they had never said a thing to her and had no problem with me at all.

She also complained that I left the lights on for two hours when I went out, that I also left my heater on when i went out and that we hadn’t agreed to two heaters in the room.

I only had one, the other was an air purifier which was turned off.

It was this level of pettiness that made me angry.

She was borderline harassing me and picking on things she never had an issue with before.

I’m sure it was just to get me out the door so she could get some other poor renter in who would pay twice as much.

With covid at its peak, and rentals in shortage, I dare say she was banking on charging an extra $100 to support her pot habit.

She finally gave me a month’s notice, saying her sister was coming to stay.

I knew it was a lie, but at the same time I was relieved to know where I stood.

But, not gonna lie, the next few weeks were stressful.

I had to rehome my budgies, who lived in an (pre-approved) aviary outside, and had to find somewhere to live in the middle of covid.

I could have fought it – but it wasn’t worth it.

I was seriously depressed and not in a good way.

Fortunately, I managed to find a place with a couple of friends.

Glad to see it is all working out for the best.

They became my rocks over the next couple of years, and I was paying cheap rent there so I was finally able to save for a deposit and bought my first house this time last year.

Once I was settled in the new rental, and my mental health recovered, I was finally able to get some revenge on her.

Her place was near the beach, and I was a regular swimmer.

There were also a heap of invasive sea stars that I pulled out of the water.

I planted several of those sea stars in her community book shed, behind the shelves where she would never be able to reach without pulling everything out.

They would truly stink once they started decomposing.

I also rang the tax department and the government pension line and reported her for tax evasion and fraud.

Then I rang the council and complained about the “meditation retreats” as they aren’t council approved.

Even if nothing happens, it is satisfying to report it.

I’d like to think they nabbed her and she got into a lot of legal trouble, but realistically she is probably still living her best life and ripping off someone else.

I later learned that other people had had similar issues with her, so I guess one day it might catch up with her.

Might be time to go and refresh those sea stars.

Sometimes it is the simple acts of revenge that are the most satisfying.

Read on to see what the people in the comments think about this story.

He said that the sea stars were invasive so they had to be removed from the water anyway.

This person suggests getting the cops involved.

I bet dad was mad.

This person makes a great play on words.

Very Punny.

A bad landlord gets five stars.

Stinky ones.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza.