His Landlord Promised to Fix Up the House—Then Changed His Mind and Told Him to Do It Himself
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Imagine renting a house. What would you do if your landlord gave you a long list of things that needed to be repaired and told you to do it yourself? Would you do it, or would you refuse?
In this story, one man finds himself in this exact situation, and he thinks his landlord is being completely unreasonable. I agree!
While there’s some added context about the tenant’s job situation and the landlord’s relationship to the tenant, I don’t think that changes the fact that it’s unreasonable to exact a renter to do repairs on a house he doesn’t own.
Keep reading to see if you agree.
Landlord expectations AITAH
I’ve lived in my current location for 3 years. In those 3 years my rent has increased from $1250 to $1850.
My landlord has given me a list of things he wants done by September at my own expense.
He wants me to paint the exterior of the house, refinish 2 bathrooms to include replacing the tile, shower/tub, toilet, drywall etc, pull out a sliding glass door to replace the wood underneath (which will require stucco repair to complete) Add baseboards throughout the entire house (there are none, his previous tenants had the hardwood floors replaced and never touched the trim) replace a 50 year old garage door that is dry rotted and won’t open, refinish the deck for the second time since I’ve been here (I refinished it already but I did it natural brown he wants it orange like he had it, cost me $800 in materials) fix the sprinkler system that the previous tenant removed all the heads and cut and buried the lines to the manifold and complete a tool shed the previous tenant left half finished.
He went from “I just got a $60,000 home refinance loan and want a list of things that need done to you do it yourself, I only make $125 a month off that house it’s not worth my time and effort”
But there are a few very important details that add some context. This isn’t just a renter and landlord situation.
Kicker is my landlord is my brother, his son lives with me rent free and I’m dealing with a lot of medical issues on my wife’s side.
I don’t think that list is reasonable for any tenants, much less family that is allowing your adult son to live there rent free, utilities free and mostly free meals.
My wife has breast cancer, I recently ruptured my Achilles tendon and have missed 4 months of work and he’s not only raised the rent several times but also has gone back on his promise to pay for all materials if I do the work myself (I’m a contractor so I know how to do everything myself, and also know we’re talking around $20,000 in materials)
He does not want to do any of the work.
I feel like he’s trying to take advantage of me.
His previous tenant lived there for 17 years and was charged $850 a month at the end of their lease.
They had the hardwood floors replaced after a flood claim, but that’s the only repairs that were done in 17 years.
AITAH for wanting to tell him to kick rocks? Are any of these reasonable requests for a tenant?
It is unreasonable for a landlord to tell a tenant to do repairs on a rental property themselves. I don’t care if they’re related, and I don’t care if the tenant is a contractor. It’s still unreasonable.
Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.
This person knows the landlord is being unreasonable.
Another person thinks he should move out.
This person thinks the landlord needs to compensate him if he does the repairs himself.
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If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a couple who is sick and tired of their neighbor’s kids dumping trash on their patio.
Everyone agrees that the landlord’s request is messed up.
I think he has two options here.
The first option would be to go back to his landlord/brother and tell him that he’ll only do the work if he’s reimbursed for any materials he has to buy for the repairs and if he has free rent for whatever period of time he thinks would be equal to how much he should be paid for labor.
The second option would be moving out, which would probably be the easier option.
His landlord’s expectations are crazy!
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