Christian Landlord Forces Atheist Tenant to Move Out—But Getting Her Security Deposit Back Is the Real Drama
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Imagine renting a business space from a landlord who has different religious beliefs than you do. Would you think this would be a problem or no big deal?
In this story, it’s a very big deal. When the landlord finds out the tenant is an atheist, she does everything she can think of to try to make the tenant move out. When that doesn’t work, she still forces the tenant to move out.
But that’s just the beginning of the story. The real drama is when the landlord doesn’t give the tenant her security deposit back.
Keep reading to see how the story plays out.
Religious Bully Landlord Gets Her Just Desserts
I had a small bakery and rented a space in a boutique shopping center that offered businesses all run by women.
The landlord was super religious and so were most of the other business owners.
I live in the South, it is expected.
I’m an atheist. Being in the South, I kept it very quiet and never said anything about her religiosity.
The landlord became a bully but also apologized.
I had a great relationship with everyone at the shopping center, including my landlord – until about 10 months into my 1 year lease when a woman who wanted my space found out about my atheism and outed me to the landlord.
Cue a sharp decrease in the amount of business from other vendors, sudden loud religious music being played in the common areas of the center (which I could hear through my windows and closed door), then a 25% rent hike to only me after being told that rent would not increase, and finally, when I still didn’t leave and instead renewed my lease, a flat out termination of my lease with no stated reason (the renewal ‘never happened’ according to her).
In between the rent hike and the lease termination, she apologized to me for treating me badly stating “Jesus wouldn’t want her to treat people that way.” She said that finding out I was an atheist when she believed me to be a Christian had just really thrown her and she didn’t know how to treat me.
OP had to move out.
Everything culminated when she changed the locks on my business door two weeks before my lease term was up.
I got my keys back, shut down my business and slowly began moving things out – even though she demanded that I move out immediately.
I had put several thousand dollars into redecorating the space and getting proper electrical lines run so that I could operate.
Over the year, I had blown all of my savings on that business.
OP wanted her security deposit back.
At the end of my time, I cleaned the space, moved out all of my stuff and left it in better condition than when I moved in. I took lots of pictures, at the beginning and end of the lease, and documented everything in writing.
The person who outed me also had a bakery and promptly moved into my space and changed nothing in the decor.
I calmly waited 60 days for a return of my $400 security deposit. (I have also been a paralegal for 15 years and took a year long hiatus to try to run this business.)
On the 61st day, I had an attorney in my firm write a letter to the landlord demanding the statutory amounts owed to me (~1400).
The lawyers got involved.
What I got in return was a call from her lawyer to mine telling me to back off and that if I attempted to get my security deposit back, they would call my boss and get me fired and they would sue me for defamation for a comment I had made on my personal FB saying that I thought my lease was terminated because I was an atheist.
So I waited the required time frame and filed suit for the $1400 plus attorney fees.
They promptly countersued me for defamation, fraud and a whole racket of other things and wanted $10K at a minimum. They claimed that I had caused significant damage to the property and that I had stolen items that belonged to the landlord.
I quietly wait for them to prosecute the case.
This is going nowhere fast.
They do nothing.
After about 5 months, they offer me $400 to settle.
I tell them to back off.
Several more months pass. No discovery, no hearings, nothing.
OP finally took action.
After a year, I filed a no-evidence motion for summary judgment asking that all of their claims be dismissed.
They didn’t respond.
Judge granted my motion.
Then I filed a Motion for Summary Judgment for $5000 in attorney fees plus the $1400 in statutory damages. I attached pictures, e-mails, text messages, and all sorts of other proof that every one of their claims relating to why they didn’t refund the deposit were complete fabrications.
They finally settled out of court.
Their attorney called wanting to settle for $1000.
We told them no way. Wanted all $6400.
They didn’t respond to my second MSJ.
Hearing was scheduled for last Friday. On Wednesday, we get a settlement offer of $4500, my attorney counters with $5400.
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They accept.
OP feels very satisfied with how it worked out.
After 18 months, I got my cashier’s check for $5400 today.
I know that she treated me like garbage and booted me because I didn’t hold the same religious beliefs that she had assumed I did. Then she felt like she could get away with stiffing me the $400 deposit.
Because of her attitude, she paid an additional $5000. (And the last, most beautiful part – my lawyer was free b/c I did all of my own paperwork and he just signed off on it and talked to the other lawyer a couple times. Her lawyer, definitely not free.)
I’m glad it’s over. And maybe, just maybe, she’ll be a slightly better landlord in the future.
Wow! All the landlord had to do was give the security deposit back. You’d think as a good Christian she wouldn’t steal. It’s one of the ten commandments.
Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.
This person thinks the landlord still thinks she’s in the right.
A Christian apologizes.
This person thinks OP should’ve gotten paid more.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who gets revenge on her neighbors after they keep using her trash bins.
The landlord definitely wasn’t acting Christ like.
The landlord was a horrible bully to push the tenant out just because they don’t have the same religion. But it sounds like the tenant would’ve gone away quietly if she had just given her the security deposit back. Instead, she had to try to steal the money, resulting in a lot of drama.
This is a horrible example of what it’s like to be a Christian.
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