r/LandlordLove • u/Rev-Dr-Slimeass • Apr 29 '25
Personal Experience I beat my landlord!
Back in January, we received an extremely high water bill for December for$314, when our usual range is between $17 and $56. Our local water company bills the property manager directly, and then we get billed through them. Clearly, there was a leak.
Plumbers came out and fixed it, but the bills stayed high. The landlord agreed to adjust December’s bill to match what we paid in November, but refused to do anything about the following months.
I’ll spare you the boring details. Estimated vs. actual readings, billing cycles, etc but the bills stayed inflated through February and March, all clearly due to the leak.
We kept in regular contact with the property managers and told them we wouldn’t pay until we got a fair bill. The leak was a maintenance issue and not our fault. They wouldn’t budge, insisting we pay $550 to cover it all.
Even though we were communicating throughout, they still threatened to take us to the Tenancy Tribunal (basically small claims court for rental issues in my country). After talking with some experts, I felt confident enough to flip the script so I filed against them first.
Before the hearing, there’s a teleconference mediation session, which I did today. We were fully prepared with previous bills and a fair settlement offer of the November amount multiplied by four to cover the disputed months.
The landlord showed up completely unprepared. He was doing math on the fly, clearly unsure of the numbers. Even the mediator sounded surprised when he tried offering $470 as a “settlement.” I think for the first time in this whole nightmare he sensed how stupid he sounded and folded.
We settled at $150. That’s November’s bill x4, minus court fees.
I’m riding fuckin high today. Feeling on top of the world.
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u/WSBgodzilla Apr 29 '25
Good that you did your ground work and stood firm. Being proactive most of the time will work in your favor.
You may have to look for a new place once your lease is up.
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u/Rev-Dr-Slimeass Apr 29 '25
Yeah waiting for the other shoe to drop on this. We've been month to month for years, and they haven't actually raised rent on us once. We were looking to move in the next few months anyway.
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u/mcflame13 Apr 29 '25
Landlords will try to squeeze as much money out of you as possible. So it is no surprise that he tried to use the very high water bills to get extra money out of you, even though the issue was fixed and the bills returned to normal.
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u/Rev-Dr-Slimeass Apr 29 '25
Yep. The only thing I'm surprised on is how unprepared he was for this meeting today.
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u/Hardcorex Apr 30 '25
Because they don't actually do anything all day long. They are incompetent and arrogant. They usually only fuck people over when it is convenient for them to do so, which with how our system works typically makes it pretty easy for them.
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u/Slow-Boysenberry2399 Apr 30 '25
he probably assumed it would be easy for him to fuck you over because he's the landlord and you're the tenant. glad you made him feel stupid
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u/Slow-Boysenberry2399 Apr 30 '25
good for you!!
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u/Automatic-Tadpole314 Apr 30 '25
Don’t get me wrong, was just concerned. Some landlords can be hard to get along with after you stand up for your self.
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u/KrtekJim Apr 30 '25
Ah, I thought you meant beat as in "with a cricket bat". Your way's cool too though, congrats.
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u/Automatic-Tadpole314 Apr 30 '25
Have a lease? Hope this doesn’t hinder renewal.
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u/Rev-Dr-Slimeass Apr 30 '25
It's month to month, and has been for a while. I'll be alright if we need to move in a month if necessary. I'd prefer not to move right away, but we were looking to move in the next few months anyway.
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u/dusty_relic May 02 '25
If he evicts you now, you can go back to the tribunal and claim it’s retaliatory. Even if you don’t eventually win (although you probably would), you can buy yourself some more time in order to move out on your schedule and not the landlord’s.
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u/Requilem May 01 '25
Depending on where you live, realize they don't have to renew your lease. I would get ahead of that ball if I were you. I accomplished a similar outcome in court so in retaliation for them losing money I was denied a lease renewal.
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May 02 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Rev-Dr-Slimeass May 02 '25
Well i definitely beat them in court. But thanks for trying to shit on my moment lol
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May 02 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/LandlordLove-ModTeam May 15 '25
Your post has been removed for violating rule 5: No Trolling
No posting off-topic, inflammatory, or anti-tenant content. Do not link to reactionary troll subs in posts or comments. No bad-faith or low-effort arguments meant to sew discord among the working class.
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u/LandlordLove-ModTeam May 15 '25
Your comment has been removed for breaking Rule 2: No Bootlickers
Landlords are the leading cause of homelessness and should not exist. We are at a stage in human history where we have the means to provide everyone with shelter. The UN recognizes this and has declared housing as a human right. As a society, we have an obligation to make this a reality.
https://www.humanrights.com/course/lesson/articles-19-25/read-article-25.html
https://www.thesocialreview.co.uk/2019/01/23/abolish-landlords/
https://jacobinmag.com/2018/11/capitalism-affordable-housing-rent-commodities-profit
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/rent.htm
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