Landlord tried to rip off the tenant over absurd policies—she had the best response

The rising rent rates are becoming more and more of a burden on tenants who are unable to afford the hike. With such increasing amounts, it is only fair that tenants get fair policies and a respectable environment to live in. A woman–who goes by u/TheVaneja on Reddit–revealed that despite paying a high amount, her landlord was ripping her off by quoting absurd policies. She decided to put her foot down with the best response. The woman explained that she used to work in security for two decades and learned a lot on the job. She worked at the "Rental Housing Tribunal (RHT)."

"This place exclusively deals with landlord and tenant disputes and is the only place to resolve landlord and tenant disputes," the post explained. She learned much about rent, policies and different kinds of atrocities that tenants and landlords can play. A major part of her job was to ensure hard copy evidence was with both parties and she would spend a lot of time going through and checking them all. “By the time I stopped working there, I knew the way everything worked well,” she said. A lot of this came in handy when she became a tenant in the same area with a few roommates.

“Only I can write cheques and our paydays don't line up,” the woman noted. As a result, she couldn't pay on the 1st of the month as she needed the share of all roommates beforehand. “We advise the landlord that we might be a day or two late,” the woman mentioned. There was no problem initially. The landlord understood the issue, and the payment was always made by the 3rd of the month. “One day, we were summoned to the RHT on the 2nd of the month for failure to pay rent,” she said. They paid up on the same day and avoided a case, but still had to pay an application fee.

The woman learned that a shift in authority overseeing the area caused a change, demanding that the rent be paid on the 1st of the month with no exceptions. The roommates couldn’t afford this arrangement and complied by paying the fee for a few months. To make things worse, the regular maintenance was discontinued. The woman noted that the roommates put up with the dilemma as they had no options. However, they eventually couldn’t bear it and moved out, leaving the woman alone in the space. In the time the woman took to save for another space, she knew she had to do something. To take a stand for herself, she stopped paying the rent.

“Annoyingly, I didn't get summoned in the 1st month. But I did the 2nd,” she said. She knew where this was headed and had things planned. She went “with a meticulously documented plethora of evidence of failure to maintain the property and entering the property without formal notice.” “I had a copy for the landlord and one for the adjudicator. You're supposed to give the other party the evidence beforehand, but I knew about that leeway an adjudicator gives to those who represent themselves,” she noted. The woman used her knowledge and the latter policy to trick the landlord and get her way.

She ensured the landlord and the other party drove 3 hours for the hearings as she worked her way with all she learned from her job. “I had 20-30 pages of evidence and 20-odd photographs. They had no actual defense for our water heater being out for 6 months or us not having a fridge for a year,” the tenant said. As a result of her sharp skills, she was granted 9 months free rent and the landlord was ordered to fix everything. To make things better, she managed to move out by the end of the 8th month. “If you want a figure to put to it, I got a $13,000 judgment in my favor,” she proudly remarked. u/IanDOsmond said, “Speaking as a landlord myself... nicely done.” u/DynkofromtheNorth wrote, “They truly deserved to lose.”