What’s your worst landlord horror story?

We love to hate them


Students and Landlords have a complex relationship. We’re lazy, don’t clean very often and hold numerous house parties. Our Landlords crop up unannounced, get annoyed about bin over-spills and hold our deposits hostage in retaliation. Truth be told we’re not the best tenants but sometimes  some of us will get the Del boy and Rodney of landlords – money hungry, habitual liars and illogical reasoning’s.

We’ve all experienced washing machine malfunction, dribbling showers, heating problems, damp, mouldy walls, furniture falling apart, infestations and end of tenancy charges plucked from thin air.

Bayan, Postgrad, Corporate Social and Responsibility

“In my second year I had an infestation of mice and my room stank of ammonia. After contacting the landlord I was told that it is my responsibility to keep the place clean. I am a incredibly clean person and it resulted with me paying a large sum for mice traps. I will never see a penny towards that cost neither compensation.”

Clare, third year, Business and Economy of Contemporary China 

“When we moved in one of the bathrooms was flooded so we had five girls using one bathroom. They did fix the pipes but did not redo the flooring or the skirting boards, so everywhere looked old and rotten.”

Shaq, fourth year, Computer Science 

“At the start of the year whenever it rained we’d get drips as we had holes in our roof. It got so bad and then we found out that when someone took a shower the kitchen ceiling would start dripping, so we had buckets throughout the entire house.”

Rosanna, fourth year, Business and Economy of Contemporary China 

“The charges at the end of our tenancy were ridiculous. Our landlord wanted to take the full £380 deposit from eight of us. We argued our case and appealed through the deposit protection scheme and thankfully got the majority of it back.”

Priya, third year, History

“Despite our landlord had bad reviews so we tried to stay in his good books. It did not work and he took the majority of one of my friend’s deposits, we believe due to them not getting along because of disputes over the year.

“Another story was after he unblocked our drain, he put the contents in the toilet which was supposed to apparently teach us a lesson. Also we got a few angry text messages, the strangest was after fixing our toilet seat he messaged saying we should stop using aggressive movements whilst on the toilet?”

Abi, fourth year, Business and Economy of Contemporary China 

“I am strong with the bleach, hot water and my marigolds. I regularly have to wash my bedroom walls despite my landlord stating they had been sealed with some sort of damp proof stuff. Clearly that did not work and I have been told to keep my window open – in this cold?”

Elliot, fourth year, Computer Science 

“He went to America halfway through the year and there was no means of contacting him. Then at the end of our tenancy he wanted to take nearly £1000 in total from our deposits as he blamed us for the majority of the repairs.”

Kevin, second year, Economics 

“I regularly wash my clothes when the washing machine actually works. We were left with it unfixed for nearly three weeks and for a house full of boys this was not convenient.”

Tom and Max, fourth year, Contemporary Chinese Studies

“Mate, there’s a number of problems, where do we start. Accusations of lying about rent payments when he actually did not check his accounts, and he will never answer his phone, only responds to texts.

“The worst one was how he attempted to not allow us to move in on the date of the contract, as he had a wedding to attend.”

Karen, fourth year, Accounting and Finance 

Slugs love coming back to Karen and her housemates

“At night slugs appear everywhere, my landlord brought slug pellets but has done nothing about actually fixing the hole in my kitchen.”