Creepy Landlords

What makes a landlord creepy? Lots of things. Some folks have no business being landlords…feel free to add to the list…but no names, please.

1. The Peeper. We were newlyweds and rented the basement flat of a house in McLean, VA. I would catch the landlord’s adult sons peering in the windows – and not by accident - they would have to lie on their stomachs to get a view inside since we were in the basement! Naturally the landlady (who lived on the main level of the house) denied all.

2. Mr. Suspicion. Moved from FL to Palo Alto, CA with our 5 year old daughter. Owned a home in FL, but couldn’t afford to buy in Palo Alto so we rented. I asked the LL (who lived next door) if we could get a kitten for our daughter because she was lonely. NO. Okay. She made friends with a neighborhood cat who would come to visit and named it, as most little kids do. The LL heard her talking to the cat. He came over and accused us of getting a cat after he explicitly told us we could not. I explained that I respected his answer, did not get a cat – and how dare he accuse us.

3. It’s ALL Mine. Our LL decided that he was going to keep our $1500 security deposit because the 50 year old hardwood floor had a surface scratch and he needed to have the flooring refinished throughout the house as a result of this. He was accustomed to dealing with college students – we were not college students. We were landlords and professionally employed. The entire house was professionally cleaned after we vacated the premises. We got our entire security deposit back after threatening to red flag him to the city for property line violation.

4. Drop In. This is the landlord who simply shows up at the door under the pretense of making sure ‘everything’ is alright. Aside from annoying and intrusive, this is just plain weird.