Late night post from the office

One of the most bastard people that I've met to date is my landlord for the academic year 2008 - 2009 in Bristol. He would take advantage of every opportunity to make his tenants pay for all sorts of improvements to his property even when it came to something cheap like a cupboard knob.

Essentially, he has only one trick up his sleeve. This is executed in 3 simple steps: attribute all physical deterioration (including existing and present fair wear and tear) to the tenants, deduct from security deposit and hope that he won't be sued. Normally, most who have had the misfortune of leasing his property would be stuck in a corner with little or no resort. But I decided not to let him have his cake and eat it.

While I should not mention in public how my housemates and I royally fucked him over, I shall mention one instance where I slammed him in front of a few people for entertainment.

It happened one day when I was going home and the locksmiths were replacing the lock on my front door. As this was the umpteenth time that a replacement was needed, the landlord became visibly unhappy at having to always bear such costs. In frustration, the landlord lashed out at me, blaming me for the times where he had to change the lock because the door constantly 'slammed'. He also insisted that I pay for the cost of the new lock. This was too retarded for my liking.

I then gave him a piece of my mind. It was all the more better this happened in front of a few people, namely the agent and locksmiths. Here are the main things said to him:

a. How did he know that the door was constantly 'slammed' and that it was me (since he blamed me) who caused this situation? I repeated asked him in front of everyone whether he had a CCTV at the door and whether he had seen me open and close the door before.

b. That it was not the manner of which the door was opened or closed, but his constant mistake of purchasing such a cheap and weak lock that led to these situations.

c. That instead of insisting that the tenants pay for the lock, he should in addition to paying for it, compensate us for putting us at various risks when we were locked in the flat these few times.

d. In the event he charges us, I would not pay my rent and/or call the environmental council to inspect the rat infested property to prevent it from being rented out.

The landlord was obviously unhappy after the conversation. But what to do? He just had to suck it up because he deserves it for his pathetic and insulting attempt at cheating and slamming me.

While I would generally consider it unwise to hantam someone unless it is a last resort, I am glad that some people have given me the opportunity to do so by putting me in such a situation. This is because slamming someone , even without an iota of vindictiveness, may be rather entertaining especially when there is a crowd. When will the next chance present itself? I don't know but I will surely relish it when it comes hahahahha.