r/mildlyinfuriating • u/Imoprich • May 15 '26
go to your room Landlord trying move in a random person during a person's lease
Credits:almaahusnic
The lady clarified she has been paying rent & security deposit upfront, but the Owner isn't countersigning the lease. The owner leaves her on seen when she messages. The owner doesn't deny the lady from entering the rental home. Also there's repairs that need to be done urgently but the owner keeps leaving her on seen.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_EYELASHES May 15 '26
My first thought:
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u/NotYourReddit18 May 15 '26
From what she tells it also seems like the actual owner has entered her home without prior notice a few days before that, so I'd call a locksmith to replace the door lock too.
While changing locks yourself isn't that difficult, I wouldn't risk this lady or the actually landlord coming back while I'm out buying a new lock.
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u/Cr0n_J0belder May 15 '26
Generally you can’t lockout the property owner. You can likely get a locksmith to change the locks, but they would still need to give a key to the landlord. If they don’t then we the landlord would just rekey the place, give them a key and charge them.
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u/Alienhaslanded May 15 '26
Yeah I'm not sure why she's bothering and basically sounding like she's on the verge of crying. Just shut the door and call the cops if they don't fuck off.
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u/VivaZeBull May 15 '26
She’s probably upset and thinks a) the “property manager” might be reasonable and have a brain, possibly understanding this is illegal b) is trying to keep the random new tenant from getting scammed (too late) and put more grocery bags all over.
She also probably wants to yell at someone because she seems like this might be her last straw.
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u/Ulquiorra1312 May 15 '26
Hmm she’s claiming to be property manager who you never met
She has no access to your lease
She has not dealt with any of your tenancy
I am wondering if she is a fraud
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u/Real-Self-3039 May 15 '26
As soon as she asked for a copy of the lease I'm like "wait shouldn't she already have a copy?!"
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u/Lollipoop_Hacksaw May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Meanwhile you have people in this thread DEFENDING this shit, while not asking the biggest question:
Why is she asking for paperwork she should already have on-hand to enforce what she is doing. Why is she putting it on her to pull out paperwork without notice to show her the specifics. Like... what????
Seriously, any competent asshole a few years past grade school that has zero experience in this could still predict this is fishy.
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u/Qweesdy May 15 '26
Why is she asking for paperwork she should already have on-hand to enforce what she is doing.
Because the tenant got scammed by a random person who created fake paperwork; which is why the tenant can't get the random scammer to sign that fake paperwork. Meanwhile the actual landlord thinks the property is vacant (they aren't getting any rent, the tenant is paying rent to the scammer) so they hired a legitimate property manager, but that property manager doesn't know that a random scammer conned the tenant, so the property manager asks to see the paperwork (so that they can determine that the scammed tenant only has fraudulent paperwork).
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u/MoosedaMuffin May 15 '26
From my understanding from videos from other parts of this interaction, the tenant is in property management, obviously not for this property. And they have had a lawyer involved ever since the owner refused to give a countersigned lease agreement (I think it was something about trying to change terms after it was already signed).
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u/yogrark May 15 '26
I've never had a tenant able to move in before a fully executed lease. How is this woman already living there before all the legals are executed and monies are transacted?
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u/wizardid May 15 '26
HOW IS THIS COMMENT NOT HIGHER?
If you don't have a countersigned lease agreement, and haven't been paying rent... how exactly are you a legitimate tenant?
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u/ODaysForDays May 15 '26
Lease or not you have month to month tenancy rights in most states. They can't just toss you.
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May 15 '26
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u/DedTV May 15 '26
Shes paying the rent, but not the surety deposits (security, first/last). Because as she said, Without a countersigned lease, shes only legally required to pay the month to month rent.
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u/Parking_Act3189 May 15 '26
But how did she get in? Did the scammer break in and leave the doors unlocked and told her to go ahead and move in
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u/Warm_Month_1309 May 15 '26
And, speaking as a lawyer, what she said is kind of a mess of half-remembered almost-laws, so I suspect she did not actually talk to an attorney and did some ChatGPT research instead.
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u/tu-BROOKE-ulosis May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Here’s my theory based off everything I’ve seen from this video and other posts: I think she executed a lease for one bedroom of the multi bedroom house (one link shows it might even be a 5 bedroom house). She paid the deposit and moved in. Or maybe she paid the deposit and they accepted it and hadn’t yet actually signed the lease. Don’t know. She then changed the lease herself (her counter lease language) to cross off the terms regarding the bedroom to “the house” or multiple rooms, and tried to send more money for the deposit or rent or something unclear and the landlord was not signing off on her changed lease. That would explain why she keeps changing her story about what money was sent, if the deposit was actually paid or not, why she’s suddenly saying she stopped payments on deposit “installments”. Why there’s a dispute about the other bedroom. Why the landlord won’t change the key code entry to the house (there’s multiple people supposed to be living there, and there might be like 3 others if it’s a 5 bedroom house as advertised).
Maybe im grasping at straws here. But the scenario makes more sense to me than any other scenario I’ve read.
Edit: rewatched it again with my specific theory in mind. And I feel even more confident. I can totally picture this woman saying “I need this place for me and my son” when walking through initially and then using that to justify acting like it’s okay to write in that the whole place is theirs, as opposed to a room. And then writing that on the lease. She never actually claims anything other than she had no notice, that the other woman’s name isn’t on the lease, and deflects as to why she isn’t paying rent.
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u/KingClark03 May 15 '26
This is largely what I think happened too. That the PM was there to move someone into the second bedroom indicated that the home is being rented by the room. OOP doesn’t seem to dispute that, which is odd. Everything else she complains about feels like a deflection from the room rental/house rental inconsistency.
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u/TwoBionicknees May 15 '26
I'm almost imagining the woman recording is a scammer, is squatting but throwing up everything she can to make it seem like she's the one being scammed by acting like she has a lease, is paying and has a lawyer involved then films and acts really upset to freak out the actual landlord/property manager.
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u/JessicaFreakingP May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
The OOP apparently signed and gave money and I’d imagine she was given keys to the place. She mentioned she had needed to find somewhere quickly. In a pinch, if I had a lease I’d signed, deposit and first month put down, and the keys handed to me, I’d move in before getting the landlord-signed fully executed copy.
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u/Warm_Month_1309 May 15 '26
And they have had a lawyer involved
I'm a lawyer. I think the tenant is bluffing about having one, because no landlord/tenant attorney I know would advise their client to "withhold [payment] until [they] have received a countersigned lease agreement." There is no law that permits that, and she would be a squatter in that context. At minimum, her attorney would be telling her to pay into an escrow, and even that would be unusual.
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u/Selpmis May 15 '26
From my understanding when I saw this on her Instagram, it is being put into escrow and she says the laws are relevant to Washington. She needs a countersigned lease agreement because her child's school are insisting on it to enroll the child.
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u/Real-Self-3039 May 15 '26
That feels like a stretch. If the actual landlord/owner thought the property was vacant why doesnt the landlord just call the cops now. Also feels weird the landlord is trying to move the new person into a specific room, not saying that the current tenant shouldnt be there.
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u/trivialremote May 15 '26
Wait, so by your theory, how did the tenant (the person filming this video) get keys and stuff?
I’d be interested if you’re correct, but it seems like if someone is giving keys out, giving property tours, and checking all those boxes, then there is a high chance that they are legit
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u/Nathan-Stubblefield May 15 '26 edited May 17 '26
A crook can pick a lock or break a rear window to get into a vacant property, then change the locks, advertise and rent the property, and take the deposit which is a couple of months rent. There are numerous cases of a property owner finding an innocent victim who has moved into a property. It can take the owner months to get the property back because it is a civil matter requiring court appearances and eviction, to protect rightful renters. To confuse matters more, there are egregious and blatant squatters with their own fake leases.
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u/sparkyblaster May 15 '26
And what could she do if she has a copy if she isn't meant to?
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u/PMMEYOURGUCCIFLOPS May 15 '26
It’s the fact she doesn’t have one already as the “property manager”
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u/Potato_Pear May 15 '26
Personal info, could contain bank info etc and be used for identity theft.
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u/memoryblocks May 15 '26
I once had a pair of women walk into my apartment and park themselves at the table who insisted that they had just leased the apartment. Calm as could be, certain they were right, my brother screaming at them, our dog barking at them.
They were homeless and one was having a mental health episode - She brought a pizza flyer that she claimed was the lease agreement.
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u/RocketCat5 May 15 '26
Was the pizza countersigned?
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u/Deaffin May 15 '26
Yes, it said right there. "Pizza Pizza".
That's a sign and countersign.
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u/SadTummy-_- May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
If you go on her TT page to her other videos, she is withholding rent (and not in a escrow account, straight not paying) and doesn't have a signed copy of the lease agreement because the property manager kept changing the lease. She has signed one drawn up, but they didn't sign and she doesn't pay the rent on the agreement, yet is living there.
It's a weird not a legal tenant situation, but they can't evict her due to squatter rights in Washington. But also property management has to be straight trash to try to move another tenant into a mess like that, so cool situation all around lol
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u/FDLC84 May 15 '26
Hold on… she doesn’t have a signed because they kept changing it?
Where was the original one for her to move in OR did she move in without a signed contract from both parties?
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u/Warm_Month_1309 May 15 '26
they can't evict her due to squatter rights in Washington
Squatters rights doesn't mean you can't be evicted; it means you have to be evicted (as opposed to just thrown out).
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u/lilsnatchsniffz May 15 '26
That "tenant" is looking very suspicious as well, who in their right mind who watch this whole conversation with no reaction if not a scammer who's in on the grift? Also who tf shows up to move into a house in their pajamas like that?
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u/IndigoRanger May 15 '26
I agree it’s likely a scam, but the tenant looks pretty poorly off, and they’re only trying to rent a bedroom. The pjs may be the cleanest item they have at the moment. Or it could be a ploy idk.
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u/RenTroutGaming May 15 '26
Yeah - they prey on people who can't pass credit or rental history checks, ask for cash up front and then do this.
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u/BiggieBigs34 May 15 '26
To start, I’m 100% with the current lease holder, but damn, your comment is funny. I mean goddamn is someone going to move shit around during a move in their Sunday best? Moving is definitely dress down time.
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u/Livingadapt May 15 '26
People let their imaginations run wild as hell on here and believe their own bullshit without question. She’s probably someone who just thought she was going to rent a room, had no idea this was going on and doesn’t even know what to do or how to react. Because she’s now facing the possibility that she doesn’t have somewhere to stay when she thought she did
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u/SAINTnumberFIVE May 15 '26
Could just be some poor person who doesn’t understand what’s going on and maybe already paid a deposit and needs their money back.
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u/sdneidich May 15 '26
The narrators story also has some issues: if you don't have a countersigned lease, you don't have a lease.
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u/SAINTnumberFIVE May 15 '26
Most people would be shaken if confronted like that but she seems unusually calm, which is odd.
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u/CatGooseChook May 15 '26
I know that look. It's the "absence of humanity" look that scammer types, who are not good enough at acting to hide what they are, display.
You really don't want to see that face without even that mediocre attempt at masking.
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u/Maladaptive_Ace May 15 '26
I just see someone scared who is being yelled at and doesn't know what to do
we aren't sure who the scammer is here
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u/drilldor May 15 '26
The "tenant" in this video admits that no executed lease exists when she says the landlord refuses to countersign the lease, she also admits she's not paying anything to live there. If the landlord has not signed the lease, you are not a tenant.
Think about it this way. You own a home, and I print a lease online and sign it and send it to you. Then I move into your home and claim that I'm a tenant and you need to sign my lease or I'm not paying you. In that interaction, you (the landlord) had no agency in this interaction. I am a squatter, and I'm making legal claims to be a tenant that are costly and time consuming to disprove.
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u/Illustrious_Site_466 May 15 '26
Hell no I'd be locking up the house
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u/_Ginger_Nut_ May 15 '26
I’d be changing the locks
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u/Bowman_van_Oort May 15 '26
Boarding up the windows
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u/CrushedSodaCan_ May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
There is more to this story.
She is paying $1800 rent in Seattle, on a 5 bedroom $994,000 home. Rent would be closer to $4000+
She states two rooms, so I'm guessing it's a basement or attic floor.
She already has a lawyer and when asked about the lease is more concerned about it not being properly signed.
However, the initial listing clearly states "rent a ROOM for $850. So it's absolutely a multi tenant unit....but she is paying 1800 so I'm assuming she gets a full floor to herself.
Something shady is going on. Everyone involved seems sus.
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u/SophisticatedScreams May 15 '26
Is it possible she rented two rooms (one for her, one for her son)? That would be close to 1800. There seems to be some nonsense afoot here.
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u/AXEL-1973 May 15 '26
sounds like the OP is a squatter and is trying to make a scene
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u/DylanHate May 15 '26
Seriously the number of people who just take a headline as absolute gospel without question is frightening.
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u/NeverPlayF6 May 15 '26
She is paying $1800 rent in Seattle, on a 5 bedroom $994,000 home. Rent would be closer to $4000+
5 bedroom house with a 3 car garage in Seattle for less than $1MM? Did I just wake up in 2015??
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u/_Atoms_Apple May 15 '26
If this place is in Belltown or Cap Hill, I could see the house being worth under $1M. That being said, there is an almost ZERO percent chance that she's renting all 5 bedrooms for $1800/month. Even in a less desirable area, you are correct that a 5 bedroom house would be $4000/month on the low end.
Source - I live in Seattle.
Cries in Seattle housing prices
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u/NeverPlayF6 May 15 '26
Yes- it is extremely bad. That number is so low that it is clearly a scam.
If I rented 2 beds & a bath for $1k/mo in Seattle, I would expect to wake up in a bathtub full of ice, missing a few organs.
My sister rented a 2 bed/1 bath in the Freemont/Wallingford back in 2015. She was paying $1700/mo a decade ago.
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u/Fingerman2112 May 15 '26
It has been confirmed by other commenters that the person filming the video is a squatter who has done this multiple times.
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u/Accurate_Tax_1302 May 15 '26
I bet the rent was increased and she tried to counter the rent increase using her own lease and the landlord wouldn't agree or sign it.
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u/MrBtheProdigal May 15 '26
Or she changed the lease to say her $1800 is for the whole house. As she said in the video it's her house. Otherwise why wouldn't the landlord sign? Doesn't make sense.
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May 15 '26
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u/MonKAYonPC May 15 '26
Honestly unsurprising. Her demeanor and railroading of the situation gave me squatter vibes.
She knows enough about the laws to occupy a place long enough to make it worth for her.
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u/jimsmisc May 15 '26
a friend of mine moved and decided to rent his old house since he had one of those covid mortgages at like 2%. Did almost everything right: got the place fixed up, proper lease agreement, interviewed potential tenants. But he didn't do formal background checks.
His first tenant ended up being a professional squatter. Showed up well-dressed, had all the proper paperwork, said all the right things. They signed a lease and she just simply never paid rent. Every time he confronted her about the rent she would pull some nonsense legalese just like the person in this video.
It took him a year and a boatload of legal fees to finally get her evicted even though she had a documented history of pulling the same thing. This lady had been leveraging squatter's rights to live for free for *years*, specifically targeting small-time "landlords" who were usually just people with one rental property who were new to the whole landlord thing.
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u/chrispybacon92 May 15 '26
Ok ive always wondered about this. What happens if someone (not the home owner) waits for the squatter to leave and simply removes all their items from the home and does a similar squatting situation with a fake lease. Like a friend of the home owner. Then they let their friend (homeowner) back in to their house to reclaim it. Does that make any sense?
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u/Nepila May 15 '26
There was pretty fun video going I think last year when some streamer hired another full crazy Kik streamer or something to do that.
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u/txmail May 15 '26
Seems like if you had enough people and just completely erased their history of living there (squeaky clean, no furniture, different locks etc.) and moved someone in at the same time in on it the squatter would have a hell of a time explaining it with no belongings to be seen -- everything just gone.
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u/jimsmisc May 15 '26
it gets surprisingly complicated legally if you do something like that, and the squatter sort of wants the maximum legal complexity. Because the more they have a "case" against you, the longer the whole thing will take, so the longer they get to live for free.
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u/_Mike-Honcho_ May 15 '26
Knew it. Surprise, there is no "lawyer."
First thing a lawyer would ask is if she is current with her rent.
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u/Prunkle May 15 '26
Also, in this situation you don't just withhold the rent. You still pay it... you just pay it into an escrow instead of to the landlord. Then it gets settled in court.
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u/Malforus May 15 '26
The woman taking the video to be clear? Cause the use of the term "countersignature" and approps of nothing thing about security deposit tells me somethings up.
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u/hodl_on_tight May 15 '26
Correct, the woman filming is a serial squatter.
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u/Consistent_Smell_880 May 16 '26
Is it just based on that screenshot? All we know from that is that she was evicted twice, right?
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u/AltScholar7 May 15 '26
When she says she's been in "this industry" for 12 years, this is what she means
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u/pablonian May 15 '26
Annnnd there it is. She gives the vibe of a squatter the way she talks
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u/rojotortuga May 15 '26
I was looking for something like this, her comment about the owner not signing her lease agreement being the reason for non payment sounded like an odd reason not to. Like she was looking for an excuse not to pay.
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u/KingClark03 May 15 '26
And there it is. Way too much double-talk from OOP for her to be on the level.
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u/Snoo92570 May 15 '26
The way they both look like they are the innocent ones getting abused lol
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u/Nearby-Calendar-8635 May 15 '26
I feel for the one in the back tho. It's really likely the landlord had lied to her too.
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u/Vought_MasterChief May 15 '26
She is being taken advantage of.
Both the girl in the back and the renter.
I feel very bad for both of them.
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u/sparkyblaster May 15 '26
I would have walked off sooo soon. Who signs a lease without viewing? Might explain the water bottle I guess.
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u/lumoslomas May 15 '26
The person who moved into my previous place.
They were Not Happy to discover the unfinished bathroom and kitchen, and the fence being practically non-existent.
Probably wise they didn't hold viewings whilst I still lived there. I would've warned her.
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u/ilikecatsoup May 15 '26
Years ago I had an emergency where I wasn't sure if I could afford rent any longer. Contacted my landlord and we agreed on me moving out. Fair enough.
The agreed move-out date was the 20th. On the 18th the property manager entered my apartment with a group of people to show them the apartment while I was cleaning. No prior communication about this from either the landlord or property manager. I was lucky that I decided to wake up early that day, otherwise they would have seen me undressed in bed.
I was a pushover teen and just let it happen, but now I'd either stand my ground or tell the viewers all the things wrong with the place.
I'm also still salty about the landlord refusing to engage with me after I asked if it would be possible to use my deposit to cover that last month's rent. It was a loop of "Talk to the property manager about this" and "Talk to the landlord about this".
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u/taxiecabbie May 15 '26
It happens. I've experienced a similar situation to this.
The guy in question trying to move in was an immigrant who showed up with belongings in those zip-up rice bags. While the police were being called and the entire situation was dealt with, he was able to explain that he agreed to rent the place sight unseen because it was a) a single room, b) he did not require roommates since we (my husband and I) were already there, and c) it was in a nice area of town, d) it was in the budget he could pay, and e) it was the only option that was available during the time he needed it to be available.
Basically, people who are willing to put up with nigh anything because they don't have a lot of other options.
He ended up getting moved to another unit in the building since he did have a legal contract for a room, but we also have a situation that prevents anybody from being moved into our unit. The property manager lied to the police saying that the building was otherwise at 100% tenancy, but that was not true so the guy was moved.
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u/CatGooseChook May 15 '26
Almost fell for that one when I was young and desperate. Luckily it occurred to me that reading their emails made me feel like I was reading an articulate Nigerian prince email. I definitely grew a wee bit wiser in that moment.
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u/taxiecabbie May 15 '26
Yeah, I had a good friend back in 2011-ish who got scammed out of around $400 when we were house-hunting together. He'd sent a check to some address without telling me first in hopes of getting a deposit.
It was a scam Craigslist listing. I knew the moment he told me. $400 isn't nothing now, but it was a big, big deal at that time. Bad times.
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u/sharkeatskitten May 15 '26
people who have bad credit and only a handful of options where that doesn't matter. it is extremely hard to turn things around once you get there and shady people prey on that
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u/lordrefa May 15 '26
A lot of people are not in position to do a viewing before signing a lease for various reasons, often including a long haul move.
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u/lordrefa May 15 '26
They're probably in shock from the owner not having told them shit about shit either.
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u/Ryokurin May 15 '26
They are in shock because they expected her to not be there.
I had similar issues with a landlord that kept entering my place. I knew they entered the first time because they flipped off a light switch I keep on at all times because it was a smart bulb.
I then immediately got a camera and a alarm and got proof and confronted them on what they were doing. They had the same look and tried to play it off as they thought it was still empty and needed to be cleaned.
They also had a bad habit of announcing that work needed to be done on a scheduled date and then not coming until days or a week later. If you complained they tried to claim they told you weeks ago they were coming. They learn their lesson after I started calling the police when they did it.
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u/stevez_86 May 15 '26
I have so many stories of the landlord I had in college that was part of a Realty Company and they had no clue what the laws and regulations were. Me and my friend were bad tenants, but not that bad. They tried to evict us and when they couldn't they entered the property while we were away with no notice at all. I came back to find a search warrant affidavit on the table. Luckily I didn't get tied up in that, but my buddy did. I made it clear that I understood that they broke tenant rights doing that and that it could get them in criminal trouble and we were able to stay for the rest of the lease.
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u/Unusual_Platypus1098 May 15 '26
All they know is what the landlord told them to do 😂 he's an idiot that sent them there.
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u/Otherwise-4PM May 15 '26
They can’t do that. Just call the police to get proof for a possible legal case.
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u/Majestic_Potato_Poof May 15 '26
She literally said in video she would be contacting the police
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u/d-car May 15 '26
Save her the trouble and call them while she's standing there. Get their license plate number as they drive away and fill out a report, at least.
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u/Yumi_in_the_sun May 15 '26
It says in the text on the video that she ended the video to call 911. I swear nobody has the patience to watch a whole video anymore. lol
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u/onmy40 May 15 '26
She literally shouldn't have been entertaining that lady by talking to her in the first place
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u/Missmessc May 15 '26
The agent could have easily called the landlord to resolve this. If this was legit, why waste time going back and forth.
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u/IKRYPT2NITE May 15 '26
i seen this video on tiktok, someone said the lady filming is a Squatter
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u/Ultrasonic-Sawyer May 15 '26
Perhaps I dont know US law but typically in the uk a landlord providing the keys or accepting payment is seen as good as a signature in most cases, likewise a tenant signing is a thing they can do but not necessary, at least in my experience. (Sometimes they like a signature on a different form when taking possession of the keys)
Estate agents / letting agencies prefer a signed copy for their records and stuff, but the fact that you've taken ownership of the keys is as much of an agreement to the agreement at that time.
Of course, in court, it can get fiddly when arguing particulars, but the handover of the keys and any rental payment is considered the threshold for being in that contract.
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u/LeftHandedScissor May 15 '26
Implied consent is the common law principal your referring to. A signed document / lease is explicit consent. You can prove though that there was implied consent by the parties because the landlord gave her the keys and let her in the house, and the tenant accepted possession of the property. A court would likely hold that there is an effective lease in place regardless of the signature situation, and that she owes the landlord the security deposit and any back rent. But it'll take a year or 2 in the US for the landlord to see a penny of that money if they take the tenant to court, that's why the system is broken.
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u/FlamingoVisible1947 May 15 '26
No it's not normal and no attorney would have ever recommended her to withold rent. The woman living there is also bullshitting.
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u/TX_B_caapi May 15 '26
Pardon my ignorance but what does tha part about the lease mean? Seems the lady filming doesn’t have a signed lease by her own admission and has not paid any rent as some sort of protest about the incomplete lease agreement. Doesn’t that all imply that she is not a legal resident in that building except by some squatter’s rights?
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u/Empty-Consequence681 May 15 '26
Yeah, pretty much. Squatter's rights do exist and can be incredibly challenging to work around when an occupant is well-versed in how to take advantage of them -- particularly in a state like Washington that's statutorily adverse to landlords in these situations. These scenarios don't typically emerge out of circumstances where the landlord was following all the right rules and regulations, so it's not a question of reflexively exonerating the landlord here. But everything that the woman filming the video says fits perfectly into the narrative of a squatter who is knowingly availing themselves of the legal protections afforded to their situation.
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u/PartyPoison98 NOT RED May 15 '26
I saw the original video on Instagram. She had a LOT more in the comments about how she'd withheld the rent due to some issue, something about the LL not countersigning the lease, and a whole load of weird legalese bits that made it seem like she wasn't telling the full story here.
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u/_insert-name-here May 15 '26
In this video she does say that she's been withholding rental payments (at her lawyers recommendation) because the landlord did not countersign the lease agreement after requesting it on 4 separate occasions.
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u/ez399017 May 15 '26
An attorney may recommend putting payments into escrow, probably wouldn’t recommend not paying altogether
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u/mnttu May 15 '26
So did she like just move in?
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u/thecrusher112 May 15 '26
She paid 6k to secure the lease. You bet your ass I’m moving in
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u/Agreeable-Tadpole461 May 15 '26
Right, but as a long time property manager, she would have known that was illegal. I just wonder why she signed the lease in the first place.
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u/omgitsjagen May 15 '26
From context, it sounds like she (probably actually her lawyer) made corrections to the lease, and sent it to be counter signed, with corrections. Of course, the landlord is under no obligation to counter sign, but if they don't, then they never should have turned over the keys.
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u/Ethraelus May 15 '26
Yeah, I suspect there’s more to it. If the landlord really did not countersign the lease, how is she technically the renter of the place?
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u/258k May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
She withheld the rent because the landlord charged her a 6k deposit that wasn’t legal (in her state, they are not allowed to charge first and last day rent as a security deposit)
The landlord did not provide a way for the tenant to change the lock code (everyone who toured the unit + the landlord has lock code)
The landlord didn’t countersign the lease AFTER charging and accepting the illegal security deposit (accepting it means that he agrees that she’s a tenant)
The landlord has also entered the unit without any written notice & is ignoring all of the tenant’s attempts to contact them
Her lawyer advised her to withhold rent until the lease is countersigned.
Edit: I watched the videos last night and am just repeating what she said.
Edit 2: Typo: “Tenet” to “Tenant” since ppl are so anal about typos
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u/escobartholomew May 15 '26
But that raises way more questions. She claims to have been in property management for 12 years. Why would she pay an illegal deposit before having the lease agreement completed?
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u/Zironic May 15 '26
Maybe the reason the landlord didn't change the lock code is because she doesn't have a lease and appears to be squatting?
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u/Crispierbugu May 15 '26
It kinda sounds like the person filming is a squatter.
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u/SASSIESASSQUATCH May 15 '26
Ding ding ding!!
Someone above posted her prior evictions I think.
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u/8secondsOnTheClock May 15 '26
This seems like a squatter scam.
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u/Technical-Astronaut May 15 '26
From her posted criminal record (which documents previous cases of staying on properties with invalid leases) and her experience working in the property market, I think she’s deliberately targeting smaller landlords without dedicated contract software, so she can instead edit the pdf or word document she receives to let her rent a whole property instead of a single unit. If the landlord doesn’t spot the edit and countersigns, she’s golden. If they don’t, she’s already spun some BS story about needing the keys immediately for whatever reason (and probably offering to pre-pay the deposit in return), and so she can use her key-deposit exchange to claim implicit tenancy consent, then use that to claim a legal conflict and withhold rent. Landlord then has to either settle with her or eat the financial loss to toss her out.
Basically she is using her knowledge of rental law to BS the landlord into a situation where he is just legally in the wrong enough to suffer if he wants to evict her as a squatter. Very clever.
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u/PotatoSandwitchbbq May 16 '26
Yeah we're missing some of the story, but the lady filming is waaay more likely to be the problem here.
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u/Ethraelus May 15 '26
If the landlord didn’t countersign the lease, how did she move in? How does she think she’s legally the renter of the place?
I suspect there’s a lot more to this story.
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u/remusmonkey May 15 '26
The lady actually living there sounds more like a sovereign citizen person. This guy didn't give me completed paperwork so I said fuck it I'm moving in anyway and now that I'm here I'm not going to pay him because he didn't sign the paperwork that I signed and then decided to move in on my own accord? Everything sounds fishy about this
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u/Bourne069 May 15 '26
Pretty sure if they didn't counter sign the lease agreement than its null and void and not a valid agreement for either side...
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May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
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u/PaddedTiger May 15 '26
I've moved with what I could fit in a couple of bags I could bring on a greyhound bus. If you lose everything (in my case weather destroyed where I lived) you do what you can.
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u/FrozenTouch14241 May 15 '26
That might not be all their stuff, it might have just been the first load
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u/onmy40 May 15 '26
They probably advertised the place as being fully furnished
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u/Gold_Data6221 May 15 '26
fully furnished with a child’s bed, nintendo switch and dragon ball z blu rays!
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u/stink3rb3lle May 15 '26
Who moves in with bags
Oh god the last person I helped move was my brother and when packing he decided he had so many paper bags that he should just use those and not put things in boxes. Where we could park was also the longest walk to a unit I've ever experienced. Trips and trips and trips of brown paper fucking bags. I was so mad, horrible choice by him.
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u/LastCupcake2442 May 15 '26
I moved with reusable shopping bags on the subway once lol. 0/10 would not recommend
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u/emerald447 May 15 '26
Nah, that unsigned lease thing is bothering me.
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u/BeenDragonn May 15 '26
I don't understand how she is living in the rental without the lease signed
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u/Emperor_Atlas May 15 '26
"Thats why im not paying rent"
Yea no shit shes moving someone in, you're squatting. Grimy people always act like she does.
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u/Rehcraeser May 15 '26
my guess is she's renting a room in that house and now she's claiming the whole house is hers... regarding the lease statement, sounds like she wouldnt accept the original lease the landlord provided, and sent a different one back, which the landlord wouldnt sign (probably said other rooms cant be rented or some shit like that). plus washington has a problem with squatters atm and this sounds like exactly that sort of situation.
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u/jerslan May 15 '26
Yeah, I'm getting big "I wrote and signed my own lease for this place and won't pay rent until you agree to it" energy from this.
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u/revets May 15 '26
I suspect there’s much more to this story.
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u/MapReston May 15 '26
There is no valid lease. The tennant is trying a case in the court of public opinion with a lot of missing facts. I suspect in a few months to a year an update will tell us more facts.
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u/inheritance- May 15 '26 edited May 15 '26
Landlord here but not this kind. If you ever have an asshole like this try to move someone in before your lease just call 911 and have them trespassed. In my state which is very landlord friendly the landlord can not enter the property before the lease is over unless repairs needs to be maid or to perform an inspection due to something like a recent storm, or flooding. And even then 24 hours notice is needed.
There are certain states that allow for showing off the place once they receive a notice they won't be renewing but once again it's usually a minimum 24 hours notice. I've never done that because I have no idea what condition the place is in and I really can't be arsed to invade the tenants privacy for a showing.
So again landlord comes by with BS call 911 show your lease agreement. I'd be shocked to find a state where they allow shit like this.
EDIT: Copy of my replay to someone else if anyone cares to read.
The whole situation is weird, this is a wild guess.
So she appears to have the keys to the house and is indeed living there. So it would seem the lady had a prior lease, because there's no way a landlord in their right mind would just hand over the keys without a SD and first months rent. I'm guessing the lease expired, the landlord had an agent approach her to renew. The agent signed in place of the landlord and for some reason that's not valid in their state?? Or she assumes it isn't and a "lawyer" did or didn't back her up?? She mentions witholding security and rent but that would bring up the question why wasn't an eviction process started to kick her out. And how did she manage to get keys without paying a SD?!!
In landlord friendly states you can change the locks and kicked them out effectively. But you have to file with the courts, if the tenent doesn't fight it the court will rule for the landlord and break the lease. Only after then is the property technically able to be leased again.
But seeing as she hasn't been evicted and is in possession of the keys and is currently residing in the property I believe in most states that it would be considered hers until other steps are taken to resolve this issue.
All I can say for sure is mutiple people fucked up somewhere. And it will likely be up to the courts to figure this mess out.
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u/Admirable_Loss4886 May 15 '26
Can you explain what the OOP was saying with the counter signed lease not being signed by the landlord? If the landlord never signed does she actually have a lease agreement and is she allowed to be withholding payment in that scenario?
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u/Major_Wigglesworth May 15 '26
Withholding, no. But paying into an escrow account account, yes.
You are never allowed to simply not pay. A tenant must pay rent, but if the landlord receives it is up to the court.
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u/adepressurisedcoat May 15 '26
She signed a lease in March, got the keys and the landlord never signed his half of the lease. Her son's school needs proof of residence to enroll in the upcoming year but because the landlord never signed his half of the lease, it's not legally binding for the school. She's fighting to get the landlord to sign the lease and working with a lawyer to get this sorted (Not to mention the landlord didn't do any repairs prior to the move in date). She is withholding rent due to the issue stated above. The money is being held in a separate account to release once the issues are settled. It seems like the landlord is a slum lord.
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u/whitefang22 May 15 '26
Their school wants to see a lease? I've always been asked for a utility bill to prove i live somewhere.
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u/ilanallama85 May 15 '26
My daughter’s school requires at least two forms of proof of residency. Also, it’s not common, but some rentals have utilities bundled with rent, so she might not have utility bills in that situation. Or, also not super common, especially in a rental, but it could be an all electric home, no gas bill.
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u/iKeepItRealFDownvote May 16 '26
Yeah no. This woman is in the wrong. The landlord and the REAL person leasing the house is correct.
She is not renting the house. She’s definitely a squatter. You guys are defending a squatter. Her entire demeanor and using big words to make it seem like she actually owns the property. She had no lease. The entire reason the landlord asked for it is to prove she doesn’t actually live there. The squatter made up an entire excuse to why she doesn’t have that and why she wasn’t given that information.
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u/xxTheMagicBulleT May 15 '26
Needs a lot more info then just yelling words lack of context makes this hard to say who is in the wrong here fully.
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u/Various-Traffic-1786 May 15 '26
This woman claims to have a lease that was never signed by the owner. So she does not in fact have a lease. She also states that her rent funds are not being “allocated” and she’s on a payment plan for her security deposit. None of this makes sense and I feel like the person filming is in fact a squatter
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u/AwfulPhotographer May 15 '26
Given the tenants recent eviction history, here is my theory: She is a professional squatter. She goes around touring houses as a prospective renter. She finds a place that uses a keypad entry instead of a normal key, and memorizes the code. She requests a copy of a potential lease agreement to review. And boom, that's all she needs as a squatter to have plausible deniability as a renter.
She has the door code and an unsigned lease, which she signs herself without the landlords knowledge. She moves in (illegally). If cops are called, she has her (illegal) copy of the lease and physical access to the house, which is enough for cops to say its a civil matter and to take it to housing court, which is why she has 2 evictions on record.
This is also why the landlord is moving someone else in, because they had no idea a squatter took over the property illegally.
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u/Justaticklerone May 15 '26
Not only do these scams exist, and that woman in OOP's video was likely not related to the property at all making the woman she's trying to move in a victim as well, but in LA county there was a psycho woman Lisa Ortiz, running around filing "mechanic liens" on houses claiming she did cleaning work on the houses and wasn't paid.
The homeowners had never even heard of her, much less ever seen her to talk about home repairs, and never conducted any such business with her.
She was arrested for filing false liens that totalled over $500 million and is currently held on $700k bail.
It's also exposed just how easy it is to go to any city or county office, file paperwork, and commit a scam. It's also how someone can hijack your own deed by filing paperwork claiming you quit it with the city or county clerk's office, and basically take it over.
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u/dysansphere May 15 '26
im confused. the woman recording technically has an unsigned lease agreement and isn't paying g rent. isn't that unlawful occupation?
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u/Doc_Goldberg May 15 '26
Sounds like this lady signed the lease, the landlord never did, and then she moved in anyways?!? She paid a security deposit but she states she is now withholding rent until the landlord signs the lease too? This smells like a squatter!
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u/BlackIsTheSoul May 15 '26
Trust me I get hating landlords, etc. But there is more to this story. Go on Instagram, the original poster wrote a bunch of stuff about not paying rent, some strange legal arguments that don't have any merit.
I think she may be squatting, and is using anger towards landlords to garner social media sympathy.
I'm all for calling out shitty landlords, but I also don't respect squatters trying to game the system either.
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u/litegal42 May 16 '26
I saw this on threads & someone did a dive on her fb page. She only rents one room but moved her kid in another room that wasn’t hers & the landlord came and had rented out the room.
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u/HereReluctantly May 15 '26
I've moved into multiple apartments and never did the landlord come with me to move me in? Like nothing about this while scenario makes any sense.
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u/Direspark May 15 '26
I feel like there's more to the story. She says the landlord never countersigned the lease, which therefore makes the lease invalid. Which begs the question of why she moved in knowing she had an invalid lease agreement and what that entails? That doesn't make any sense to me.
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u/Confident-Skin-6462 May 15 '26
the girl in back is like fuck, now how do i get my money back