This landlord decided to not let it slide
Renting an apartment has quite a few advantages. You’re not responsible for covering major repairs and don’t have the same financial risks as the owners. However, there are quite a few rules and regulations you have to follow as a renter. Such as: some landlords don’t allow you to have pets and there’s usually restrictions on how much you can actually change in the house. It makes sense of course; the owners often completely renovate the places to be able to get the most money out of happy renters. But what happens when someone moves into your place and does awful things to it?
That’s exactly what happened to the landlord in this story. This time he couldn’t let it go because he didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of having walked all over him. The disrespectful renters got what was coming for them when this landlord decided to get the ultimate revenge.
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The search for trustworthy renters
Thomas Ravaux was a proud landlord who had renovated his new home with the utmost care. It was a long project, but after lots of hard work he was ready to find renters for his pride and joy. The hunt for renters led him to a young couple with three children. He knew that the protocol for renting a home was pretty straightforward. The only thing he would have to do was write a good contract. Once this was done and the renters agreed, they would be able to move in.
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No red flags in sight
Thomas was convinced that he had found good, trustworthy renters. The couple seemed friendly and the children clearly had good manners. Thomas saw these as signs that he had made the right choice. It didn’t appear that there were any red flags when he signed the contract with the family.
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Nothing left undone during renovations
Thomas didn’t do anything halfway and did thorough work throughout the whole house. From construction to painting; he did everything to make sure the home would be ready for the new renters. There are quite a few landlords that should follow Thomas’ lead on that! Nothing less than the best.
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From house to home
The new landlord had the floors polished, the walls painted, and did finishing touches on all construction. He wanted to make sure that the apartment would be ready for the brand-new renters. He was certain that the young family would feel right at home in the house he had put together.
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Before and after
It’s clear that Thomas put a lot of work into the detailing and finishing touches of the house. The other apartments that he rented or sold were also clearly done by a true perfectionist. Some landlords don’t put any effort into the renovation of their units, but Thomas was just the opposite. He put lots of time into his rental units and rightfully so, he wanted the renters to love the homes as much as he did. He would soon come to find out that some renters, unfortunately, did not.
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From palace to nightmare
Thomas had rented out numerous homes before he got involved with the young family. These were all homes that he had renovated himself before renting them out. Before then, he had always had clean and respectful renters. He had never had big issues and didn’t expect anything different. He never imagined that they could turn his life into such a nightmare.
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Destruction goes viral
Once he had seen all the destruction the young family had caused, Thomas was flabbergasted and couldn’t help but post pictures of the ruined apartment online. People on the internet were shocked and taken aback by the images that clearly showed all the destruction the renters had caused.
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Alarm bells
Thomas probably should have done things a bit differently especially since they hadn’t paid rent for fourteen months, but he was a patient man and believed the family would be able to pay eventually. But his patience flew out the window the second he got a look at the apartment. But much had happened even before that.
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Smooth running but no payments
Up until the first month’s rent was due there were no issues. So, Thomas figured that the family probably just forgot to pay. He swept it aside just assuming it was a mistake and stayed patient. But weeks turned to months and the family still hadn’t paid any rent. Slowly but surely Thomas began to realize that it wasn’t a mistake at all: the family was never planning on paying. To make sure he hadn’t missed anything, Thomas decided to call the bank after four months. That’s when his fears were confirmed: the family had never made a single payment.
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Losing patience
At a certain point, Ravaux had lost all patience. He decided to confront the renters with the amount they owed by calling them. This is when he found out that the family had gone off the radar. No matter how many times he called, he never got a response. He couldn’t keep telling himself it was just a mistake. His calls were deliberately being rejected. This went on for about a year.
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Checking in on the apartment
After all that time, Thomas finally decided to go take a peek at the apartment that he had put blood, sweat, and tears into renovating for the new renters. He drove to the house looking to confront the family personally and to evict them if they still refused to pay.
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No response
Once he got to the apartment, his knocks at the door didn’t elicit any response. This was the moment that Thomas realized that nobody was living in the apartment anymore. He used his back-up key to get in and with one look realized that things were not good.
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Mysterious handwritten letter
Before using his key to get into the apartment, he had noticed a strange, handwritten letter. The letter requested that all visitors “ring the bell.” And while he hadn’t paid any attention before, he now looked towards the doorbell in fear. What he found in the place of the doorbell sent shivers through his spine.
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Deafening sound
The doorbell had been pulled out of the wall as if someone had tried to break in. Not a good sign. At first, Thomas immediately wanted to call the police but decided to just follow the instructions on the letter and rang the bell. This led to a deafening sound.
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A trap or something else?
The shockingly loud noise took Thomas by complete surprise. If the family was still in the apartment, they would have had to hear it. But he thought the doorbell was surely just a distraction. Once he had let himself in with his key, he was finally confronted with the shocking truth.
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Hurricane through the apartment
The apartment was deserted but the traces of the family that had disappeared were unignorable. It looked, in the best case, as if a hurricane had come through his perfect apartment. Everything was destroyed and what was left looked like a garbage dump.
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Destruction, soiling, and stench
The house was busting at the seams with trash. There were bags filled with trash everywhere, kids’ toys, and dirty dishes. All the furniture that Thomas had bought himself was completely destroyed and the whole house reeked of a terrible stench.
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Cave dwellers
Thomas couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked around in shock at the deserted apartment that could only be described as a landfill at this point. Everywhere he looked, all he could see was trash, broken objects, and dirty dishes. How could a family with three young children live like this?
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Exploring
After diving in a bit deeper, the shocked landlord realized that the family also had a dog. They had never mentioned this before, but he found a collar and dog poop. The further he looked, the more he realized that the damage went deeper than just the furniture and the family’s belongings. The walls were covered in holes and the plasterboards were all torn apart. This was worse than he could have ever expected.
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The problematic family
Thomas could hardly believe that the family he thought was so nice was even capable of becoming his worst nightmare. How could someone live in such an unhealthy and nasty environment with their kids? Slowly but surely the landlord started to realize just how much damage the family had done. This would have been bad even if the family had ever paid for their stay in the apartment. This left him with no money and tons of repairs for his destroyed apartment. But the shocking discoveries weren’t done yet…
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Into the kitchen
Even though he was beginning to lose all hope, Thomas decided to keep trekking through the destroyed apartment. In the kitchen, he found empty boxes, containers with rotten food, dirty dishes, and trash. The refrigerator was also filled with rotten food. And while he was heartbroken, he was going to get his revenge.
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Revenge plans
He racked his brain to figure out how he could make the ex-renters pay and put all other feelings aside. He knew that he’d need all his energy to carry out the perfect revenge plan. And it wasn’t long before he figured out exactly how to get back at the awful renters. But it would be difficult to accomplish. Especially since Thomas wasn’t sure if it was going to get him into trouble with the law.
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Legal help
The landlord didn’t want to take any chances and got legal advice to make sure he wasn’t going to be breaking any laws. After he had taken pictures of the apartment, he sent them to his lawyer to explain the situation. He also went over to the neighbor’s house to get more information. They let Thomas know that the apartment had been empty for weeks but they weren’t sure of the exact date.
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Steaming with rage
Thomas was steaming with rage but also knew that a literal fight with the former renters would do him no good. He also didn’t expect them to be open to any negotiations. Thomas knew that the only solution was to give them a taste of their own medicine. And they were going to feel it.
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No doubt about the renters’ intentions
There was no way that the damage done was by accident. The holes in the walls, the damaged furniture, and the unlivable conditions were all part of a deliberate attempt to ruin the house. He didn’t care at all about what that awful family’s reasons were, it was time to get revenge.
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Getting help
Thomas decided that the first thing he needed to do was get a witness. A witness would be able to testify to the story. So, he called someone up to come look at the destroyed apartment. This person also took pictures to support the validity of what happened. Thomas also decided to get professional help in picking up and doing a deep clean of the apartment. But he specifically requested and ensured that no trash be thrown away. He had other plans for it.
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The revenge plan begins
The landlord rented a large truck to load all the trash and personal belongings into while the apartment was being thoroughly cleaned. And it was finally time for his plan of revenge to start. But not before Ravaux had looked up where the family had moved to.
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Curious looks
Thomas wanted to give the family a taste of their own medicine by doing exactly what they had done to him. He drove the truck to the ex-renters’ new house, got his phone out and started to film what was about to go down. And when the truck backed up onto the driveway, he kept filming. In the meantime, a large crowd of people gathered to see what was going on at the house.
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The sweet taste of revenge
With a smile on his face, Thomas watched as all the family’s trash was dumped onto their driveway. The renters had made the decision to completely and disrespectfully destroy his apartment, so he decided to do the same to theirs. While he wasn’t expecting to get much response from the video, it became an overnight sensation. The comments started flowing in, but they were mixed.
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Mixed opinions
While many people were in awe of Ravaux’s plan to get back at the renters, others weren’t so sure it was a good idea. They pointed out the fact that the house he was now destroying wasn’t really the family’s house. This meant that he would just be destroying another landlord’s property. But Thomas had already taken this into account. He had made sure that the family, and not the landlord, would be responsible for cleaning up the mess. He had also checked the legality of his actions to make sure there wouldn’t be any surprises later.
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Cleaning up themselves
The icing on the cake came when Thomas heard that the family had to clean it up themselves and not the new landlord. This was his confirmation that his revenge plan had worked perfectly. His only intention was to force the family to take responsibility for their actions.
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Blessing in disguise
All things considered; Thomas was really lucky that the renters were already gone by the time he had decided to evict them. Otherwise, this would have made things a lot more complicated than you might think. In most western European and American cities, renters are so well protected that it’s difficult to get rid of them. Even in these types of situations it can be a long and tedious process to obtain an eviction letter. Thomas didn’t have that extra burden, thankfully.
Image: Pexels, Thomas Ravaux | Source: Greedy Finance