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The original was posted on /r/bestofredditorupdates by /u/Choice_Evidence1983 on 2024-11-10 05:01:04+00:00.
I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/-Alula
Originally posted to r/EntitledPeople
“I pay rent, so I own this house” + 5 year update
Editor’s Note: added paragraph breaks for readability
Trigger Warnings: entitlement, destruction of property
Original Post: May 18, 2020
Though this would fit here. English is not my maternal language.
Backstory: My parents used to own a house on a big land. When my older siblings went away for college, the house felt too big for our needs so my parents decided to sell the house, but not all the land. They built a smaller house on the part of the land they didn’t sell.
A few years after, we moved to a city 2 hours away and kept the house as a place to go during the summer. My parents decided to rent the house as it was well located and had a really nice view. Renting it meant that they could use the money towards the mortgage and taxes.
Enters our Karen. Karen and her boyfriend rented the place so she could be closer to her work. From the start, my dad made it clear : the place was for rent and my parents planned on living in that house after retiring (at that time, both of them planned to work for at least another 20 years+). They would, of course, notify Karen in advance when they wanted to take back the house so she would have plenty of time to find a new place.
In return, they asked that she notify them in advance should she wished to move out so they could find a new renter. The lease also stated that my parents would have some of their things in a locked storage in the basement as well as in a shed on the property and that they would always call Karen before dropping by to get something out of the storage (which was in the basement and connected by the garage so they wouldn’t even disturb Karen).
For a few years Karen was an okay renter, she payed the rent through a check each month. She smoked inside and didn’t take care of the land, but my dad didn’t make a fuss about it. Real trouble started after around 12 years. Every few months, Karen’s checks would bounce back. My dad would call her to ask about it, Karen would profusely apologize and rectify the situation. Then it became every other month, until it was every month.
Finally, my dad had enough and called her about the lease and the rent. During the call, Karen argued that since she had been paying rent for the past 12 years, the house was now hers. My dad was shocked since that came out of nowhere. He tried to explain to her that she was renting the place like they had agreed on since the beginning. Karen went on a bitch fit about how she had payed so much over the years and she was the one living there and taking care of the place (which she was not at all) therefore it should be hers. She threatened to take my dad to court.
Now, where I live there are many laws which protects the renter and it can be a real bitch to deal with when you have nasty renter. My dad hired a lawyer to make sure everything was in order. After a meeting with Karen, where the lawyer was present, she realized she didn’t have much of a case since all paperworks concerning the house was at my dad’s name and the original lease clearly stated that it was a rental. My dad offered her to stop renting, should she wish to after the whole debacle, but she wanted to stay in the house. He made her sign a new lease where it stated (again) that this was a rental and that should she not pay or cause trouble again, my dad would give her the shortest possible notice of eviction allowed by the law.
Karen is still renting the house after almost 20 years. My parents are not close to retiring yet. Do hope it won’t turn into a shit show when they decide to take back the house.
Edit : The question « why did your dad let her sign a new lease? » comes up a lot in the comments. I will say what I answered throughout the comments :
- I don’t have the slightest clue why he would do that. As I was a kid much younger when this happened I wasn’t kept in the loop much. It was also not the reaction I would expect my dad to have since he is respectful to others and expect the same in return.
- I do know the legal actions he took when she threatened to take him to court did protect himself and many future problems that might arise.
I do appreciate all the concern and the advices! Although I do think my dad had a good reason to keep her as a tenant (from hell) after everything that want down.
Relevant Comments
Commenter 1: I would have never let her stay. Your Dad is just asking for trouble when he wants to move her out. She will fight it and carry it out as long as she can until she gets removed physically, and probably will destroy the inside of the house. She already showed what type of person she is and he should have just continued with the eviction process to get her out of the house.
OOP: I agree with this. I was extremely surprised that my dad let her stay after all the drama. The house has such a great view that it wouldn’t be too much trouble to find someone else who would want to rent it.
I must say I was younger at the time this happened so I wasn’t made aware of every detail. I think there might have been something legal which was in favor of Karen staying granted she paid her rent.
Commenter 2: Yeah that was the perfect time to kick her out not renew. But your Dad sounds like a kind and OVERLY fair Man. Good luck!
OOP: He is very kind with those who deserves it. It did surprised me that he tolerated such behavior.
Commenter 3: Start raising the rent each year to drive her out
OOP: Given what happened in the past I’m sure my dad has a plan when comes the time to take back the house.
Commenter 4: Would definitely suggesting your parents prepare for advance in taking back the house. It seems like it may take up to 2 years to get her out if she fights it hard enough. I’m sure your parents will approach the situation with the same approach as the first time round.
OOP: I do think they are prepared to take legal actions should she try to stir up drama again. From what I heard from her neighbors (most of them being friends with my parents) she hasn’t been the greatest neighbor in the last few years. I bet they would be happy to give a statement if needed to support my parent in getting back the house.
OOP on the location where OOP and their family is in
OOP: Not from the US. I do think my dad used the opportunity to raise the rent when she signed the new lease. Couldn’t confirm tho.
“I pay rent, so I own this house” UPDATE 5 years later November 3, 2024 (4 years later)
Editor’s Note: OOP made a typo on the length of time between posts, should be FOUR years later
This is the update of a post from 5 years ago. Some people asked for an update in the comments and there has been new developments in the last few months.
TLDR from the original post: My parents own a summer house that has been rented for a few decades. After a dozen years of renting, “Karen” decided that since she had been paying rent for so long, she now owned the house. My father had a lawyer make sure that everything was in order and, despite what was quite a surprising decision, agreed to renew her lease. Most people in the comments (understandably) predicted trouble when my parents would want to take back the house.
TLDR for the update at the end of the post.
The timeline
Since the beginning : There was a mutual agreement between Karen and my parents that they would both give a 6 months notice before she moved out or my parents would like to take back the house.
Last week of June : My dad received a phone call from a representative of Karen. Due to financial. circumstances she was giving a month’s notice before moving out. My parents were surprised by the short notice, but didn’t really mind it, as they were looking forward to taking back the place.
Last week July : Karen was set to move out, but she asked for a week extension as she couldn’t find anybody to help her move. My parents agreed. She was now set to move out by August the 3rd.
August the 4th : With the car all loaded up (with essentials, dinnerware and cutlery, small furniture), we left for our first trip to the house. The plan was to look at the state of the place, clean a little bit and take measurements for the remodeling my parents are planning. As we get to the place, we notice a small sign in the driveway to advertise for a garage sale at the house. We figured she forgot to take it down… We were wrong. As we get to the house, we can see boxes and furniture through the windows.
Cue the shocked pikachu face as she answered the door. Turns out she hadn’t moved yet and “meant to call my dad to let him know” but of course she never did. She clearly didn’t expect us to drop by so soon after her supposed moving date. My parents were both extremely pissed, but they gave her an additional week and expectations of payments …
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Cue the shocked pikachu face as she answered the door. Turns out she hadn’t moved yet and “meant to call my dad to let him know” but of course she never did. She clearly didn’t expect us to drop by so soon after her supposed moving date. My parents were both extremely pissed, but they gave her an additional week and expectations of payments for the weeks she overstayed.
August 18th : My parents received the confirmation that she left the week she was supposed to (they had a neighbor drop by to make sure her things were really gone), but we didn’t have time to make the trip until a week after. We found the place in a much better shape than we expected. Of course, the place is not in perfect condition, as it clearly has the wear and tear of a place that’s been lived in for years. It needs a good cleanup, some fresh paints in most of the rooms and a looooot of work on the land. There’s also plans of remodeling a bit to make an additional room on the first floor so my parents don’t have to go up the stairs all the time.
Turning a new leaf over : So this ends this whole chapter. My parents got the summer house back years before they expected, and although the renter was difficult until the end, she mostly went away without all the trouble we all expected. My parents are happy to take back the place and are looking forward to all the projects they have for it. They have been almost every week to clean and sort through the things we had stored there. My dad did a fresh paint of coat in some of the rooms and they are looking for furniture. My brother went once and started to clear up some of the trees to get back the awesome view we used to have from the kitchen. My dad bought an old lawn tractor to help with the yard work and is excited like a little boy with a new shiny toy. We’d like to get the place cleaned and ready to hopefully spend Christmas “camping” there, as we most likely won’t have a lot of furniture yet.
TLDR : Karen gave a month notice, but then asked for a week extension. We went to the house the day following her planned moving out date to find all her stuff still there. Karen didn’t expect us to drop so soon, parents were pissed. They gave her an additional week which she (finally!) respected. The house is in better shape than what we expected, my parents are happy to take back the house even if it’s sooner than expected and they are very excited by all the plans and projects they have.
Additional Information from OOP regarding the house being livable after Karen moved out
OOP: Where I live, you leave when your lease is over. She ended the lease, she stopped paying. It’s natural to expect she had vacated the premises. My parents weren’t the one responsable to check she was gone. What would have happened if the place had been rented to someone else? Would that new renter have to find other accommodations just because Karen decided to overstay?
My OG post stated that Karen used to smoke inside and didn’t take care of the land. We thought we’d have to make massive renovations to bring back the house to what it was. Instead we found the place with the wear and tear of being rented for decades, which is totally normal, and like it hadn’t been lived in for a couple of months (much like when we’d go back after not going since the previous summer). We never expected the place to be « in perfect condition ». Maybe my post didn’t express this clearly, english is not my first language.
Relevant Comments
Commenter 1: Yeah, I’m pleasantly surprised that she only did minor, temporary (but definitely irritating) cock-ups. There was no wilful destruction and no moment where they realised the storage was broken into and rifled. Yay!
Different thing entirely: I’m asking folk what they think about shifting the term Karen to Kraken. (someone else used it, and it’s got me delighted)
Kraken: 1,000+ years of füɲćking people over. It perfectly captures the spirit (angry, entitled, destructive with no regard for others, and ‘me me me’) of the wild Karen while disengaging it from a name. And it’s uni-sex, so it works for Kevins, too.
Added bonus: Norse mythology! 🗡🏹⚔️🪔🪘🔱🏞
(before it goes there, the NHL team Seattle Kraken are well tough and confident enough to handle this)
OOP: Absolutely on board with the whole Kraken thing. To be honest, at the time of my first post the term Karen was in the “I want to talk to your manager” phase. It did cross my mind to change it for the update, (despite all the waves she made, I never perceived Kraken as someone who shares characteristics with the Karens and the negative connotation the term is tied to nowadays) but in the end I decided to keep it for coherence purposes.
While we are quite happy she didn’t rifle through our things and that our privacy was respected, it would almost have been funny if she tried to rob us of… old extra dusty clothes from the 90’s and childhood toys with no profound sentimental value apart from the occasional : “wow I’ve forgotten about that”. In fact my parents are looking to rent one of those big dumpsters so we can empty most of the storage in one go.
Commenter 2: Make sure they change all the locks. Don’t want her letting herself back in at some later date
OOP: Absolutely sound advice. On our way back home the first day we went (well the day we actually made it inside the house), my dad dropped one of the locks to the local locksmith. Apparently we needed a specific model that you can’t get in all stores. He absolutely wanted to get the locks changed asap.
On a bright note, the house is in a quiet village and everybody has that “looking out for each other” mentality. My dad has rather good relationships with all the neighbors. Some of them used to call him even when the house was rented if they noticed something out of the ordinary.
DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7 THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP
