College is a time of living on your own and complete freedom. But what happens when your landlord is worse than living with your parents? Recent grad Jorge Galindez created a site where you can get the details on your landlord before you sign the lease: GradeMyLandlord.com. It only takes a minute to give your landlord the crappy grade he/she deserves, and save future students from terrible stories like these:
“My landlord was pretty young so she was really big into Facebook and Twitter and wanted all of her tenants to be friends with her or follow her for information. So I added her and didn’t think much else of it until one day I was out with another friend who lived in the building who told me she heard I was a total party girl from our landlord. Apparently my landlord used social media to check up on everyone and gossip about us too. I deleted her the next day.”
–Christie > Temple University
“My sophomore year in college I lived in a house off campus that I rented with two other guys. One night we decided to throw a party and it got pretty wild. The next morning there were cups, bottles, cans and just a disaster everywhere. I was hung-over in bed when I heard the door open downstairs. Knowing that both of my roommates were asleep I got up to see who it was. When I came downstairs, in my boxers, I found my landlord standing in my living room along with two other adults and a girl about my age. Turns out they were looking into renting the apartment the next year and were there to look at the house. Completely unscheduled visit and I was so embarrassed. I apologized for the mess, but I could tell she was pretty mad and the parents were disgusted.”
–Matt > Penn State University
“My landlord was really uptight and hated any sort of noise or partying. We had a balcony off our apartment where we enjoyed drinking and people watching on the street. Well one day we were up on the balcony and our landlord was walking by and heard loud music and saw us holding open containers. The next day he had maintenance come up to our apt and put bars across our doors to our balcony. The entire year we felt like we were in prison.”
–Dan > University of Delaware
“I had a landlord who was very conservative and not a very nice woman in general. Her office was located across from the main entrance to our apartment so she could see when we left and when we came. One day I was over giving her my renewal for the next year and when I handed her the paper she noted where I had filled out the 2 or less guests a month box and said, “I think you should re-think your answer here because I know I’ve seen you coming and going with quite a few different guys this year…” I was in complete shock and didn’t know what to say. I immediately took back my renewal and did not live there the next year.”
–Alyshia, Arizona State University
Go to GradeMyLandlord.com and grade your landlord (A, B, C, D, F) in seven different categories: Party Tolerance, Security Deposit Return, Contract, Timeliness, Kindness, Safety, and Maintenance. Then Tweet us your horror stories: #IHateMyLandlord!
