Being a landlord comes with its ups and downs. On the one hand, you’re making cash off your property, on the other, you sometimes have to deal with tenants who don’t always hold up their side of the bargain.
One NYC landlord rented out their Manhattan apartment to a middle-aged woman who seemingly had great references. Things went sideways fast, however, when the tenant quit paying rent, trashed the apartment, and fled to Australia. The landlord shared their revenge with an online community.
More info: Reddit
Renting out your property can come with its perks, but this landlord never saw their nightmare tenant coming
Image credits: shurkin_son / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The tenant’s references looked good, and she ticked all the boxes, so the landlord had no problem renting their Manhattan apartment out to her
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Things started to go south when the tenant stopped paying her rent 7 months into her one-year lease and then ghosted the landlord
Image credits: Buddhany / angelavandaal
The landlord sued, but the tenant skipped the court dates, slipped out of the now-filthy apartment, and skipped the country
Image credits: Buddhany / angelavandaal
With all reasonable legal avenues exhausted, the landlord hatched a plot to get revenge on the terrible tenant
Image credits: Buddhany / angelavandaal
They created a website with the URL being the tenant's name, then got stuck into the SEO
Image credits: benzoix / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Before long, a Google search of the tenant's name brought up the website detailing all her wrongdoings with evidence to boot
Image credits: Buddhany
Three years later, the site is still up and getting traffic, and visitors have reached out to the landlord on several occasions with updates about the troublesome tenant
After moving in with their elderly mom to be a full-time caregiver, OP, a Manhattan homeowner, rented out their furnished apartment to a seemingly trustworthy Australian tenant. She had glowing references, met all the financial criteria, and claimed to have been a homeowner for 30 years. Everything looked perfect… until she just stopped paying rent.
Seven months into the lease, she completely ghosted. No replies, no payments, just silence. After taking her to court and winning, OP was left with $20,000 in damages and unpaid rent... and zero ways to collect. The tenant fled to Australia, leaving behind a filthy apartment and a trail of unpaid debt.
However, OP wasn’t about to take this lying down. They bought her domain name, built a website detailing everything, from photos and court documents to eviction notices, and focused hard on SEO. Soon, the terrible tenant’s name brought up the site first on Google. Employers, bridge club friends, and even conference attendees were clicking.
Three years later, the site is still live, still ranking first, and still exposing the tenant’s actions. While it costs a bit to maintain, the sweet justice is priceless. Wherever she goes, every job she applies for, apartment she tries to rent, or person she wants to date, she’s going to be confronted with her problematic past. As OP puts it: “Angela in Queensland, you now know FAFO.”
Image credits: Buddhany / angelavandaal
From what they tell us in their post, OP certainly exhausted every legal option available to them before they turned all digital vigilante. So far, “Angela in Queensland” hasn’t lifted a finger to have the site taken down, but before you try your hand at digital justice, is what OP did legal? We went looking for answers.
According to TechOptimised, ‘naming and shaming’ refers to publicly identifying and criticizing private individuals for perceived wrongdoings. Unlike reporting criminal behavior or speaking up against public figures, this form of defamation often targets regular people going about their daily lives, and they can take legal action against it if they can prove the claims are false.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), in many legal systems, including the US and the UK, truth is an absolute defense against a claim of defamation, but proving the truth can be a difficult and expensive process. Simply believing your statements are true is not enough; you must be able to prove them in a court of law.
Well, OP can certainly back up every single one of their claims - the site they created has got the legal evidence all over it. Let’s hope the swindler tenant never manages to escape it and pays the price for her ghastly behavior for years to come.
What would you have done if you’d found yourself in OP’s shoes? Do you think they went overboard, or does the punishment fit the crime? Let us know in the comments!
In the comments, readers encouraged the landlord to name and shame the tenant and praised them for their digital beatdown
