In the news this week we’ve seen a report about a French tenant who decided to let loose in his landlord’s apartment after his landlord refused to return his $2,500 deposit. Not only did he do some major damage wielding a sledgehammer but cleverly (read: not clever at all) recorded himself doing the damage and then posted it on YouTube. The video is titled “vengeance d’un locataire” (revenge of a tenant) and shows him doing his finest work to the bathroom toilet, mirror and shower before moving into the living area to do a bit more impromptu demolition. Whilst we don’t know the background story to this situation, the response by the tenant might be seen by some to be a touch extreme. I think we can also safely guess that not only will he now not be getting his deposit back, but with video evidence plastered all over the internet this outburst is likely to end up costing him a whole lot more than $2,500.

Some lessons to learn from this example –

1. Get a professional property manager to take care of all things to do with rent and bond payment.
2. Make sure you always have current landlord’s insurance with a good amount of cover.
3. Don’t leave sledgehammers around near a disgruntled tenant.