When it comes to The Sims, those that get it, get it — and boy did I get it. I remember my first time discovering the game, when my siblings would play it on our family computer (millennials know) — and I wasn't allowed to play. Apparently the vivacity of the ~woohoo~ was too scandalous for a nine-year-old.
When I found out about The Sims 4 For Rent Expansion Pack — which opens up the opportunity to play as a tenant or a property manager (motherlode, am I right?) — I was beyond excited. Even more so when discovered that they're collaborating with TikTok legend Angelo Marasigan to celebrate.
Personally, I was devastated, because I don't have any wild landlord stories of my own. But to cheer myself up, I asked BuzzFeed staff if they had any tales to share. You'll be pleased to know that they absolutely delivered.
Because I'm so nice — and to provide you with a little inspiration, here are a handful of my favourites:
1. "I once had a property manager reach out and say the owner wanted their gardener to come around to do some work — which wasn't an issue. When the 'gardener' showed up, I recognised him from the house inspection before I moved in."
"I was fairly certain he was the owner, but I went along with it (even though I was pretty sure that was in breach of my lease agreement for the landlord to just show up unannounced — and essentially under a false identity).
He was clearly not a landscaper or gardener — he and who I can only assume was his dad just trimmed some hedging and were obviously low-key inspecting the house, trying to be unassuming while telling me how nice the house was and asking if I enjoy living there.
What do you know, six months later when I moved out, he came around again to say thanks for being a great tenant — quite brazenly to my face. He was obviously not considering that I might recognise him without his 'gardener' disguise (overalls). I wish I had confronted them, but I was shocked and confused by the whole thing and just let it go."
2. "One time, after months of telling my landlord about the crack in my ceiling and being assured that it was 'just plaster', the cement roof collapsed directly onto my bed."
"Thankfully, it was during the day, otherwise I would not be here to tell you about the part where, when my landlord came to fix it and I asked for one week of free rent, she pulled down her pants and told me that she'd just had surgery, but had rushed over here to get it fixed immediately, because she was a good landlord.
I still had to pay rent and she didn't repaint the ceiling for a year."
3. "When I was renting a place in London, the shower would leak and come through the roof into the kitchen. So you genuinely had to put pans down if you wanted to shower. It was so damp, there were mushrooms growing out of the ceiling."
"The landlord claimed it was our fault for not installing a drain cover when we moved, so we'd blocked the pipes. They refused to do anything about it. Eventually we got the council to come 'round, who took one look at the place and said it was entirely illegal to rent in about eight different ways.
We then took the landlords to court for breach of contract and — conveniently — the landlord 'died' on the day of the trial. We won as they weren't there to defend themselves, but only got back about four or five months rent each despite living there for two years.
They still had the gall to claim our place was 'filthy' when we moved out, despite it being cleaner than when we moved in — and they took most of our bond."
4. And finally, in contrast, this lucky duck — "Short but sweet one. I once had a landlord who didn't raise my rent in eight years — and the apartment was in a really nice, secure building in the city. WIN!"
"When I eventually moved out of there, though, inflation hit me hard."
If these have sparked memories of your own wild landlord stories, head over to Angelo's video on Instagram and share away in the comments!
Then, while you wait to see if your story was chosen to be recreated, preorder The Sims 4 For Rent Expansion Pack and live your property manager — or tenant dreams when it's out on December 7.