Landlord criticised after refusing to give tenant a reference as it was ‘inconvenient’ that she moved out

A landlord has been criticised after a former tenant shared a screenshot of an email, in which he refused to give her a reference.

Amy Charlotte Kean posted on Twitter, writing: “Hey check this out. My previous landlord doesn’t want to give me a reference because *it was an inconvenience that I moved out*. Landlords truly, madly, deeply are the spawn of satan.”

In the email screenshot, her landlord said her request for a reference “puts us in an awkward position”.

Despite praising her for being “quiet” and keeping the apartment clean, the landlord continued: “The problem is the question [of] would we rent to you again. The honest answer is no because although you were legally able to leave with a two months notice it cost us considerable hardship to have to try to rent in the middle of winter.

“Therefore it may be better [if] I do not respond to the agency for the request for a reference.”

Outraged, someone wrote: “You have got to be kidding me! What a complete tool of a landlord. Considerable hardship! I hope you replied with a picture of a tiny violin.”

Another commented: “I think you should use that email as your reference tbh. It says you kept the place clean and paid your rent on time. Hopefully the next landlord will just disregard the bit after that which says ‘I am a big weird baby’.”

Someone else – who said they were a landlord themselves – said: “That’s absolutely crazy. I’m a landlord, and yes it is a pain to let a property at certain times of the year, but refusing to provide a reference to a tenant (who ticks all the boxes we need ticked) is just so petty. Sorry you had to experience that.”

Kean went on to divulge what she had to endure whilst living there.

She tweeted: “THIS IS WHAT I HAD TO DEAL WITH FOR A WHOLE YEAR. During lockdown The plumbing broke (as happens frequently on boats) and they said it was probably my fault “because I must have let children onto the boat”. I don’t even know what that means. But they wanted to charge me £10k”.

“They were hellish for 12 months. Last September and October they had a guy drilling outside my living room window every other day (no warning). Their response when I complained? ‘It’s not our fault there’s a lockdown and you want to work from home.’

“I think it’s one of those situations where you only realise in hindsight how terrible it was.”

Someone said: “Why do landlords continue to be such arseholes and then people say, ‘yeah, but not all landlords’. What like ... the 10 who aren’t you mean?”

Many social media users advised her to use the email as a form of reference regardless, whilst others woefully shared similar landlord horror stories – to which we can probably all relate.

One person commented: “This reminds me of when our house had a significant structural damp problem and our landlady argued it was caused by some clothes being on the floor.”

Another empathised, saying: “Feel your pain. I once rented somewhere where the shower was leaking and we could see it was damaging the ceiling of the first floor. When we told the landlord, he came over and insisted on demonstrating to the 4 of us how to use the shower curtain.”

Someone else summarised the collective frustration, stating: “FFS. Tenants aren’t allowed to have lives where their circumstances change.”

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