How Many Straws Can a Landlord Pile? The Epic Tale of Scumbeater and the Proverbial Camel
When you rent, you expect a few quirks—a sticky doorknob here, some noisy neighbors there. But for one Redditor, u/RingdownStudios, renting in small-town New England turned into an Olympic event in patience, creativity, and, ultimately, malicious compliance. Welcome to the saga of "Scumbeater and the Proverbial Camel," where every landlord antic was a heavy straw, and the camel’s back was tested like never before.
What happens when a landlord goes from mildly annoying to “let’s see if I can break your spirit” territory? How many straws does it take to make a tenant finally say: That’s it, I’m out—and take a hefty chunk of your wallet with me? Let’s count them together, with a little help and heckling from the r/MaliciousCompliance crowd.
Straw by Straw: The Art of Bad Landlording
You’d think for $1,200 a month in rural Vermont (studio, no utilities!), you’d at least get polite service. Not so. The first red flag flew when the landlord, dubbed “Scumbeater” for reasons that will soon become apparent, made an offhand racist comment. Straw #1: casual bigotry. Not a great start.
Pretty soon, the requests began. Could OP, a tradesman, “just help out” with renovations? How about mowing the lawn—for $30 an hour, using a mower that could have starred in Mad Max? As u/RingdownStudios pieced together, the “business model” seemed to be: charge sky-high rent, then cycle renters’ own money back to them to do his chores. One can almost hear the camel groaning under the weight.
But the real fun started with the property issues: ants, maggots, squirrels, and even a surprise bat in the cabinetry. The apartment’s only heat source—a minisplit—was a power guzzler, leading to $500 electric bills every winter month. “Man, I miss wood stoves,” OP mourned. Vermont law says screens are required? Scumbeater took months to provide half of them, then asked the tenants to pick them up—while he vacationed in Florida, of course.
As one commenter, u/phaxmeone, noted, “No screens on your windows? Cry me a river and go buy some if you want them.” But OP had a point: the law is the law, and at those prices, you expect at least the basics.
Community Weighs In: Is This Malicious Compliance or Just Common Sense?
Reddit loves a good victory over bad landlords, but the r/MaliciousCompliance jury was split. Several, like u/HPFanFicFanatic and u/Tryknj99, questioned whether this was “malicious compliance” at all: “So you maliciously complied by not signing another lease and letting it go month to month?”
OP was quick to clarify: “He wanted to enforce the lease agreement as an excuse to do the bare minimum, so we did the same.” By refusing to sign a new lease and letting it roll to a (more expensive but flexible) month-to-month arrangement, they flipped the script on Scumbeater’s “gotcha” clause.
But as u/desertboots gleefully pointed out, this was a sneaky move: “I love that you maliciously complied with the clause converting to month to month, which then you only had to give a month's notice at the most inopportune time of year for finding a new tenant.” Sometimes, the best revenge is just being smarter than your adversary.
Of course, not everyone was sympathetic. u/ProgrammerCute7875 accused OP of being picky: “You signed the lease for the apartment as it was and you are mad that the landlord doesn’t want to bend over backwards to make adjustments for you.” OP’s retort? “If these things are normal to you, you've been gaslit. We celebrate the small wins until they turn into big wins.” A powerful reminder that just because something is “normal” doesn’t mean it’s right.
The Final Straw: When Malicious Compliance Pays Off
When Scumbeater tried to sneak in a 3% rent increase for the second year—despite the parade of property problems—OP and spouse, both now working for an employer with better housing options, played their ace. They declined to sign, paid the extra month-to-month fee, and timed their departure perfectly—just as winter made finding new tenants nearly impossible.
The result? Scumbeater lost $3,600 in missed rent, and with the place still sitting empty, is on track to lose over $7,000. As u/skyrocker_58 cheered, “I LOVE a happy ending. Well played sir!”
Meanwhile, OP and spouse landed a two-bedroom, all-utilities-included apartment for the same price, no commute, and a landlord who presumably does not moonlight as a Florida-bound vulture.
Lessons from a Camel with a Sore Back
So, what’s the moral of the story? Read your lease, know your rights, and never underestimate the power of small, strategic acts of compliance. As OP put it, “The victory is that we refused to be screwed over anymore, and his greed cost him 100× the amount he wanted to nickel and dime us for.”
Redditors debated whether the story fit the sub’s spirit, but most agreed on one thing: standing up for yourself—even in small ways—can have outsized effects. Whether you see it as malicious compliance or just smart tenanting, sometimes the best way to win is simply to walk away (and take your clothesline with you).
Have a landlord horror story of your own? Or maybe you’re a camel, finally off workman’s comp? Share your tale in the comments—let’s count some straws together. Proverbially, of course.
Original Reddit Post: Scumbeater and the Proverbial Camel - A story about my landlord