Shop Owner Kicks The Landlord Off His Wi-Fi, Then Says The Landlord Shows Up Threatening To Tow His Company Vehicle, Evict Him And Break His Head

A phone repair shop owner says one decision started a war with his landlord: he cut the landlord off his Wi-Fi. What happened next, according to the owner, ended with threats to tow his company vehicle, to evict him and to “break his head.”

A man in a parking lot under a landlord threatens tenant caption on the left, and a white Wi-Fi router with an ethernet cable on the right, illustrating a shop owner cutting off his landlord's Wi-Fi.

The shop owner, who shared the story on @digitaldoctorrepairs, kept the cameras rolling through the whole thing and later talked it over with a man named Leo, who offered some practical guidance.

His account is worth reading closely, because the lessons apply to any tenant, whether you rent a house, an apartment or a shop in a plaza.

@digitaldoctorrepairs

“He Has Nothing In Writing Saying He Could Use My Wi-Fi”

The owner says the main issue was simple. He kicked the landlord off his Wi-Fi because there was nothing in writing allowing the landlord to use it.

“Ever since then, he’s just been out to get me,” he says. He adds that the landlord gives everybody in the plaza a hard time, and that any of the other business owners could back that up.

He also points out that, as he sees it, the dispute is a civil matter to begin with.

He Told The Landlord To Email Him, But The Landlord Showed Up Anyway

Before the blowup, the owner says he had already sent the landlord an email saying he did not want to communicate by phone. His reasoning was that calls tend to turn into threats and harassment, so he asked that everything go through email.

The day before he recorded the video, he says, the landlord showed up in person anyway. They got into it.

The owner says the landlord told him he was going to tow the company vehicle and was going to evict him, even though, in the owner’s words, he had “no legal merit” to do so.

Cameras On Glasses And Phone Caught The Threats

As the argument moved around the parking lot, the owner was filming on both his glasses and his phone. That footage is the heart of his case.

In the clips, the landlord says he is not threatening anyone. The owner answers back calmly: “Oh, so now you’re threatening me with physical violence?” The landlord replies, “I’m not threatening you.”

Then comes the line the owner says he cannot let go of. As he tells it, the landlord said the owner was pushing to get beat. The owner told him to keep recording, and he did.

“That’s a wonderful thing to say to your tenant,” the owner says on the video. “I’m sure the courts will love that.”

Then Animal Control Called About His Shop Cats

The day took another turn. The owner says he got a call about thirty minutes earlier saying animal control was looking for him, because someone had reported he was mistreating his shop cats.

He says the report was anonymous. As he put it, he is waiting on animal control to show up, and he believes the landlord is the one who made it.

He tells Leo that if the landlord is behind it, as he thinks is more than likely, it is one more piece of the harassment he is describing.

What Leo Told Him About Filing A Complaint

When Leo arrived, he asked the owner whether he had been documenting the interactions. The answer was yes, everything.

The owner asked directly whether he could press charges, and whether it is legal for a person to say he wants to kill you or bash your head in.

Leo explained how it typically works. A direct statement that someone is going to carry out a killing is treated differently from a statement that someone wants to. Saying “I want to” is not necessarily a terroristic threat, he said. It typically falls closer to harassment, and harassment gives the owner the right to file a complaint or call the police.

On the animal control report, Leo said these are tough situations. Anytime somebody makes a complaint, the agency has no choice but to investigate thoroughly. If the owner believes the report is made up and has no merit, Leo said, he has the right to file complaints about that as well.

Leo decided to call the landlord to hear his side. The first call went to voicemail, and he planned to talk to him as soon as the landlord called back.

What Tenants Can Do When A Landlord Gets Hostile

This story is one man’s account of one landlord, and the landlord’s side has not been shared in the video. Still, the steps the owner took are the same ones housing advocates generally recommend to any renter in a dispute.

Move communication to email or text so there is a written record.
Keep dated notes, photos and video of every interaction. Check your state’s rules on recording conversations first, since they vary.
Read your lease. A landlord generally needs a legal process to evict, and cannot just announce it in a parking lot. Rules differ by state.
If you feel physically threatened, call the police and get a report number.
Do not trade threats back. Stay calm and let the paper trail do the talking.

The owner’s Wi-Fi decision came down to a basic point: do not let a habit become an assumed right. If a landlord uses something of yours, having it written down protects both sides.

A Shop, A Plaza, And A Fight Still Unsettled

As the video ends, nothing is settled. Leo is waiting on a callback, animal control is still on its way, and the owner is holding hours of footage.

His message to other tenants is clear: document everything, keep it civil, and use the proper channels.

Willow and Hearth