One of the most common problems associated with having a place to live, besides the rent or mortgage, is the people with whom we share space. Whether they are roommates, neighbors, or sometimes the landlords themselves. However, something even more annoying is when a person with no connection to the property you live in starts to demand that you do or don’t do certain things. For example, consider this Reddit post about a realtor in Virginia who is demanding that the tenants of a property she doesn’t manage to remove their pride flag. All because the realtor and the owner of the house next door are afraid they won’t be able to sell the property.
Redditor Real_Stede_Bonnet shared in r/legaladvice how they live and rent a property next to a house that is on the market. According to the post, one day, the realtor in charge of selling the property went to OP’s house to ask them to remove the banners with political statements they had at home because “it doesn’t exude the luxury experience they’re selling.” OP, not wanting to create a conflict and exacerbate the situation, agreed to remove the banners, which they described as not being outrageous in content.
However, the real problem occurred when the realtor from Virginia returned to OP’s house, upset and demanding to know why they had not removed the pride flag as well. To which OP responded that they were not going to take it down, and because of the realtor’s attitude, they would put the signs back up. The realtor tried to offer a bribe of a $200 gift card, something that OP refused, but this made the realtor go to the landlord of OP’s house to complain. OP is not worried about the landlord doing anything else, but they came to the subreddit wondering if they should be concerned about potential issues, such as the harassment.
I’m just going to add that depending on where in NoVa you live there is most likely an ordinance against banners hung on fences. Flagpoles are usually ok as long as they are of a certain height. I know that Arlington, Alexandria, and Sterling prohibit banners on fences, so you may want to check into that before you go toe-to-toe with your LL.
rcinmd
If they keep it up you can call their broker and tell them about the harassment. If they are the broker take it up with their realtor board.
sfjc
These were some of the replies from Reddit to this post. So OP can rest assured that most regulations can’t force someone to remove their pride flag, especially if it’s of a certain size. Besides, the owner of the house for sale or the realtor has no say over someone else’s property.
