Landlords using cheap handymen and accordion drains
Landlords often hire cheap handymen who rely on substandard materials like flex pipe and accordion drains instead of proper plumbing. This shoddy workmanship leads to constant leaks and recurring maintenance headaches for residents who are left dealing with poor property upkeep.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 90.2× more often in r/PropertyManagement than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using rigid drain tubing
- 2Using smooth bore flexible tubing
- 3Raising the drain line in the wall and using rigid pipe
- 4Ignoring it since it is a rental property and functioning
- 5Looking into luxury or newer apartment complexes in hopes of better conditions
- 6Dealing with tenant complaints and legal pushback directly on-site
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“The owners are absolutely garbage, the residents are extremely entitled and my complex was built in the 90's. We get leaks, AC stop working everytime.”source ↗
“Not better not worse... Every tenant is a lawyer or has one and will let you know that fact daily. And when it comes to luxury... After a few years you're not new anymore and renewals become a real PITA.”source ↗
“Newer builds don’t automatically mean better management, plenty of luxury spots have the same cheap owners hiding behind granite countertops.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 20How to tell if home repair work is actually bad
- 3What to do when your landlord ignores essential home repairs
- 29How to fix previous owner DIY nightmares
- 91How to handle a bad contractor who won't fix poor work
- 42How to handle a mechanic who messed up brake repairs
- 28How to get a contractor to fix damage they caused