Cranky Landlord
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Mr. Shickadance: Ventuura. —Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
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The landlord that hates tenants, and he especially hates the hero, whom he considers a no-good scum of the earth.
Similarly to Nosy Neighbor, this character is always on the lookout to catch the hero doing something against the house rules.
Pretty much anything below being a model tenant will earn the landlord's scorn and an infuriated visit to the offending tenant's apartment: making a noise, coming home too late, bringing another person home, etc.
A common trope is that the tenant is late with the house-rent, and has to argue at length with the landlord to be allowed a few days' respite.
A subtrope of Landlord. Compare the Cranky Neighbor.
Examples of Cranky Landlord include:
Anime & Manga
- Sumi's former landlady in Stepping on Roses qualifies, though not without justification: The gang of adopted children Sumi's brother brings home with him are extremely noisy, and Sumi and her brother are well behind on their rent payments.
- The landlady in Crayon Shin-chan. To be fair, Shin really IS a terror.
- Surprisingly for this trope, the protagonist's landlord in Sekirei actually kicks him out after catching him with a girl in his apartment. Surprising in that it sticks- he's kicked out for real and has to find a new home while taking care of his new Magical Girlfriend.
Comic Books
- Peter Parker's second apartment, the one for much of the 70s and 80s had a nasty land lady. Though sometimes she had a softer side.
- Averted in, of all places, Sin City. Dwight and Wallace's landlady was actually pretty sweet and wanted both men to get a nice girlfriend.
Film
- Mr. Shickadance (quoted above) from the Ace Ventura: Pet Detective movie and video game, is a cranky old man who hates animals. Despite his warnings for Ace not to bring any work home, Ace secretly keeps more than a dozen housepets in his room, having trained the animals to hide when the landlord appears.
- Mrs. Peenman from The Mask (pictured above). Stanley lives in fear of her, while he also takes revenge whenever he changes into his alter ego, the Mask.
- A scene in Kingpin: Roy cannot pay his rent, and his hysterical landlady threatens to call the police. A desperate Roy is forced to play the "I'm sure that we can work something out" card.
- This is played with in Kung Fu Hustle, where the landlord isn't cranky at all. It's his wife that you have to watch out for.
- Mr. Ditkovich in the Spider Man movies is usually seen hounding Peter for rent money, but he does show a softer side in the third film.
Literature
- Mrs. Inger in the third book of the Knight and Rogue Series, though she's only present for the first chapter before the cast sneaks out their window in the middle of the night and leave town.
Live Action TV
- Mr. Roper was somewhat like this toward Jack Tripper on Three's Company.
- The Monkees had a cranky landlord, Mr. Babbit.
- The (in)famous Funny or Die video "The Landlord" casts Will Ferrell's daughter, barely past infancy at the time, as one of these to comedic effect.
- The Mexican comedy El Chavo del Ocho had Senor Barriga ("Mister Belly") the fat owner of the neighborhood the characters lived in, who would occasionally show up to collect the rent. Despite his gruff appearance, Barriga was actually a nice man- it's just that characters like Chavo and Don Ramon unintentionally provoked his anger almost all the time.
- Time-travelers Picard and company take up residence in a boarding house in 1890s San Francisco in the "Time's End" two-parter. When their landlady irately demands the long-overdue rent, Picard distracts her by offering her a role in his "acting troupe's" upcoming play.
Webcomics
- Eulice Deville of Ménage à 3 . When Gary introduces his new roommates, she ignores their pleasantries and shouts, "JOBS!?" She can detect a deadbeat tenant a mile away. She once tracked Gary across the city and found him hiding in a restaurant broom closet. She reacts to Mr. Dithers firing Dagwood yet again with an Evil Laugh.
- In the webcomic Dustpit Follies, the landlord will hound the main characters till they pay the rent, even if that means breaking a hole in the roof to drop in.
Western Animation
- Mr. Bean: The Animated Series had Ms. Wicket. (Though she did not appear in the live-action series, she was mentioned in the diary.)
- Evictus in The Roman Holidays.
- In The Simpsons episode "Behind the Laughter", Homer had a stint on Broadway as the landlord in Rent II:
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Where is the rent? |
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- Bullock's landlord in Batman: The Animated Series hated him, for reasons that were arguably justified, mainly his abrasive nature and the fact that his slovenly habits caused a major vermin problem in the building. The man ended up sending Bullock death threats in an effort to get him to move, coincidentally at the same time that a mobster that Bullock had put away years before was released on parole and tried to get revenge.
- Pete is the Cranky Landlord at the House of Mouse. For some reason he want Mickey and the gang out of the club and he uses different plans to do it. Of course, he always fails.