Buyers Demand $10K After Closing – So the Former Owners Got a Little Climate-Control Revenge

Selling a house is usually the end of a chapter. Papers signed, keys handed over, and you move on with your life. But for one former homeowner, the story didn’t end at closing, it escalated into a case of next-level entitlement and perfectly measured petty revenge.

About five years ago, the homeowner and her husband sold their one-year-old “smart home.” The house was still practically new, fully automated, and well cared for.

They had two dogs, but those dogs were bathed weekly and fully house-trained. Before moving out, they paid for professional cleaning, both the house and the carpets, just to make sure everything was spotless for the new owners.

Three weeks after the sale, a letter arrived.

The $10,000 Demand

The couple who bought the house claimed the carpets smelled so strongly of dog that they couldn’t let their newborn crawl on them. According to the letter, they had already ripped out all the carpeting in the home and believed the former owners should “volunteer” to pay for the replacement.

Their requested amount?
$10,000.

At first, the seller thought it had to be a joke. She immediately contacted her realtor, who had been in the house many times and shut the idea down without hesitation. The sale was final. The house was cleaned. There was no warranty, no clause, and no obligation to pay them a dime.

Legally and realistically, the issue should have ended there.

But that’s when her husband got… creative.

Smart Home, Petty Solution

Because the house was a smart home, the husband still had access to the app that controlled the thermostat and lights. Instead of sending money, or even responding to the demand, he decided on a quieter form of revenge.

At night, he’d turn the heat up just a little.
During the day, he’d drop the AC slightly lower.

Nothing extreme. Just two or three degrees. Enough to be annoying. Enough to make the house feel “off.”

The kind of discomfort that leaves you constantly adjusting the thermostat and wondering why the house never feels quite right.

It was petty.
It was subtle.

And according to the OP, it felt perfectly fitting for what she saw as pure greed.

Later edits clarified two things:
• No money was ever paid
• The “newborn” was actually a toddler

Still, once the story hit Reddit, opinions came fast.

Many pointed out that once a house is sold, it’s sold. No refunds. No surprise invoices. 

Several laughed outright at the $10,000 demand, calling it delusional and entitled.

Others questioned the buyers’ story altogether, especially the newborn crawling claim, while some shared similar experiences of buyers discovering smells or issues after closing and simply dealing with it like adults.

That said, not everyone loved the revenge.

A handful of users felt uncomfortable with the idea of temperature control in a home with a child, even if the changes were minor. Others argued that smart-home access should have been fully transferred and disabled after the sale.

Still, the overwhelming consensus was clear:
The buyers had no right to demand anything.

The Takeaway

Buying a house isn’t like ordering food – you don’t get to send it back because you changed your mind. If inspections are done, contracts are signed, and keys are exchanged, responsibility transfers with ownership.

And while not everyone agrees with messing with the thermostat, most Redditors felt the buyers’ audacity earned them at least a little discomfort.

Sometimes, closure doesn’t come with a lawyer’s letter.
Sometimes, it comes with a thermostat adjusted just enough to make a point.