The Lease Signing That Turned Into a Mystery

In the world of property management, most lease signings are routine—tenant comes in, signs a few papers, gets their keys, and moves in. But once in a while, something happens that completely throws you off course. One such day, I found myself in the middle of a lease signing that could only be described as… mysterious.

It all began on a quiet Tuesday morning. I had a new tenant, Mark, coming in to finalize the paperwork for an apartment in one of the older buildings I manage. He had seen the unit a week earlier and was eager to move in. From the phone calls, he sounded like a great fit: polite, professional, and looking for something in the city that was “modern but with character.”

When Mark arrived, he was carrying a small duffel bag and a briefcase—nothing out of the ordinary, or so I thought. We greeted each other, and I offered him a seat in my office. As usual, I walked him through the lease, rent details, security deposit, and our building’s rules. When we got to the pet policy section, he paused and asked, “Are there any other special rules I should know about?”

“Not really,” I said, scanning the lease. “We’ve got our usual things—no loud noises, no subletting without approval, and obviously, no smoking inside the building. Everything should be pretty standard.”

Mark looked down at the lease, nodded, and signed the paperwork quickly. Nothing out of the ordinary. I handed him the keys, and we exchanged pleasantries as he prepared to leave.

Then, as he was about to walk out the door, he turned to me and said, “Oh, by the way, I’ve got a small request.”

“Sure! What is it?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Well,” Mark began, glancing around like he was about to share a secret, “I’ll be moving in tomorrow, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t mention my… uh, ‘extra’ roommate.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Extra roommate?”

“Yeah,” he said, smiling but looking a little sheepish. “It’s just that I like my privacy, you know? I don’t want anyone making a big deal out of it. If you could just… not mention the other person who’ll be living there, I’d really appreciate it.”

Now, in my years of property management, I’d seen a lot of weird requests. But “don’t mention my roommate” was a new one. Still, I figured maybe it was some kind of personal situation—perhaps a family member or friend he didn’t want others to know about. I figured it wasn’t my business, and as long as they weren’t violating the lease agreement, I’d keep my mouth shut.

“Okay, no problem. You’ll just need to make sure the lease is followed, as usual,” I said, trying to keep things simple.

Mark smiled and left, and I didn’t think much more about it. After all, a tenant’s living situation is their business, and I was just there to manage the building.

The next day, Mark moved in. I didn’t hear anything from him or any complaints from other tenants, so everything seemed normal. That is, until I walked into the building a few days later and saw the most peculiar thing.

In the lobby, there was a small note posted on the bulletin board, just under the list of building rules. It wasn’t something I’d put there, and it definitely wasn’t anything official. The note read:

“To my new neighbors: I’m not as scary as I look, so don’t be afraid. I’ll keep to myself. – C.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but seeing a mysterious note like that really gets the curiosity going. Who was “C”? And what did “scary” mean in this context? Was this some kind of inside joke? Was someone trying to mess with me? I had a lot of questions, but no answers.

I decided to pop by Mark’s apartment to make sure everything was going smoothly. I knocked on the door and heard footsteps approaching. When Mark opened the door, I couldn’t help but notice a slight change in his demeanor. He seemed a little… anxious? A little too calm for someone who had just moved in.

“Hey, Mark,” I said, keeping it casual. “Just wanted to check in and see how everything’s going. Everything okay with the apartment?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine,” he said quickly. “No issues at all.”

“So, uh,” I hesitated, glancing behind him into the apartment, “I saw the note on the bulletin board. Who’s ‘C’?”

Mark’s face went pale. For a moment, he looked like he was about to say something, but then stopped himself. “Oh, that. Yeah, don’t worry about that. It’s… it’s nothing.”

“Nothing?” I repeated, a little skeptical. “Because it sounded like someone was trying to warn people.”

Mark sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Look, I should probably tell you… There’s a person living with me, but it’s not exactly the kind of roommate you’d expect.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

He looked at me like he was weighing whether to tell me the truth or just let it go. Finally, he let out a deep breath. “The ‘person’ who’s living with me… is my… ghost roommate.”

I blinked.

“Your… ghost roommate?” I asked slowly, not sure I’d heard him correctly.

“Yeah,” Mark said, looking sheepish. “It’s kind of a long story, but I’ll keep it brief. I recently moved here from out of town. The thing is, my old place was… haunted. And I guess the spirit of the person who lived there before me is still hanging around, and they’ve kind of attached themselves to me. We’ve got a… weird relationship, but they’re harmless. Really. They just like to leave notes now and then, make little noises, but they don’t do anything too crazy.”

I was trying very hard to keep a straight face. “So you’re telling me… your roommate is a ghost?”

“Yep,” Mark said, his face totally serious. “Like I said, it’s no big deal. I just didn’t want anyone to freak out, so I posted that note as a way to warn people.”

I stood there for a second, processing the information. There was a part of me that wanted to laugh, to tell Mark he’d clearly been watching too many late-night ghost shows. But there was another part of me that, honestly, wasn’t entirely sure that he was joking. The situation was weird enough that I couldn’t just brush it off.

“Well,” I said, taking a deep breath, “as long as the ‘ghost roommate’ is following the rules, I suppose that’s… fine. Just make sure they don’t start scaring the other tenants, okay?”

Mark smiled gratefully. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep things low-key. I really appreciate you being cool about it.”

As I walked away from Mark’s apartment, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself. A ghost roommate? Now that was a first.

I’m still not entirely sure what to make of it—maybe Mark has a vivid imagination, maybe he’s just really into ghost stories, or maybe there’s something else going on. Either way, I decided to let it slide. After all, as a property manager, I’ve learned that sometimes, you’ve just got to be prepared for the unexpected. And in my case, that meant being open to the possibility of having a ghost on the lease.

Who knew?