I've been around a bit, and noticed that most landlords are greedy bastards, thinking their properties are for income only, and not thinking they should keep up maintenance.
At the time of this story, I was renting a room in a house with 4 other guys, because I was just starting out, and my finances were really tight, and it was the only place I could afford in the area.
The landlord (we'll call him LL) in this story was one of the more extremes: blamed residents for anything that broke, refused to maintain safety items (such as cleaning out the dryer vent once or twice a year, so that his house didn't burn down), and always threatened to raise our rent, if we ever complained. He would always drop by on Saturdays, without notice, just letting himself in - usually to collect rent, and yell at us for anything that didn't put money in his hand.
The only saving grace, was weekly visits from LL's wife, to clean the communal kitchen, living room, and front hallway. It wasn't much, but it saved us 5 guys from fighting over the tasks. She looked and dressed rather homely but was very nice. (I guess opposites attract, eh?) My roommates liked to refer to her as "plumpy-frumpy," and other similarly derogatory names, behind her back. I have to admit that she was only maybe a 6 out of 10, but I still thought it was mean to call her names - made me wonder what they called me, in private.
She normally came over during the week, and would be in the middle of her tasks, by the time I got home in the early evening. We started out just talking, as she worked. I got the feeling her husband didn't pay much attention to her and she didn't have many friends, so loved the interaction and attention. She was from Columbia, and didn't spoke passable, but VERY heavily accented English. (Although I only speak a smattering of Spanish, I've been around Spanish speakers all my life, so the accent doesn't faze me.)
She told me her husband was from the next town over, and his drive to succeed had been very attractive for her. But once they migrated to America, he'd changed. She knew he cheated and took advantage of renters and business partners, but her culture and his mood swings kept her quiet.