LOS ANGELES – When I first started renting an apartment I was fresh out of college. I was so happy that I had my own space and privacy that I didn’t even look at the fine print on the lease. The first year was one of the best years, I didn’t have anyone to tell me what time to come home or what I could or couldn’t do.I would go out and come back home at whatever time I pleased. I never had anything like it, when I lived at home I was under my parents rules and I had to respect and obey them, there wasn’t no “if’s or but’s” about it, so getting my own place was a big deal for me.

My apartment definitely wasn’t a luxuries loft in downtown Los Angeles. It was an older apartment in the heart of Santa Monica but that didn’t matter to me, what mattered was that it was mine and it gave me the privacy I’ve been looking for. My friends came over at whatever time they pleased, if I wanted to leave the television on all night, I did just that.

Right after I renewed my lease the second year, I started noticing that the landlord was coming around more;even though he didn’t live in the apartment building it always seemed like he was around. The first few months he was repairing small things around the building, he also repaired the things the tenants needed repaired but after awhile he started to come up to my door and asking me questions like; “Are you hiding a dog or cat in there?”“What are you doing in there that’s so loud?”“Why is your rent late? Rent is due early on the first of the month not whenever you please”

Even though he was a smart ass at times I responded respectfully and went on with my business. One day I came home early and I noticed that my front door was unlocked; I thought my apartment was broken into.When I stepped inside I saw my landlord, I asked him “What are you doing in here?” He was surprise to see he chocked for a second and responded, “I’m doing a routine check up”. “A routine check up?” I responded in confusion. He stepped out my apartment and headed towards the apartment drive way. I locked my screen door and my door. I’ve never been so confused and upset.

I decided to purchase a small surveillance camera kit. I attached the camera to a suction cup mount and placed it in the window right next to my front door facing towards my door and hallway. I decided to record when I was at work and when I went for my late runs at the beach.

“I couldn’t believe what my surveillance camera had recorded”

A week had past by and it was time to see what I had captured. I connectedmy camera to my computer and I couldn’t believe what my surveillance camera had recorded. My landlord was going from apartment to apartment snooping on all the tenants. I captured him walking towards my apartmentwindow and looking inside, after a few seconds he looks down and sees my camera and realizes he’s being recorded. He steps back and walks away.

A few days go by and I confront him about what I had captured with my surveillance camera, he tried to dent it and walked away.

After that day my rent was raised $100 dollars, I confronted him again and asked him “why my rent was being raised?” he said “it’s for rent to go up”, I wanted to curse him out so bad, knew that he was raising my rent because I caught him in my apartment and I had him on video snooping in tenants windows.

Two weeks had past by and I went on with my business, I would randomly see my landlord cleaning and repairing random things around the apartment building like he had been doing. The last week of the month I was walking towards my apartment from my car when I noticed another letter just like the one I had gotten a month ago letting me know “my rent was going up”. I started reading the letter and I could believe what I was reading he was raising my rent, “again”! This time he was raising my rent $150, that was a total of $250 in 2 month.I rushed down the hall and went towards the laundry room where I had seen him when I first pulled up. I asked him “why my rent was going up, again?” he replied “because I want to, if you don’t like it move out!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing;I didn’t know if my own landlord wanted me out or he was money hungry.

The next day I decided to talk to one of my neighbors and asked him if his rent had gone up too, he said,

“No, my rent hasn’t gone up since I moved in here, 4 years ago”

At the rate my job searching was going I couldn’t afford another $250 on top of my current rent, bills, gas and food. I was fresh out of college, companies don’t want to hire a person who’s straight out of college they want a college degree, experience and top reference.I was starting to panic I was already in a tight budget, most of my grocery shopping was being done at Dollar Tree and my local 99 Cent Only stores, what else could I possibly cut out to budget my money even more? Nothing! There wasn’t nothing else I could cut out unless I stop eating completely, don’t pay my utility bills, stop driving my car and walk 20 miles to work everyday.

Desperation started to kick in;I didn’t know where or how I could get an extra $250 each month for rent.This is when reality kicked in, I didn’t want to move out,this little old apartment was the best thing that had happened to me.I couldn’t go back to my parent house with my tail between my legs living in a house with rules that not even a small boy wanted to obey. I put my pride to the side and asked my parent for money, I felt so ashamed and low. I didn’t fell like a man, I felt like a boy asking for his allowance.

My mother decide to give me the extra $250 she told me that “it was the only time she will give me money”. I said, OK and paid my rent.This is when I realized that I was going to be short $250 next month too. I was screwed either way, I didn’t have any valuables to sell, I didn’t have fancy cameras or electronics to try to sell to get extra cash. I just couldn’t do it.

Reality kicked in even harder this time, I faced reality head on and realized that my landlord had won. I had no choice but to move in with my parents again. Even though, my childhood home was full of good memories it was the principal of moving back home.As a man it was one of the hardest things I had ever done.

This is my story of the landlord that ran me off of the best thing I ever had.

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