The Last Straw

Hello, my name is B and I live with F at address, in apartment x. I apologize in advance for being forward, but I'm writing this letter to you because I'm at a loss for how to proceed. I've called the property manager, R, 5+ times with no answer, no callback, no indication that he has any interest in returning my calls. He has been dodging or completely avoiding F for some time. I certainly don't expect 24 hour, prompt callback service. I'm not an unreasonable person, and my stepfather is an apartment manager as well, so I understand that it's a lot of work, all the time. But at this point I've left multiple messages on his phone, as has F, and he has thus far ignored us. If he is not the person to communicate with when we are being threatened by our roommates, then we have made a mistake, but our understanding is that we were to forward any grievances to him. He is either unable or unwilling to address this living situation issue which has now officially gotten out of hand.


Since C and N have been spoken with, the situation has not improved. It has rather drastically headed in the other direction. The aggressive behavior began on the day they were given a rules sheet and notified that disobeying the rules would constitute a fee and/or eviction. When N read that notice, she stood outside our door and yelled, “I hate you, you fucking bitch” repeatedly through the door at F after I left for work. On an almost nightly basis since, they have had friends over to party, drink and do drugs until upwards of 4 in the morning, but always at least until 2AM minimum. As I write this letter, I can hear them through the wall, speaking about the merits of smoking pot. The living room is a complete disaster that F and I have long given up on trying to spend time in. There are usually between 5-10 strangers in the house at any given hour, and when I leave at 7:30AM to go to work in the morning, there is always at least one person sleeping in the living room, but it's not uncommon to see up to four on the floor. Recently, either N or C has taken it upon themselves to invite a couple of their friends to live with us without asking anyone about it. I state this because I have seen not one but (2) males who have been sleeping on a bed they set up by the front door every day for well over a month now. I do not know either of these people, and yet they have unfettered access to my home, 24/7. I can only conclude that they have keys to the residence that were made for them by one of the girls, because I've seen them come and leave with keys multiple times, and never in the company of either girl. One of them has recently become physically and verbally abusive towards me and F. He pushed me in the hallway as I was walking to my room without provocation. This is not an exaggeration. We do not interact with these people, and their increasingly aggressive attitude towards us is NOT the result of an argument, altercation, or verbal exchange. I will be forced to call the police the next time this happens. This is not acceptable behavior and I shouldn't have to fear for my or F's safety in our own home.


To review the rules and how they have disregarded them:



“No smoking inside the house or outside the house within 20 feet.” This rule is broken on a daily basis. I have lost count of the amount of times I've smelled pot, and they smoke it openly.

“No graffiti anywhere in the house or outside the house” this is a minor issue that doesn't really affect me personally, but I have observed that our mailbox has been vandalized by one of the girls. I know it was them because they wrote the phrase “Mokesnap” [look it up if you want to know what it means] which also appears in sharpie on a pillow they keep in the living room.

“No party any time during the weekdays or weekend after 10PM” This rule has been broken with a degree of severity that has affected my job performance. They usually begin partying LOUDLY at or after 10PM, and as has been stated above, these parties can and do last until 4AM on a regular basis. I wake up at 7:30AM. That means that for some time I have been getting three hours of sleep OR LESS, every single day of the week. This is an EXTREME source of stress for myself and F.

“No guest sleeping over without approval from management.” this has been covered above, but they have gone well beyond simply breaking this rule, as we now have TWO (2) males who have made a home out of the living room, in addition to the described occurrence of multiple individuals being found in the living room, presumably just falling asleep where they were sitting when they finished partying. These “guests” are exclusively male, and universally hostile to myself and F.

“No drug use or smoking pot anywhere in the house.” This is their drug of choice, although I have no confidence that they are not using other drugs as well.


None of the rules that were sent out to the house have been observed, and indeed, most of them have been broken on a daily basis. The closest they have come to their cleaning obligations is mopping the kitchen floor. I've seen this happen twice since the rules were handed out some time ago. The rest of the kitchen is routinely chaos. The stove is filthy. They leave dishes for days at a time on a consistent basis. The refrigerator is completely stuffed with their food, leaving no room for any other tenants to use. The bathroom is routinely a scene of disarray, and more than once we've had to clean up puke on and around the toilet from one of their guests who has drank too much. As was previously covered, it's not unusual for them to leave laundry sitting in the washing machine for days at a time, resulting in an odor that drifts directly into our studio, in addition to preventing us from doing our own laundry. To add to matters, they have now on quite a few occasions left candles burning near flammable materials such as paintings, envelopes, papers, etc. all night. With their given state of intoxication in the morning, it's only a matter of time until we will have an incident involving fire. They frequently leave all windows open completely to vent the smell of pot out of the living room, giving access to our residence to anyone walking by on the street.


This has all been going on for well over six months.


I'm at a loss for how to proceed. F and I have already submitted our thirty days notice to move, because we can think of no other solution to this problem. And this is not the solution we wanted to pursue. We both enjoy living here. We attempted for quite some time to assist the process of either their eviction or pacification, but the problem has only grown steadily worse. We've been told that N will be leaving “soon,” but this problem involves both of them. If only one of them is evicted, she'll just continue to spend time here in an unofficial capacity, like the men sleeping in our living room.


R doesn't answer my or F's calls, and he made an offer to F to “deal with this situation” by trying to make her “resident manager,” responsible for finding new tenants, presumably so that he wouldn't have to deal with it. To my knowledge, this includes covering the rent for any rooms that she fails to find tenants for. Needless to say, we have both found this so-called “solution” to be insulting. We should not have to take on an additional financial or physical burden to avoid being terrorized in the place we live. If this is a communication error and we have misunderstood the implications of carrying the “resident manager” title, I apologize. I hope you can understand how we might perceive that as being told to “solve this problem ourselves.”


This is not a letter I wanted to have to write. It's actually the last thing I wanted to have to do. I really like living in this house, and with the right tenants, it's a really easy space to keep in excellent, presentable condition. I feel like I just finished moving in, as well. I am an extremely forgiving person and I have made effort after effort to make this situation work. I don't like fighting with anyone. But this situation has become untenable, and I fear that if F and I don't find an alternative, we will be subjected to even greater abuse and consequences. Just to be clear, neither myself nor F ever expected this problem to “go away tomorrow” at any point in time. We understand that the eviction process is arduous, especially in the state of California. However, the complete lack of enforcement of the established rules has emboldened N, C, and the countless people they invite into our home into becoming more and more aggressive with us and the stated rules, and we have run out of patience.


Thank you for your time and the opportunity to live in this home for the amount of time we've had, for it has just as many positive memories as negative experiences.


Should have just taken my phone call, bro.

Amazingly, after sending this letter, I got a call promptly at 10AM this morning, with "R" screaming that he will be in my house with the owner, he will not apologize, and he will tell her I am a liar and not to do business with me.



So I called his boss and told her exactly what he just did.


Comments

ttam said…
if only i was there
Bryan said…
This house BADLY needs a Ttam Dunes in it

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