How to Avoid a Landlord

The landlord is staking out your house? Since his maintenance garage is across the street from the house you reside in, then I guess he's going to see your coming and going quite well, isn't he? What is he out there waiting for, to see what you do in your day to day routine?

So the landlord thinks you are up to something or is simply earning to find some reason to evict you! What if your landlord demands no one can stay at your house. They can visit for a certain amount of time and then they must leave. Giving a tenant a time period of how long a person can visit you, is a little bit of invading ones privacy, at least I wonder.

So, in order to be able to avoid that stalking landlord especially if you are a week late on that rent and they are going to start pounding on your door. Dogs? You are suppose to have dogs? Oh boy well the landlord is knocking on your door now, so what needs to be done? Well I was in this spot once, maybe three to be honest.

I jumped in the dog kennel, yes it was large enough to accomodate us quite well. I instructed the dog to be quiet and not bark. The pounding continued. The place had no heat, so I had put a blanket over the top of the kennel to help drafts. I heard the key in the door, and the click. They were in the house. So they came in the house when I was gone, why? I was only a week late! I had discussed with them why I was late as well and they said that was fine, they'd happily wait and that the owner wouldn't be in town for another week anyway.

They were in my home though, they checked out everything and luckily didn't check under the big fluffy blanket. I listened to them cluck about the 5 dirty dishes sitting in my sink, oops I hadn't gotten to those yet. I sat and listened to them as they discussed how they'd get me to pay or start stealing stuff from the house.

So that is where the missing MP3 player went! What was next? I sat and accounted for a few things that I stressed they'd take, yet the other one said they couldn't legally do that and they really shouldn't be in the house yet either. They left.

I went to for an extended stay with a friend. I had traveled a few hundred miles to see her and had run out of money with the gas prices. I hadn't figured that into my budget.

I learned that the first week I was welcome with her landlord, but the next week I'd have to leave. This wasn't in my budget at the time so I had no other choice but to stay and of course my dog came with me. Her landlord spent a total of four hours in his maintenance shed staking out her house and the coming and going of everyone of her house and occasionally stared into the windows. I was there and wasn't suppose to be, but he'd left and I thought it was safe to come out of hiding, I was wrong.

Luckily, my friend helped me evade him and get back into the house. Since he was across the street and she has a privacy fence hiding part of the house, except for her door, I knew this was going to be fun. Go to the back door, you are kidding right? This house is set up so that back door was in more view than the front door. I think the landlord personally built to soot his proper spying angles.

I crouched down behind the one corner of her house and waited. The instinct that we all seem to get when we are possibly going to be stuck in a certain place came to my bodies impulsive yearning. Yes, I had to pee! My friend came to my rescue and walked along my side as I crouched down and crawled along the grass. Pause right there I hear her tell me. I crouched as carefully as I could as she motioned for me to make a bolt for it into her opened door. I made a break for it and headed directly to her bathroom.

To avoid the landlord can be quite dramatic, but so is the steps they take to catch you to harass you for something. People get behind in their bills, more than ever before. Though I understand that when a landlord loses our money, things get tough for their income as well. But when a tenant can't pay and does try to make right with the landlord, I don't think they should stake out your house, or enter your house.

In some states this is illegal, I was told after the experience locked in the dog cage. After you are late, keep that rent reciept don't let them forget about it. Also, keep track of what you have paid and when you paid, even the time of day the money changed hands. If they stake out the house, keep record of when and where and how come you think they are staking out your house.

Check with your state, county, and city laws about landlord and tenant laws. Check your rental agreement, it could even say they can enter your house when you aren't home and suspect abandonment.