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That's the problem today with many younger people, they want to live in NYC(and it has to be Manhattan, Queens isn't good enough) or the Bay Area. It's not realistic.
Yep, they want the downtown penthouse lifestyle when they can only afford the suburban trailer park.
I think you pretty much get what you pay for, and in this situation, you had to know going in that you would be bound to do stuff for this man.
Move out if you can't deal with it; I don't see that issue ever going away.
^^This. To answer your original question, no you don't have to be your landlord's friend. It also can't be a big surprise that the guy who's doing shady, illegal, tax evasive things would also be someone who is dislikeable and preferably avoided.
But beyond that, with the illegal living situation, you - and your belongings - have very little rights, and it's entirely possible that they could lock you out and keep your things without a second of hesitation. There is a TON of risk in your living situation both for you and your belongings if you're attached to any of it.
Truthfully, your responses give the impression that you aren't really hurried to move out, and that your living conditions aren't your issue, it's solely the landlord. But those seem to go hand in hand. If you do want to move - have you tried websites other than CL? Rommmates.com? EasyRoommates.com? In college I used these sites to find two different roommates fairly quickly. Do you have any friends that might have flexible leases that might want to find a new place with you? If you work for a large company do they have a bulletin board you can post on to see if anyone else is thinking of moving that you can partner up with? Or perhaps somewhere you frequent like a gym or rec center? Or reaching out on Facebook to see if your friends can share a post looking for someone? Each of your friends will have an average of 250 other friends and if you use their networks too, maybe a lead could shake out. Or, post in buy/sell/trade groups or local community groups to see if anyone knows of a room for rent. Or the old school method of newspapers? Or maybe tweaking your search on CL to find someone who wants to rent a new place with you rather than one they're already renting? Or advertise yourself to maybe find someone also new to LA that is looking for a place? Or increasing your search criteria to include a little further from your work? If you're truly unhappy with your living situation, I'm confident that you'll be resourceful and can figure out an alternative solution.
When I first moved to LA I accepted a salary of $33,000 straight out of college, found a 1-bed apartment in Reseda that was 50% of my take home pay, and budgeted every spare penny to make it work. When I got sick of not having any spending $, I picked up a night/weekend job in retail to earn a few extra bucks. After a few months here, I got a raise and it got easier and I quit the retail job. My point is - for your sanity and your safety, you might want to do a serious budget check - and priority check - to see if you truly don't have any other options than this.
The underlying question is "do you think I will be evicted if I keep ignoring him?" I am actively looking for a better living situation.
Not talking to him is how I'm holding on to my sanity nowadays...
Edit: Thanks LoveMeSome, I really would be very much willing to rent my own apartment, but I don't have much of a credit history because I always found it safer to avoid taking on debt. My credit is not exactly terrible though.
I'm also trying to pick up a night/weekend job. What I really want is to live with 2-3 other people also in their 20s in an area not dangerous for an LGBT individual and to be at the very least 30 minutes away from work in Hawthorne. I've been even looking at places in Inglewood because much of that area borders on Culver City, which is one of my favorite areas in LA.
Something I'm going to do soon is post an ad on the Argonaut. I'm still waiting on the Classifieds secretary to accept my payment for two weeks circulation of my ad. I'd love to get out by the end of the month, and at least by the end of the summer before it gets too damn cold. I was dying last winter.
Last edited by Cryinbaby; 06-13-2017 at 01:06 PM..
The underlying question is "do you think I will be evicted if I keep ignoring him?" I am actively looking for a better living situation.
Not talking to him is how I'm holding on to my sanity nowadays...
Edit: Thanks LoveMeSome, I really would be very much willing to rent my own apartment, but I don't have much of a credit history because I always found it safer to avoid taking on debt. My credit is not exactly terrible though.
I'm also trying to pick up a night/weekend job. What I really want is to live with 2-3 other people also in their 20s in an area not dangerous for an LGBT individual and to be at the very least 30 minutes away from work in Hawthorne. I've been even looking at places in Inglewood because much of that area borders on Culver City, which is one of my favorite areas in LA.
Something I'm going to do soon is post an ad on the Argonaut. I'm still waiting on the Classifieds secretary to accept my payment for two weeks circulation of my ad. I'd love to get out by the end of the month, and at least by the end of the summer before it gets too damn cold. I was dying last winter.
I have never taken on debt and I am up at 800. If you have a credit card and use it and pay it off every month, you DO have a credit history.
Not sure what Argonaut is but there is always craigslist.
Not a prime situation you are in. The stench should be taken care of, first off. Chores? Chores could be annoying and time consuming but he is the renter and also in a wheelchair so I wouldn't personally consider that unreasonable. Grouchy? Sucks to live with a grouch. I would slowly get through my time in a living situation like that doing what the renter wants and work on a plan to get my own apartment. I would bite my tongue and not challenge him. Sounds like a slob. Sorry to hear that. Question is, why are you renting a room and not your own studio or apartment?
Not a prime situation you are in. The stench should be taken care of, first off. Chores? Chores could be annoying and time consuming but he is the renter and also in a wheelchair so I wouldn't personally consider that unreasonable. Grouchy? Sucks to live with a grouch. I would slowly get through my time in a living situation like that doing what the renter wants and work on a plan to get my own apartment. I would bite my tongue and not challenge him. Sounds like a slob. Sorry to hear that. Question is, why are you renting a room and not your own studio or apartment?
Not chores. Once he asked me to dust out the attic of the other house he rents, which I don't live in. He has had me move large heavy 2x4s. He is a hoarder and has a huge collection of large useless items he collects from garage sales and asks me to help organize those too. I didn't sign up for that. If I talk to him, I'm worried he's going to force me to do more shiit like that.
Here's an image I snapped of him tapping on the glass to get me to come hither. Of course I ran away in fright. He tracks my movements when I'm outside from the mirror that sits across from his sofa.
Last edited by Cryinbaby; 06-13-2017 at 02:59 PM..
The garage is not attached to the house. It sits behind the house on a gated driveway.
Anyway, there are three other renters. One guy lives in the other shack/shed and is almost never home. I think he mostly lives with his girlfriend and now rents the space for storage or something. Another guy, whom I have never spoke to before, lives in the garage-house and rents two rooms and is also seemingly doing a good job of ignoring the guttersnipe landlord. The other tenant is his brother. The deadbeat brother is equally a jerk and is sort of the "substitute" landlord when the other is in the hospital. It's sort of a weird white trash community hidden in prime West LA. I think the story being my landlord inherited the house from his father decades ago when he died. He converted the detached garage into makeshift living quarters for himself to rent out the actual house.
Are you in Palms? Not much of West LA would be considered white trash...LOL.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
Oh. You mentioned the South Bay on the first page, so I thought you were in the Bay Area. LA isn't so bad, COL-wise, but can still be challenging, from what I hear. I hope you have A/C in that shack; summer is warming up.
Southbay is known as the Long Beach area and other beach communities south of LAX, are you sure you live in CA? And rents have skyrocketed here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by convextech
Yep, they want the downtown penthouse lifestyle when they can only afford the suburban trailer park.
Exactly, I know of a situation where a young woman moved from the south after college, got a job in NYC starting off at 65K. Living in Queens wasn't good enough for Miss Thing, had to live in Manhattan. Her parents had to supplement her with the rent.
Are you in Palms? Not much of West LA would be considered white trash...LOL.
Southbay is known as the Long Beach area and other beach communities south of LAX, are you sure you live in CA? And rents have skyrocketed here.
Exactly, I know of a situation where a young woman moved from the south after college, got a job in NYC starting off at 65K. Living in Queens wasn't good enough for Miss Thing, had to live in Manhattan. Her parents had to supplement her with the rent.
They're all above struggling a little these days.
Yes, I'm in the Palms - Culver City area.
He inherited the house from his father and rents it out. He lives in the detached converted garage in the back and has for nearly his entire adult life. He supplements the rent from the house, the spare bedrooms in the converted garage (he lives in the living room) with income from renting out shabbily constructed shacks near the garage.
Southbay is known as the Long Beach area and other beach communities south of LAX, are you sure you live in CA? And rents have skyrocketed here.
Seriously? I have a huge extended family that's lived in CA all their lives, and our lineage has been in CA since it was part of Mexico. As a NorCal clan, the only "South Bay" anyone's aware of is the San Jose area. (Maybe you didn't know it's referred to sometimes as "south Bay"?) If you live in CA, you must know that lots of NorCal people aren't familiar with SoCal much, and some avoid it. But, whatever. YMMV, obviously.
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