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(i am up-to-date on ‘rent’)
(with a month and a half security deposit)
dorothy advertised on craigslist for an unregistered apartment on october 15 and we signed a 12-month lease
the princeton zoning board rejected the lease
(talk to derek bridger of the zoning board)
so she revised the lease to rent me the first floor bedroom while she would live in the first floor common room
(this was a false claim, as she was actually renting the first floor bedroom to a german student named anika)
(as the third floor tenants can verify)
(the zoning board again rejected the lease because the first floor could only be occupied by one person)
(meaning that the landlord could not reside there as well)
(so she revised the lease again and claimed her leigh street house as her primary residence)
(with the stipulation that i would agree to allow her to “oversee ongoing remodeling”)
in actuality she has been residing here on a permanent basis for the past 2+ months i have lived here.
i record music, so she told me that i could record music as late as i wanted
(as this would make it appear as though i wasn’t actually residing in the basement but merely working late hours “if any inspectors came to the house”)
i received a key to the first floor (but not the basement floor)
she told me this was because she feared being sued if i hit my head on the trap door entrance…
within a few weeks, she seemed to have second thoughts about the arrangement…
she was constantly rambling to me about the “township” and the “cops” trying to her lock her up whenever i saw her…
so i began to try my best to avoid her…
when she saw me smoking a cigarette on the premises, she threatened me with eviction
since there was nothing in the lease with regards to smoking, and i witnessed workers smoking on the premises, i assumed that this would be allowed as she had never explicitly stated that it was not. she then entered the basement apartment without me letting her in and claimed that she “smelled smoke” in the apartment. i found this to be an unfair accusation (as i know there is cannabis being smoked on the second floor). she called my parents and informed them that she was going to have me evicted. so i agreed to smoke cigarettes off the premises. when she saw me smoking a cigarette several yards down the sidewalk, she told me to “go even further” as “the neighbors might be watching”.
the next day, she told me that she woke up with bedbug bites. she accused me of bringing bedbugs into the house. i’ve never had any contact with bedbugs and did not have any problems with them in the basement. neither did any other tenant in the house. first she threatened me with eviction again. then she told me that i would have to move all my belongings out of the basement apartment. she forced her way into the basement apartment and told me she would need to spray my bedroom. i requested that she first call an exterminator if she believed that there were really bedbugs in the house. she claimed that she could not afford one and she did not want the “township to begin inspecting her residence”. when i requested to call the princeton health department to see if she was allowed to spray in my bedroom without my consent, she became extremely belligerent. she began spraying the apartment anyway. not wanting her to accuse me of “threatening her”, i simply allowed her to do this. then she built a barricade from my basement apartment to the other side of the (unfinished) basement (where the washer and dryer is located). again, not wanting to cause any problems i did not protest. a week later, i went into the backyard and noticed that she had removed all my suitcases which were in the unfinished section of the basement and left them outside to be ruined in the rain.
a few days later, she informed me that she ended up being committed to a psych ward for several days after futilely going to the township and requesting my eviction.
even though dorothy told me i could record music as late as i wanted, i made a verbal agreement with anika to stop recording at 10pm (as the sound leaks up through to her bedroom). after a few weeks, dorothy started complaining about the noise even though i adhered to the 10pm rule. she then began to string together all kinds of other complaints. i left the lights on too long. i used too much water. she even accused me of “making it too cold” on the first floor as though i had the ability to change the climate. i continued to let her into the basement on occasion (to retrieve items she’d left there or to adjust the water cooler). she’d always enter the basement with her two dogs, who’d jump all over my bed and my computer.
other than that, i began to avoid her as often as possible. i realized that no matter what i said to her, she would inevitably twist my words. one theological discussion we had during the first week i was here led to her accusing me of “thinking he’s jesus christ”. she began to undermine my relationship with my family as she’d routinely call both of them when she couldn’t get in touch with me and speculate as to what sorts of deviant activities i was up to. i can get a cellphone record from my provider to show you the frequency of her calls and texts (without receiving a response). i’ve also saved a voicemail that is indicative of the voicemails she’d leave me on an almost daily basis. even though i felt harassed, i continued to try my best to ignore her.
last saturday, i was listening to music at around 8:30pm. anika began stomping on my ceiling even after i lowered the music to what i thought was a reasonable level. so i went upstairs and knocked on her bedroom door and said without raising my voice that i had already turned the music down so could she please stop stomping on the ceiling. she called dorothy, who then called my parents (again). according to my parents, dorothy began speaking of me in glowing terms and accusing anika of being mentally unstable and unreasonable. when i spoke to dorothy the next morning, she echoed these sentiments.
for the next week, we got along peacefully. i allowed her to keep her house phone in the basement apartment (since she claimed that she “didn’t have a working jack” on the first floor and her cellphone bills were too high) and she came down every other day to recharge / retrieve it. she also began retrieving items for christmas from the drawers. this is when i remembered that she had mentioned that her daughter and two friends were coming to the house for the last two weeks of december and she had wanted me to find another place to stay. this was the first week of my tenancy here and i was noncommittal (as i wasn’t sure i’d have a place to stay). i began to suspect that she was having a change in her attitude towards me so that i would agree to move out for two weeks without any protest. as she had already compromised my relationship with my parents, i was not sure that i’d be able to stay at their home. and after all the harassment i’d been through for the past two months, i didn’t want to agree to anything with her that wasn’t in writing. i didn’t feel comfortable leaving my belongings in the house and having two strangers stay in my apartment for two weeks.
on sunday afternoon, she began to make moves to have me out of the house. she knocked on the door and accused me of everything she could possibly think of. from theft (she claimed that a $300 debit card was missing and wine bottles were missing from the basement even though she’d already barricaded me from the other side of the basement after the bedbug accusation). then she casually moved onto accusing me of “ruining her rugs”. then she saw a towel on the floor (in order to prevent spills where i keep a gatorade bottle next to my workspace) and told me i’m not allowed to have towels on the floor. then she saw a cigarette pack and told me i’m not allowed to have cigarettes in the house. then she told me that she had talked to someone “higher than the township” and he told her “he could have me out in a day”. i perceived this as a threat. she took my front door key. when i requested to have it back (as i have no other key to the house), she began violently shaking and rambling about her sister’s husband committing suicide. not wanting to be accused of “threatening her”, i just requested a key to the basement door. she said she’d have one for me that afternoon. she never gave me a key. the next day, i received two missed calls from her. i was just returning to the house and decided to knock on the front door instead (as i also needed to reset the internet modem). i heard her dogs barking and her whispering to them “don’t let him in!” not wanting to be accused of any “threats”, i merely went back to the basement. the next day, she knocked on my door for two straight minutes. i did not answer as i knew that any conversation with her would only make matters worse for me. whenever i left the house, i carried the lease with me as i feared being locked out of the basement apartment by her and i wanted some proof to present to the police so i would be able to get into my apartment.
at 10:30pm that evening, i heard loud banging from the first floor. the dogs began barking loudly. a few minutes later, i received a call from a restricted phone #. i picked up and heard a woman’s voice. figuring it was dorothy, i hung up. i immediately received another call from a restricted #. a muffled male voice made veiled violent threats against me. i’m not sure whether this was a prank call from a friend, but i can’t think of anyone from my circle of friends that would make such a call in that particular voice. after remembering dorothy’s claim on sunday that she talked to someone “with higher authority than the township” that could “have me out in a day”, i began to suspect that she had put someone up to the call. still, i couldn’t trace the call and i did not want to make any accusations without proof.
on wednesday, i encountered her in the driveway and did not say a word. 10 minutes later she called me and left a text message requesting that i call her back. at this point, i do not want to have any contact with her. other than her presence (which is not legally warranted in the lease), i am satisfied with the living arrangements in the house.
(but i would like to put an end to what i perceive is blatant ‘landlord harassment’)
(i feel paralyzed by the constant harassment and ensuing accusations and am unsure of the legal means of putting an end to this)
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💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
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*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
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🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥