Texas

They finally started putting up a placard when they got wind that I was talking to the apartment manager about the space. I suspect that they borrowed the father's placard because they were too busy to walk another 10 yards.

These are the same stupid neighbors that started blocking the sidewalk downstairs with lawn chairs and plants such that I had to keep moving them to leave the building. One night (it was my brother's birthday, June 30) the guy who was shacking up came out and yelled at me for clearing a pathway and truthfully, I felt threatened. I had to go to the apartment manager to talk about the situation since all areas outside are public areas rather than the apartment's personal cantina. They also pulled the stunt of lighting an open barbecue pit on the patio beneath our balcony so that smoke went into our apartment and that is subject to a $10,000 fine.

It turns out that the man who was living there was not on the lease. A woman moved in with her father for a few months so that they were able to meet the minimal income qualifications; however a few months later after her shack-up got out of prison ( 10 years sentence) she snuck dad out to move in the shack-up. He then brought in a young pit bull which was crapping on the patio and barking loudly. We reported the situation and they had two leasing violations--one for the pet and one for the guy who shouldn't have there since he wasn't able to pass the security check.

The guy who wasn't supposed to be there continued to show up on property (trespassing) and was even letting the 50 pound pit bull roam around the walking track without a leash. Considering that 2 of 4 apartments on this side of the building have toddlers, I could foresee a disaster happening and I let the manager and neighbors know that if their kids were bit I would serve as a witness that I reported the situation to management and they were negligent. The apartment manager said they would try to shift the blame to the apartment residents, but after 13 years as the tort statistician at the Department of Insurance, I know that anyone (including a sandwich) can be sued. The pit bull was gone the next week.

The neighbors were also behind on their rent and finally moved out on September 10 after eviction papers were filed, but before they went to court. Due to the eviction and both of them being unemployed, they won't be renting an apartment anytime soon. They tacked on at least a few hundred dollars more in fees because they didn't move out earlier.

Meanwhile, the apartment manager got jumped out severely about a month ago due to other problems. The employee paychecks that arrive via FedEx one Friday were sent back to California because there was nobody in the office to sign for them. The rental agent office is also virtually abandoned on Saturdays when most people have time to look for new apartments. Outdoor electrical lights were out presenting safety hazards (including rape). Finally, one of the maintenance men was logging a lot of overtime, but not actually doing the work. Throw in the extremely long lunch breaks when nobody was in the leasing office from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and it was apparent that the apartment owner was pissed.

It seems like a lot of people think that get away with a lot of things, but eventually