Currently I live in an apartment rented out by this married couple. It sucks because I want out, but like you I live in an area with limited options and almost all landlords feel entirely justified charging stupidly high rents for naff properties. I'm looking for something affordable but the last place I checked out was a joke. I'm not going through the hassle and expense of moving only to end up somewhere even worse.
About a year before my transition I was minding my own business in this apartment when the "husband" of the couple came to fix the front doorlock in the communal hall between my apt. and the next. He took advantage of the situation to get himself into my apt. when we were alone and decided to play the creep - I told him to drop it and he would not, so I called his bluff on it and asked what he had in mind... at that point he hurried to leave. He then went home and told his wife he'd had a "weird" encounter with me, so of course she thinks I was laying the moves on her Hutt of a man. Talk about awkward, and believe me, I was in a towering rage over it. He got himself into my apt, said a bunch of obvious inappropriate **** because he knows damn well I had a boyfriend, and then went home to cover his slimy ass with his wife... total coward, and I've seen that kind of thing before... they do it when they know they've done wrong and are on the verge of panic. Anyway, the situation was unpleasant to say the least, the wife has since decided to wage war on anything I do, and the pair of them were here not long ago threatening to evict me for not cleaning the windows on the outside of the building often enough (something they never bothered to mention before). They had a go at me for storing recycle boxes where my last neighbor stored his, but because my new neighbor is a friend of theirs, they haven't said a thing about the entire desk they've left in the communal hallway.
If there's one thing I can't stand, it's being treated unfairly.
Anyway, with that last encounter they tried all sorts of passive aggressive stuff like saying "sorry, who are you, I forgot your name" (sure you did) and asking to speak to my SO instead, and then abjectly ignoring me while talking down to him. Even that git of a husband had the brass neck to try to be "authoritative" with me after the little stunt he pulled. I had to leave the vicinity or I was going to rearrange someone's face. The wife got personal and was all like "don't you look at me like that" to which I laughed and said not even my mother can get away with wagging fingers in my face.
I deal with it at present since I've begun transition and no longer feel like I should worry about these jackasses - if they want to talk to my boyfriend and not me after all of this, so be it. I'll refer them to him every time... they aren't worthy of wasting mental energy or anger on. It also feels like they're angry at a different person, certainly a different gender - I actually find it kind of hilarious now. If I'm not out of here soon I'll probably be sporting facial hair and I'm sure they'll love that. Hahaha.
Thankfully they sort of avoid me as much as possible, but the situation is bad. I can't exactly call them up to fix a bunch of things they're obliged to fix because that would mean having to talk to them and let them in, and they've been nothing but jerks since he started the whole thing. The lock on my door is pretty much busted now which means I either leave my door open all the time or get an independent locksmith to change the locks which would go down real well if anyone saw it, including my next-door neighbor who is a friend of theirs. Feels like pretty much anything could result in eviction at this point if they want it to.
Just have to keep looking for another place and talking to "people who know people" so I can get out of here. It's not unliveable yet, but it is oppressive. Soon as I find somewhere suitable, I'm gone.