I live in Idaho. At my girlfriend's apartment complex a few months ago my girlfriend and I were harassed by the landlord. First, the landlord initiated a conversation with me. I was running downstairs to check how busy the pool area was (about 80 feet from her apartment) and she got up in my face from the start in a very rude manner. She told me I couldn't be on the complex alone without a legal resident in about the bitchiest way possible. I had no doubt from our first encounter that it was a clear case of discrimination. No landlord of a major apartment complex can possibly be that much of a bitch to everyone for absolutely no reason and keep tenants. Then she started harassing my girlfriend about various issues, one of which that I was staying over too much. We read the lease, and all it says is that I can't stay there for more than 14 consecutive days, which has certainly never even come close to happening. We usually split time between our apartments and sleep alone a lot of the nights.

We didn't see her for a month or two, but just recently she made it a point to confront my girlfriend. She told her that her balcony area was hideous and a piece of furniture had to be removed (and certainly not that nicely). We checked the lease again, and it says absolutely nothing about what is allowed to be out there, and her balcony is far from the worst one in the complex. It was enough to seriously stress her out and really not want to live there anymore. She's been making some rude gestures at her when she's pulling up and been glaring at both of us whenever she sees us. I feel like she's been hovering around her apartment lately too, we very rarely saw her but now we've seen her for the past 4 days. Tonight I feel like she went too far. This apartment complex almost NEVER boots, the only time I've ever seen one is when someone was parked in a covered parking space for over a week without a permit. Tonight I got a boot for having tags that had just barely expired in November. I went and walked around the complex and saw two other cars with expired tags and no boots. We both have the same parking permit for her covered parking space, and I have a very strong suspicion the landlord called the booting company just because she knew it was my car.

My girlfriend doesn't exactly want out of the lease, because there is five months left and we were planning on moving in together and a short-term lease like that would probably end up costing her a lot more money she doesn't have. I know I don't have anything yet, but I have a feeling the harassment is going to continue. We invested in a couple of recording devices and we don't plan on leaving her apartment without them. We could file some complaints with the complex, but I really doubt it would do much. Really, I just want to make this lady pay. The next time she starts harassing us, I was thinking of bringing up the gay issue in hopes of evoking some kind of bigoted response. Preferably in private, as I think she would probably be more likely of showing her true bigoted self there and I really doubt she'd think we were recording. Two of my uncle's are extremely successful lawyers, so if I can put together any kind of real case she's as good as done. What kind of evidence should I be trying to get? Any tips on how I could evoke some responses from her that could help a case? What other options do I have to make her life as difficult as humanly possible? We're really not sure exactly how to proceed, but we both strongly believe that people like this shouldn't be running major apartment complexes.

Over here in England our first step in many cases is a letter from a lawyer stating the case and hoping the other person can understand that to cause further trouble will get them in real trouble. This usually works except with Neanderthals.
Can you ask uncles to write such a letter of at least tell you what to put in one?
Alternatively just shoot the woman and leave her body floating face down in the pool.

I would contact your Uncles and ask them how to proceed. I am not sure what the law is where you live about recording someone without their knowledge. I would setup a webcam with motion detection if there is a computer in the home. Every time it senses motion it can take a picture. You never know!

I would have thought that, if the web cam just happened to be recording when she came in and you forgot to turn it off, then any resulting footage would be OK.

But I honestly don't know your local laws.

Your uncles are the ones to ask.

And from the sound of it, you are being hassled.

She's never actually been inside my girlfriend's apartment (and we certainly wouldn't let her in if she ever asked). She just runs us down we were are walking to cars or the apartment.

My uncles are a bit eccentric. All my cousins and my aunt are aware of me being transsexual but not my grandfather or uncles. I'm pretty sure my uncles would be fine with it, but they are the rowdy, jokester type with big mouths. I'm not so sure about my grandfather with him being 86. He may be a well-educated surgeon, but still you never know. He's worth at least $4 mil and I'm the oldest grandchild in the whole bunch. No one else in my family even comes close to needing any money; my parents are the only ones that are anywhere near middle-class, and with me going to grad school soon / dealing with transition costs and my little brother just getting accepted to med school, money has become a very serious issue in my family. Basically, I don't want to ask for their help and risk making any waves for my family to deal with until this escalates to a point where I absolutely have to. I'm just looking for some advice on how to proceed until that point comes.

How public do you want this to be?

By going to authorities it may very well put the public spotlight on you and your girlfriend. Just be aware of this as you're proceeding.

I'm sorry to hear you have this type of problem but the best thing you can do is finish out your friends lease and move. The land lord has not really broken any laws that I believe would apply for most states. I would be more inclined to say she is picking on you and your friend. It would be difficult I believe to even find an attorney to take your case for the fact you really do not have one and if by some chance you did it will cost you several thousand dollars for really nothing because you would not collect any money in this type of case. As for trying to invoke her to say something I would suggest not going down that road because it could very well be used against you.

Best solution is to get moved out and until then have a smile and a polite wave for her every time you see her. I dislike this type of behavior but some times there is not much we can do about it. Dust off your feet and move on sweety. I wish the best for you and your friend, take care and have a peachy day.

Jalene

Sounds like you have a freak of a landlord.

1. First of all, unless you're unsanitary/damaging property through improper use, a landlord/owner has no say in how messy your balcony is. If you're renting/leasing, it is your property for that duration and no one else has a right to control how you use it as long as you use it within the terms & conditions of the lease.
2. I'm assuming the "tag" your referencing is a parking pass or the sort that allows you to park in the lot. If it is, it is your duty to keep it up to date and make sure it has not expired.
3. If your landlord is being irritating, let them be. Ignore her unless it they speak of a subject matter which is related to your landlord-tenant relationship.

Discrimination is hard to prove unless it's blatant. Just know that bad people always somehow get screwed over in the end - karma.

Irritating landlords are a fact of life. Just deal with it in the most mature way possible. If they step over the line, document it in detail. Otherwise, take it as another life learning experience on how to be patient. Easier said than done. I've been a landlord & tenant before, plenty of idiots to deal with.

If you want to go into detail, check if there's any landlord/tenancy acts that affect your state. In Canada, we have the Residential Tenancies Act that protects tenants.

Anyway, good luck with the situation.