When Your Landlord Gets Your &$*@ Stolen.

What do you do when your Los Angeles landlord -- the same Los Angeles landlord you're renting a fabulous fully furnished loft that you might be paying slightly MORE than you should be for but you don't care due to the fact that it's damn fabulous and right behind Abbot Kinney -- allows half of your electronics to get stolen when you... I dunno, take off to Europe for a month?

Some of you may have noticed my lack of POSTS between the beginning of the month and now, especially during the Law&Order fly from Tampa to Philly to NYC via Amtrak escapade (details & result in my next catchup post).  Why?  In between my travels of Tunis, Africa and Malaga, Spain... my landlord leaves the door to my loft open, and some jackass comes in and swipes my powerhouse design Mac, a camera, and a wad of $400 in cash that I'd stashed away in a drawer.

So what does an actor "slash" web entrepreneur do without access to her lifesource -- i.e. 15-17 inch Macbook computer?  Besides teeter on the edge of going certifiably insane?

She inquires if her landlord will cover the damages.  In other words... will he, I dunno, provide a check?  A new computer?  A freakin' credit toward rent?

The answer was... as I was berated and told that I wasn't in first class but in "coach" (I'd negotiated down the rent on this place, which is still extremely high)... absolutely not.  And even though the instance that occurred was not a standard breaking and entering -- but the landlord's negligence to enter our residence in the first place and then LEAVE the door wide open (of which he admitted to doing) he's refusing to take any responsibility.

My decision?  Besides going nuts without being able to do any damn work?  (thank goodness for overpriced -- but extraordinary -- iPhone email box capabilities)...

I'm moving.  Again.  Because it seems as though I have the worst luck with landlords in conceivable history.  New York, Los Angeles, all inclusive.

I'm sure I could file all sorts of crap against this guy (who was nice and on-paper sane when I first met him) -- but what's the point?  After two sleepless evenings of pondering... I decided to direct deposit half the month's rent into his account, and use the second half to go and buy a new Mac.  Two weeks of not having my own machine to work on has been... in a word... torture.

A second blow-up ensues after this, where the guy got nearly violent.  Luckily we had the encounter on the street, and after a few minutes of being yelled at... I got in my car and basically drove off, telling him I'd be happy to discuss things after he became calm.

Two hours later, I began doing Craigslist searches via my new 15'' and CoffeeBean's free WiFi.

I may have found a new spot... it's a triplex on Rose and 7th Ave... a touch farther from the delights and shops of Main Street & Abbot Kinney that I'd prefer (for New Yorker's, we're talking Venice / Santa Monica... the latter being very SoHo-y), but has a roof deck that basically covers the entire ROOF.  

And it's nearly a grand less than I'm paying now.

Sorry for leaving everyone in the dark about the L&O adventures of two weeks ago... but I'm back online, and will soon have additional tales of my perpetually homeless escapades.

Sincerely, Ashley Avis

Comments

[Justine]

I'm so sorry about your stuff getting stolen, Ashley. That really sucks. The new place does sound good though.