By Jay Cook

Apartment complexes don’t want you to know your legal rights. In my case, they would have preferred I stayed in a dangerous situation – even after I showed them the Texas law code – to gain a few bucks. Here’s what I did to get out of my lease.

Right out of college I moved to the DFW area. Having grown up in a one stop light town, I went from never locking my door to carrying pepper spray despite having practiced martial arts for over 15 years. That was all thanks to a stalker.

One day, while riding the elevator, I saw a resident I had talked to in the past on the way to his floor. I lived below him, so I got out and went on my merry way. While on the phone with my mom, someone knocked.

“Who could that be?” I thought. I didn’t often have visitors.

I looked through my keyhole to see that same resident – we’ll call him John. He was about my age and just a few inches taller than me, so I opened the door. He then nervously invited me to a movie night in the clubhouse that him and his brother were putting on. It seemed harmless enough. He asked if he could get my number to give me the details.

I didn’t feel great about that idea but I wanted the interaction over so I agreed. So I could decide if I wanted to text him, I gave him my phone to put his number in. My plans were immediately foiled when he texted himself before giving me my phone back.

As he was doing this I thought to myself, “How did he know this was my door?”

You couldn’t see my door from the elevator and I know he didn’t follow me back. He took too much time to get to my door for that to be the case.

As if he sensed this he said, “I wasn’t sure if this was your door I just thought a girl with a unicorn hanging on her review mirror would have a door that looked like this.” He said gesturing to my door with holiday decorations.

When he said that, my stomach dropped and felt very uneasy. I had never once seen him in the parking garage and I always parked towards the wall. My unicorn was about the size of an egg. How did he know about that? I had the sense this was not the first time he had been to my door.

He texted me quite a bit that night. I responded not wanting him to know he had creeped me out. His responses were not overly alarming but he seemed lost and unstable. I declined his offer for the movie night.

He texted again the next week to go to a movie, which I also declined and then I never responded again.

Months passed without seeing him – to which I was grateful. Yet, I would come home and feel as though someone had been there. I don’t know why, but I just did.

I’m not an overly paranoid person, but I couldn’t shake this strange feeling I was being watched.

To be clear, I don’t think he ever came into my apartment, but I do think he was coming to my door and trying to watch me.

This belief was reinforced when I saw him in the parking garage at about 1AM. I was coming home from my boyfriends apartment when I accidentally locked eyes with John while I was pulling into my parking spot.

I texted my boyfriend and told him my predicament and decided to wait ten minutes. He had been getting into the elevator and I watched the door close once I parked. When I thought I had given enough time for the elevator to go to the third floor and back 7 times, I decided to brave it.

I called the elevator with my clicker and waited. It clearly was on a higher floor. Good I thought. He’s gone. But when the doors opened, there was John.

Now at this point it’s nearing 2AM and I had 2 options. 1. I could say I left something in my car and try to take the stairs on the complete opposite side of the building or 2. I could show I was not scared and pretend everything was normal.

Now, I don’t condone my choice of decision 2 but it felt like the right decision at the moment. For anybody else please go back to your car, lock the door, and wait for help or someone else to take you to your apartment.

But I walked onto the elevator. Teaching self defense I knew it was important to be direct and not look like a target. So I complimented his long board pretending not to recognize him and when he looked up I said, “Oh, hi John.” In a friendly tone.

“Where were you?” He responded in a threatening tone. He sounded like a jealous boyfriend who was outraged his girlfriend had been partying all night. He looked pissed off. *mind you this was our second in person conversation.

He looked high as a kite. His eyes were blood shot and watering and he was acting shifty.

I played it cool and said, “Oh, I was at my boyfriends house but I probably shouldn’t have stayed up this late because I have to teach martial arts in the morning.”

Luckily the elevator ride was short. I made sure to not turn my back to him as I walked out.

Good thing too because he tried to follow me.

I turned, faced him, and just stared like, “What the actual hell are you doing?”

He mumbled something and got back on the elevator. I waited to watch the doors close then olympian style sped walked to my door.

Now, my experience could have been a lot worse. But women know when I say, every SINGLE warning bell was going off in my head. I knew I wasn’t safe. And after already feeling off for months, this was the nail in the coffin. I was moving.

I emailed my apartment complex with some of the texts he sent me and described my the two encounters. I then went to the office to talk about my experience.

Before I even said his name they said,

“Oh, we know who you’re talking about. We’ve had some weird experiences too, we just think he’s a little off.”

For someone like me who really gets along with all types of people, this was not “just off.” Every murderer ever is just a little off. I said, “So, you’re admitting to me, as women, you’ve had experiences with him where you’ve been uncomfortable.”

They confirmed. I then found out he had given me his middle name as his first name even though he typically went by his first name. They asked if they wanted them to talk to him. Although I didn’t want them to, I decided that was okay so it would be documented that the advances were unwanted.

At that point I was at a month-to-month so I put in my 30 day notice. Typically, Texans have a 60 day notice. But according to Texas Property Code Section 92.0161, I had the right to a 30 day notice due to the stalking.

My complex refused to give it to me. They said I needed to go to the police for that code to be valid – which is totally untrue by the way. I told them he hadn’t physically assaulted me so I would never get a restraining order.

How ridiculous is that? What would the world be if housing complexes always made women stay despite feeling unsafe?

Would they really only be satisfied that I was telling the truth until after I was assaulted?

I went in email loops with them. That’s when I went to DARCC’s a rape crisis center. Basically, they meet with you to talk about your situation and send official documents to the housing complex to tell them they have to obey Texas law and that I’m well within my rights.

That seemed to do the trick. At the end of the day I ended up getting out at about 60 days anyway, but it was the principle of the thing. I wanted that housing complex to listen. I hoped that the next time they faced this, they’d listen.

I hope you’re never in the same situation but if you are, document what’s happening, take advantage of the absolutely amazing crisis center’s available, and listen to your gut. You can call me paranoid, but I know the situation I was in was unsafe. Trust *clap your *clap gut *clap.

If you were assaulted and your complex didn’t listen, you could be entitled to compensation. No one should have to live where they’re unsafe.