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Long story short, my old landlord sold the house I was renting a room in, so I had to move. I moved to this new place that seemed quite perfect...it's a "basement apartment". There's 2 rooms (mine and another one that a student named Ben is moving into), a kitchen, and a bathroom.
There was no formal agreement, just the verbal "I'll pay $500/mo for a room and access to the "apartment" kitchen and bathroom." They said things like no parties, etc. which I'm fine with.
Now that I'm moving in, they're scaring me. I suspected them meddling around in my room (I'm rather anal on where I put things, and they weren't in the right place). I wasn't here 5 hours and they were already snooping and invading my privacy, I'd suspected.
As soon as I came in, I was "pounced" on by the friendly old lady (the lady/husband own the house) who told me I was "not to use" the mini-fridge I bought since I have access to the fridge in the kitchen. It was for energy reasons, she reckoned. Okay, somewhat reasonable since utilities are included in my rent. Even though the other Fridge is really old, and the door isn't sealing properly, so it no doubt costs a small fortune to run compared to my modern mini-fridge. But whatever, I unplugged my Fridge and am using the big one.
Then she told me I'm "not to leave the lights on" when I'm not in a room. The problem was I was moving stuff back and forth constantly, so I left the lights on along the way...but whatever, again I conceded.
I was really tired after 7 hours of moving things and the owners were getting on my nerve. So I just left everything was it was in my room, turned off the lights, and left for my boyfriend's place in Waterloo...except I did one extra thing:
I set up a pseudo-security system in my room. I aimed my webcam at the entrance and configured it to turn on and record any motion it detects. It films for the period it detects motion + 30s, then compresses the file into DivX format, takes a screencapture and emails me with the subject "Intruder!" with the screencapture.
When I got home, I checked it out, and my suspicions were correct. The husband came a-snoopin' again, and this time I got him on video doing it:
I plan to tell him point-blank I expect privacy in the room I'm renting from them, and they should first ask me for permission to enter, rather than just entering. That seems reasonable to me.
But legally, do I have any grounds, given the lack of a written agreement? These people regularly host students and they all get the same "verbal agreement" of sorts, so if needed I could always find "witnesses" to confirm the terms of the agreement I guess...
There was no formal agreement, just the verbal "I'll pay $500/mo for a room and access to the "apartment" kitchen and bathroom." They said things like no parties, etc. which I'm fine with.
Now that I'm moving in, they're scaring me. I suspected them meddling around in my room (I'm rather anal on where I put things, and they weren't in the right place). I wasn't here 5 hours and they were already snooping and invading my privacy, I'd suspected.
As soon as I came in, I was "pounced" on by the friendly old lady (the lady/husband own the house) who told me I was "not to use" the mini-fridge I bought since I have access to the fridge in the kitchen. It was for energy reasons, she reckoned. Okay, somewhat reasonable since utilities are included in my rent. Even though the other Fridge is really old, and the door isn't sealing properly, so it no doubt costs a small fortune to run compared to my modern mini-fridge. But whatever, I unplugged my Fridge and am using the big one.
Then she told me I'm "not to leave the lights on" when I'm not in a room. The problem was I was moving stuff back and forth constantly, so I left the lights on along the way...but whatever, again I conceded.
I was really tired after 7 hours of moving things and the owners were getting on my nerve. So I just left everything was it was in my room, turned off the lights, and left for my boyfriend's place in Waterloo...except I did one extra thing:
I set up a pseudo-security system in my room. I aimed my webcam at the entrance and configured it to turn on and record any motion it detects. It films for the period it detects motion + 30s, then compresses the file into DivX format, takes a screencapture and emails me with the subject "Intruder!" with the screencapture.
When I got home, I checked it out, and my suspicions were correct. The husband came a-snoopin' again, and this time I got him on video doing it:
I plan to tell him point-blank I expect privacy in the room I'm renting from them, and they should first ask me for permission to enter, rather than just entering. That seems reasonable to me.
But legally, do I have any grounds, given the lack of a written agreement? These people regularly host students and they all get the same "verbal agreement" of sorts, so if needed I could always find "witnesses" to confirm the terms of the agreement I guess...
More seriously, at my place, they have to ask for my permission before coming in. Its the law, irc. In Quebec, at least.
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