A landlord accused a tenant of having another person illegally living with him, all because they found a blowdryer and another hair tool in the bathroom.
“Los Angeles landlords are savage,” Clayton Farris says in a trending TikTok video.
In the clip, Farris (@claytonfarris4ever) explains that his landlord went to his apartment—without him there—to do an inspection.
During the inspection, she texted him pictures of an orange blow dryer on the floor and a Revlon blow dryer brush on the sink counter.
“A guest lives here?” the landlord asked Farris in a text message.
“She thought I was illegally harboring a guest,” Farris says. “…I guess she thought a woman lived there. These are mine. This is my blow dryer and my thing. Like, could I sue for this? This feels like I could sue.”
In Los Angeles, landlords must give tenants 24-hour advance written notice before entering their homes, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs. The notice must include a specific time of entry that is during normal business hours. The exceptions to this rule are emergencies like fire or flooding.
@claytonfarris4ever The savagery of Los Angeles landlords. Let's normalize men owning blowdryers. #landlord #losangeles #hair #blowdry ♬ original sound – Clayton Farris
In a follow-up video, Farris said tenants need to come together and fight back against landlords. He said that where he lives, landlords can raise tenants’ rent every year (and it happens to him every year).
“But the place I live in gets worse and worse every year. Why do we have to pay more money for a place that is dwindling and getting worse while we’re living in it?” he questioned.
Farris proposed that if landlords can raise rent early, they should have to improve the unit, too.
Combined, the videos have well over 2.3 million views and more than 2,800 comments.
@claytonfarris4ever Replying to @GreyKnightLord real talk?! What are landlords allowed to raise rent every month with no improvements to the property?! #landlord #onepercent #help #tenant ♬ original sound – Clayton Farris
Several people were perplexed by the hairdryer being so close to the toilet.
“I don’t know any ladies that would purposely leave their blow dryer on the floor near the toilet,” the top comment read.
“That’s INSANE and violating! Also, it’s stressing me out that your hair dryer is touching the toilet,” a person said.
“You keep a hair blower in the splash zone?” another wrote.
Others were concerned that Farris’ landlord was invading his privacy by being in the apartment without him present and by asking what they considered to be an invasive question.
“Even if it was a girlfriend she can’t forget her blow dryer at your place???” a commenter pointed out.
“I would ask her (in writing) how searching personal items in these areas directly related to her inspection?” another said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Farris for comment via Instagram direct message.
