My landlord enters my room without telling me. (Ca)
Hi, I need advice about a situation with my landlord.
I rent a room that is separate from the main house, located in the backyard. I have lived here since 2016 and I always felt comfortable and safe living here, but over the years I started noticing strange things.
One time I was resting in my room when my landlord suddenly opened the door. He told me he was checking if my room still had electricity because the power had gone out. At the time I didn’t think too much about it.
Another time, my mom came to leave me some food while I was at work. When I came home, I noticed my door was unlocked. I asked my landlord about it and he said my mom probably left it open, but when I called her she told me she had locked it before leaving. That situation made me uncomfortable because my door has two locks, so after that I changed one of them.
On another occasion, my mom was resting in my room while I was working. She told me that my landlord opened the door again, even though it was locked. When he saw my mom inside, he looked surprised and again said he was “checking if the room had electricity.” After that happened, I told his wife about it. She said one of the keys had supposedly been lost and told me to speak directly with her husband so it wouldn’t happen again.
That situation made me uncomfortable enough that I decided to install a motion-detection camera in my room in case someone entered again.
Recently I traveled to visit family in another country. When I came back, I checked the camera app before turning it off and found motion notifications. The pictures showed my landlord inside my room having sex with another woman on my bed while I was away.
Now I feel extremely violated and unsafe in my own space. I don’t know what steps I should take next. I live in California. What would you do in this situation?