I'm going to go ahead and take full responsibility for being crazy asshole roommate in this relationship, but things got pushed over edge when I decided to pull a prank on him one night, even though pranks were pulled every other night. I had another friend of mine distract my roomate away from our apartment while me and another buddy set out into city in search of a homeless person. Of course I wanted to videotape whole experience, so we brought my camera. After about an hour of searching, we pulled into a place called Mike's Beer Barn, where a big black man approached us trying to sell us "Miami Crip", I politely declined his offer and instead told him that if he would agree to go along with this prank I'd buy him some "Natural Ice" (the good shit) and pay him $20 dollars. Now, this dude smelled and dressed like a hobo so he was perfect for part, plus he looked pretty crazy too. I thought this plan was going to be perfect.

We took him back to my apartment where he ate all our mini pocket pizzas, bastard. We then told him to go lay down in my roomates bed until my roomate got back home. He suggested that he could really scare my roomate by pulling out his knife that he had been carrying on him. To this day, I don't know why I didn't stop prank there when he had told me that. Meanwhile, I had my buddy filming whole thing. He was in my roomate's closet so he could catch my roomate's reaction when he saw a homeless man sleeping in his bed. Well when my roomate came home, he opened door to his room, turned on his lights and to his suprise this huge black man jumped out of his bed and started to yell in his face "What fuck are you doing in my room?" All my roomate could do was laugh nervously, while I laughed my ass off in living room.

This continued for a while, with hobo chewing out my roomate and frisking him for stuff that he claims was stolen from "his" room. At one point hobo told my friend to stop laughing, and you could see terror in his eyes. This hobo was unpredictable, and I was enjoying every moment of it. The best was when he told my roomate to leave his room through our circuit breaker. Soon after all this hobo confessed to my roomate that this was all a big prank and we all laughed it off, except my roomate who was still in shock. I know, I'm an asshole.

Tenants are usually not into maintenance, therefore they aren't as careful with their rented property as they would be if they owned it. They also tend to see maintenance as landlord's job. So, in order to assure landlord that any damages made to apartment while you are a tenant will be covered, most apartment complexes require a security deposit.

The deposit is usually equivalent to about two months rent. The reasons?

* If you fail to pay rent one month, it won't come out of landlord's pocket. He has right to use your deposit.

* If there are any major damages made to apartment when your lease is up, he can use remaining deposit to make any repairs.

But what if landlord claims you made that hole in wall when you know it was there before you were? Nothing, really. At that point it's probably too late to fight back. According to MetLife, this is why you take precautions before you sign lease. When you think you're going to live in an apartment, and it's almost a done deal, go around apartment and check EVERYTHING for problems. Here's a check list of some of major things you should check out/look for:

Door locks: Do they turn easily? Can you be assured landlord re-keyed/replaced them since last tenant?

Smoke detectors: Are there any? Do they work properly?

Walls: Are they marked, dented, scratched, or cracked?

Pipes: Are they in good condition, or are they rusty?

Leaks: Check under kitchen sink, by front door, ceiling, and throughout bathroom for water damage.

Tiles: Are they all there? Are they in good shape?

Doors: Are they evenly painted? Are they marked/dented/scraped etc.?

Carpet: Is it fastened securely? Stained?

Paint: Is it smooth or chipping off?