This woman pays $450 a month to live by the side of the road

• Some LA residents are resorting to living in run-down RVs in a darker twist on van life.
• Liberty Justice pays a "vanlord" about $450 a month to live near the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.

Van life represents an idyllic escape from the daily grind – and a way to visit different places.

But for some, it's a desperate and insecure last resort that leaves them wondering if their homes will be towed away at any moment.

A rising number of people in Los Angeles are renting clapped-out RVs from "vanlords" – controversial figures who lease stationary vans to those who can afford little else.

A darker side to 'van life'

BBC News and LA's abc7 have reported on the rising number of people turning to the vans, which are typically parked illegally on the side of main roads.

Liberty Justice, who first spoke to the BBC, is a social media influencer and creator who lives in an RV across from the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.

She told Insider she's paying about $450 a month for the van – the same amount she was paying to live with several people in a shared house.

The van has given her some newfound independence. A table in the RV doubles as her home office, from which Justice posts TikTok and YouTube videos.

"I just like it here better because I don't have to have people inside my home," she told Insider.

But the vans offer Justice and others in the same situation little more than shelter.

LA's abc7 reported in May that these vans don't have bathrooms, with many opting to use gyms instead. Justice's van also lacks an engine. That poses her a problem when she's deemed to have outstayed her welcome.

While traffic wardens don't routinely police the area, her van has got parking tickets – something Justice says she wasn't warned about at the start.

She says when she gets three tickets she has to hassle her landlord to move the van, or risk being towed away and impounded.

"He won't move this thing unless he absolutely has to, because he has to pay to tow it," Justice tells Insider.

This has forced Justice to move to several locations across the city, including outside LAX Airport.

It's also dangerous to be placed roadside as cars drive along with road at high speed. Justice says she was hit by one while out running one morning and ended up in hospital.

"The hardest part is the unpredictability, because right now I have to leave it up to this so-called vanlord."

Justice is in the process of looking for an apartment as she saves up money, and hopes to move on from the van in the next few months.

Vanlords

According to the latest data from Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), there are more than 23,000 homeless people living in sheltered premises in the city, with nearly 7,000 living in RVs.

Vanlords and their proponents argue the practice helps get people off the streets and into shelter.

One vanlord, Greg William, told abc7 in May that he makes between $2,000 and $8,000 a month renting out 15 RVs.

He says he charges what a tenant can afford, and despite making a profit sees his work as providing a service for the homeless.

However, some want to crack down on the practice.

LA Councilwoman Traci Park told KCAL News in May she hoped to update regulations pertaining to RV rentals.

"Oftentimes these vehicles are dilapidated, broken down, can't possibly pass basic environmental fire, safety or operability standards," she said.