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After I came home from lunch yesterday, I found that my apartment door wasn't locked. Once inside, I saw pieces of the door and hinges scattered on various places of the floor. The neighbor upstairs left a note telling me that there is a water leak and he had to kick in my door to check.
It turned out the neighbor living below me was knocking on everyone's door to try to find out where the water leak in his kitchen originated and the neighbor upstairs joined the mission. He told me that it wasn't his idea to kick in, it was the upstairs neighbor's. I think he should have insisted on the other guy not doing that because this was not the first time there was a leak downstairs. This is the third time. He and I have been through this before. It is an old building, old pipes burst somewhere, end of story, call the manager and the owner. There was no need to over-react and break down someone's door.
Fortunately, nothing in my apartment is missing and the manager will replace the door soon. Who knows, maybe he will tell the neighbor upstairs to pay for it. From my brief googling, it doesn't seem like there is much people can do with these semi-illegal entry.
This was breaking and entering...plain and simple. He didn't have to steal anything.
I would go back to the manager or LL and inform them that you are filing a report with the police and your door WILL be fixed by the end of the day. Your apartment right now would be considered unlivable per most state's laws...it's uninhabitable based on the fact that it cannot be secured.
I can't imagine the outrage I would feel if I found out that one of my neighbor's kicked in my front door instead of calling my LL for a water leak.
The landlord/property manager has the right to entry in such an emergency; a neighbor does not.
I agree. This is the best answer.Water leaks affect things under them . If the ops apartment did not have another one below it that was flooding there is no logical reason to check the OPs place until ALL of the ones above the leak have been checked... The cops need to be called and charges made. If it was a fire and smoke coming from the apartment THEN you break down the door .
From my brief googling, it doesn't seem like there is much people can do with these semi-illegal entry.
Correct.
As others have mentioned, you can call the Police; they may take action against the person; but it will be dropped due to an affirmative defense. Almost all laws on breaking into a place has exceptions for emergencies and where no criminal intent was involved. Some spell out the specific exemptions and others list the affirmative defense situations. This likely would be deemed non criminal thus no government prosecution.
I don't understand, shouldn't these eggheads have called property management first? Anyhow, yes, file a police report. He can't be taught that it's okay to go around kicking other people's doors in.
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