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1. You have to have filed reports with the police on both burglary occasions. If you did not, do so immediately.
2. Consult a lawyer for help -- this is an excellent example of why lawyers exist.
3. Phone ALL of your local TV stations and explain the problems, urging them to air the situation.
4. Write letters to ALL of your local newspapers, explaining the situation.
5. Get renter's insurance -- very inexpensive.
6. Sublet the apt.
You may be right... I made it up. It might make for an interesting study, though. Often times it is the case, from what I've seen. Then again, I'd hate to jinx myself... I'm probably getting robbed as I type!
1. You have to have filed reports with the police on both burglary occasions. If you did not, do so immediately.
2. Consult a lawyer for help -- this is an excellent example of why lawyers exist.
3. Phone ALL of your local TV stations and explain the problems, urging them to air the situation.
4. Write letters to ALL of your local newspapers, explaining the situation.
5. Get renter's insurance -- very inexpensive.
6. Sublet the apt.
1. If you haven't already filed police reports... why not?
2. Lawyers rarely represent tenants because there's not much money in it, unless you're disabled or a minority.
3. & 4. The media might help, or it might be a common occurence, in which case you need to move. But you're still responsable for the lease.
5. Absolutely - Renters insurance is worth it.
6. Subleting the apartment is most likely a lease violation, and might result in an eviction.
You may be right... I made it up. It might make for an interesting study, though. Often times it is the case, from what I've seen. Then again, I'd hate to jinx myself... I'm probably getting robbed as I type!
I've been very fortunate regarding break-ins and theft. The ones that have happened ALL had the common denominator of familiarity.
The worst one involved high school friends of my Resident's teenage son...
Another involved a neighbor's son who had befriended the Resident and later broke into the home...
As an ex-landlord/tenant lawyer, I'll give you my two cents.
I worked in NYC, so my experience may be different than yours (though, I can't imagine that it would be *too* much not to take some of this advice).
As a renter, you have certain rights. Included in this is to have reasonable safety in where you live. This is pretty much common sense. If you live in a city, or in a "higher crime" area, these things are going to happen more than they would in other places. Understandable. But, you also *should* have the right to protect yourself, in terms of bars, or an alarm. Again, these things vary between jurisdictions, but I can't imagine ANY court denying you the opportunity to take these passive steps to protect your property.
Which leads to what YOU can do. I was a L/T attorney in NY, and I've also seen a lot of it in Los Angeles. Again, I can't imagine that the laws and procedures in other jurisdictions are very different.
Most of the issues that I've seen in terms of these "non-eviction" cases in L/T law have been taken care of pro se. (No lawyer for the plaintiff invovled). Get yourself to your local court. Find the court that would be taking care of the issue if it were an eviction case, and go there. Explain your situation to the clerk in charge of this. Chances are, you'll fill out some forms that will be your "complaint" in this case. Set out your issues and how you feel that your LL has not enabled you to live in "relative safety".
At this point, you're in no way breaking your lease. If your rent comes due during the time when your case is pending, you'll pay the amount to a trust account that the court takes care of until the dispensation of the case.
In many cases, this is something that the LL simply wants to "go away", and you'll be able to settle quite simply. Even without an attorney on your side, I'll tell you, from my experience, you'll have the judge and other court officials trying to help you out as best they can. No one wants someone to be evicted.
Your first step should be going to the court and asking the clerks what you can do. Do NOT unilaterally break your lease, because that puts you in the defendant's position.
But, don't think that you don't have power. Quite frankly, most courts in the US are VERY tenant friendly. You just have to approach it in the proper way.
Dont feel bad , Two years ago I withrew $2000 from my checking account , put it in an envelope and hid it between library books in a closet. the apartment complex pest control service "web pest control" notificed me that they were doing pest service within a few days. I had completely forgotten about the notice by the pest control company. when I went to check on the money, half of it was missing. me working a lot of overtime on the job i was confused as to what happened to it. I thought maybe I paid off a credit card or i deposited it into another account. nobody was in this apartment for approximately six months because I live alone. there were no signs of forced entry and the doors were always locked. now there was about one thousand dollars left in the envelope. a few days later on a saturday morning at 5am I arose out of bed and went to the envelope and discovered that the rest (one thousand dollars) was missing. I was totally shocked, I went immediatly to the police and made out a report. I explained that I had not checked with the rental office to see if there were anybody in the apartment. when I went to the rental office i was told that the pest control company were in there the previous day. when i explained about the cash. she goes. " the records show that the this guy did not enter because the key did not fit the door on the first attempt(half the money gone) and the key did not fit at the second time around (the rest taken). so this felt to me like a straight foward criminal case because they take down the guys license number before he can enter. what really got me angry was that the police could not do anything about it, because nobody saw him take the cash. they told me I would get better justice in the civil courts. when I sued in small claims court the judge ruled in favor of the pest control company stating that more people had access to the apartment. I couldnt blame the apartment staff. I was told by other people that these thieves become employed by pest companies so they can steal. so renters dont leave any values in you apartment. as you see this guy was a profesional thief.
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