I need some good advice

[boo boo 1]

I have been living in the same apartment since 2001. It was pretty nice when I first moved here (or maybe I was blind), but now I think it is very ghetto and crime infested. On 11/09/07, I woke up around 4am to use the bathroom and when I was in the bathroom, I noticed the window was open. I moved the curtains and that is when I saw a man standing there. I screamed hysterically and ran (my screams woke up my family). I called the police, but unfortunately they could not find the man.

When the rental office opened later that morning, I went and told them what happened and I filled out an incident report. I also told them that for the safety of my family and for peace of mind that I would be giving my 2 month notice. They were not too happy with that because lately they have been losing alot of tenants. Also, I told them that the vacant apartment next to me had the screens in all the back window cut open and when they went there...they noticed that the place had been broken into and they found beer cans and a screw driver inside the apartment..and the patio door was open.

Here are afew other facts about the years I have lived here:

-I have had peeping toms and called the police and told complex about it in the past.

-I had an attempted break in about a year ago and same issue...called police and told office

-I have requested several times that they fix all the lights (front and back of building) that are out...

-On 12/07/07 my kids were coming home from school and a man was running towards them and the apartment complex w/ a gun in his hand, he dropped the gun and then hid in the complex until police found him and arrested him.

Well now I find out that they want to penalize me for breaking my lease which is a full month's rent. My lease would have expired 03/31/08, so I told them that I believe that I should be free of my lease because it is not safe and they do not seem too concerned about my safety because they still have not fixed the lighting. My daughter is traumatized...at night she will not go anywhere in the apartment alone. I am very stressed about this because I think legally they should let me out of my lease, but they bring up some garbage about the fair housing policy...I told them I understand that, but due to the circumstances they should understand where I am coming from.

What do you think? Put yourself in my shoes, how would you handle the situation?

Thanks

Crystal

[JohnK 0]

Stay the extra month and avoid all the hassle.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Check out the renter's rights for your state. Your landlord may be required to provide reasonable safety and security, especially in a high crime area. Do look up what you can. What state are you in? I can help find the information you need.

[sereia 0]

do what mister fancypants said... but even if they are allowed to take one month's rent, i'd get out anyway, imho. one month's rent is certainly not worth risking your life for!

[Chica Yeyé 41]

do what mister fancypants said... but even if they are allowed to take one month's rent, i'd get out anyway, imho. one month's rent is certainly not worth risking your life for!

Agreed - the price for your personal safety and peace of mind goes beyond one month's rent. Good luck sister.

[boo boo 1]

Check out the renter's rights for your state. Your landlord may be required to provide reasonable safety and security, especially in a high crime area. Do look up what you can. What state are you in? I can help find the information you need.

I live in Sanford FL, right outside of Orlando. Thanks for the suggestion. I am currently going thru the corporate office and waiting to hear from the district manager and I am praying that we can end on good terms. I even went to another property that is owned by the same as this one and filled out an application, but they did not have any openings...so I had no choice but to find a different place.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Eight years ago, the Supreme Court issued what some had thought would be a definitive pronouncement on a landowner’s duty to protect tenants and patrons against violent criminal acts — which just goes to show there is no such thing in the law as "definitive." Ann M. v. Pacific Plaza Shopping Ctr., 6 Cal. 4th 666, 25 Cal. Rptr. 2d 137 (1993), set the standard for determining when a landowner owes a legal duty to invitees. Landlords must take "reasonable steps to secure common areas against foreseeable criminal acts of third parties that are likely to occur in the absence of such precautionary measures." 6 Cal. 4th at 674. If "the burden of preventing future harm is great, a high degree of foreseeability may be required." Duty in such circumstances is determined by balancing the foreseeability of the criminal act against "the ‘burdensomeness, vagueness, and efficacy’ of the proposed security measures." 6 Cal. 4th at 678.

....

Saelzler: Causation And How To Prove It

In Saelzler v. Advanced Group 400 (review granted Mar. 29, 2000, S085736; superseded opinion, 77 Cal. App. 4th 1001 (advance reports), 92 Cal. Rptr. 2d 103), the foreseeability of harm was high, to put it mildly. Plaintiff, a Federal Express courier, was beaten and sexually assaulted while making a delivery at an apartment project that resembled the streets of Hell’s Kitchen more than those of Los Angeles. The record suggested that a gang made its headquarters there; gunshots were a regular occurrence, as were robberies, sexual harassment, and assaults. Criminal activity was so rampant that pizza parlors refused to deliver inside the project, instead requiring tenants to pick up their orders at the sidewalk. Plaintiff sued the landlord, alleging that the plethora of prior similar criminal acts created a heightened duty to provide security.

Given those facts, no one seriously disputed that the assault was foreseeable. Instead, the issue was whether defendant’s failure to supply security was a cause of plaintiff’s injury. Taking a page from Leslie G. v. Perry & Assocs., 43 Cal. App. 4th 472, 50 Cal. Rptr. 2d 785 (1996), defendant contended that, because plaintiff’s attackers were never identified, she could not eliminate the possibility that they were project residents — in other words, she could not show that more precautions, such as additional patrols or locked gates, would have prevented the attack.

http://www.sdma.com/Publications/detail.aspx?pub=3804

[Peikko 1,575]

Buy youself a gun, apparantly that's the solution to most problems.

[Ban Hammer 12,867]

Buy youself a gun, apparantly that's the solution to most problems.

i'm sure you'll have a better response from it than 911

[eric&gen 0]

If i were you i pack everything fast as i can get the heck out of there at night so no one can see what your up to lol If you can afford to break lease or what ever go for it. If i found some strange dude in my bathroom i would have been out long ago.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Buy youself a gun, apparantly that's the solution to most problems.

A gun per room.

[boo boo 1]

Buy youself a gun, apparantly that's the solution to most problems.

A gun per room.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Call your local news station - they might like to run with a story like that.

[boo boo 1]

Buy youself a gun, apparantly that's the solution to most problems.

A gun per room.

I diffinitely need something...that is for sure I am moving out on 12/30/07 into an apartment in a different zipcode (alot less violent area according to the seminole county's sheriff dept website) and I am going to be on the 3rd floor...just patiently waiting. I will get my daughter in some therepy because I want her to get over all the emotional distress....and use it as documentation for getting out of my lease....if needed....I appreciate all of the advice you all are giving me....God Bless all of you

[ForeverAmen 0]

I am moving out on 12/30/07 into an apartment in a different zipcode (alot less violent area according to the seminole county's sheriff dept website) and I am going to be on the 3rd floor...just patiently waiting. I will get my daughter in some therepy because I want her to get over all the emotional distress....and use it as documentation for getting out of my lease....if needed....I appreciate all of the advice you all are giving me....God Bless all of you

I am glad you are moving out. Otherwise, my suggestion to you would have been to pay the penalty and MOVE! The safety of you and your family is more important.

Take care!

Boaz