I Don't Feel Safe!!

We are currently renting an apartment. We signed a 1-year lease which
we are only about 5 months into. At the beginning of June, the
clubhouse/office was rented out to a group of people that used it to hold
what was supposed to be a small graduation party (15-20 people). Well, the
graduation party got completely out of hand and ended up with about 200-300 people. There was a fight that broke out and guns were drawn and there were 8 people that were shot with an additional 2 people that died. This all happened at the graduation party at the clubhouse. We have a 7-year-old son and do not feel safe living here anymore. We would really like to get out of our lease but when I called the landlord the following week, they informed us that we would have to pay the for the entire length of the lease in order to get out. I'm sure the reason for them being so strict on this at the time was due to a lot of people moving out because of this situation. We are wondering if there would be a way that this situation would get us out of our lease.

I am not a lawyer.

I don’t know the answer to your problem.

I would WRITE a letter to the owner explaining and outlining the shooting incident "So they are legally informed of the problem". Then I would ask for an explanation of what steps they have taken to reduce the chances of continued criminal activity on the premises. "(night security)(new policies ETC.)" Note: They must make some change in an attempt to prevent future re-occurrences, or there liability would increase dramatically, “Especially if you notify the owner of the problem IN WRITING.”

Then I would ask in writing if they are willing to let me terminate the lease without penalty do to the unsafe living conditions. I would Politele explain that if they do not agree to cancel the lease you will be have no other recourse other than to hiring an attorney to full fill your legal responsibility of protecting your child.

If that doesn’t work, I might pass out a flyer asking if any other tenants would like to leave. If enough people really want out maybe an attorney could do multiple cusses for one fee.

You rented an apartment. You have the right expect it to be in good condition.

I make no recommendation as to what you should do.

If it were me I would consider: Becoming annoying.

Step 1 find something wrong with my apartment.
example: (broken exost fan) (leaky faucet) (faulty door latch) (bad seal on refrigerator etc.)(missing smoke alarm)

Step 2 give the leasing office a written notice of the problems, but not all at once. I would notify them of the issues one at a time. (1 per letter) If they ask if they can go any time say "NO". demand that they make an appointment or give you proper written notice. (48 hours in my state) I sleep during the day so I would only be available for appointment after 6pm.

Note: If they fail to make repairs in a reasionable omount of time I might have a legal way out.

Step 3 repeat

Step 4 I would look for unsafe conditions out side. I would take pictures of the problem I see and make a short note of the problem, and I would explain that this is one of the reasons I want to move. Then I would send the note and pictures to the owner the management and there attorney. I would look for things like:
(cracks in the cement or asphalt, especially if it is uneven and could cause someone to trip)(broken lights)(broken glass)(broken gate)(pealing paint "lead hazard")(damaged steps)(sprinkler spraying onto the sidewalk)(construction materials left out)

I would make sure all of my complaint were in WRITING!

If anny tennents were involved hosting that party. I would ask what the managment is doing to evict those tennents.



I might not get out of the lease but At least I would have a fixed up apartment and hopefully a security guard or some safety improvement.


Why don’t you just move out? Are you worried about your credit?

Well, first I want to say thanks for all of the advice that you have replied to me with. Some of these things we have tried. Actually the management company send out a letter to all of the tenants saying that they would be working to make the apartment complex a safer environment but as of right now, I don't see what they have done to improve things. We do have a police officer that lives on site but I've NEVER seen him. All we see is his car in the parking lot and that's it. We have gates coming into our apartment complex just past the office but they have not been in working condition since we've moved in. We actually went through the entire lease to say if it said it was a gated community cause that would be an out for us but it did not note that at all.

As for just leaving the apartment, we would absolutely love to but don't have the money to pay for another 6 months rent. That's almost $6000 and that's just not money we have laying around. I definitely wish we did though!

I appreciate your reply and the advice you have given.

Ye just move out dont give a damn, your safty are more important than your credit record.

I don’t know the answer. When I say you I mean "If I were in your situation". Please don't do the things I talk about.


I live in a gated community, It would be reasonable for me to expect that the gates be operational. It is implied that all things provided are functional.

The whole reason I picked my place is because I saw that it was a gated community, before I move in I asked my leasing agent if was a gated community and she said Yes. I assumed that the broken locks were going to be repaired. but it has been 6 months. I think I am going to write a letter to my land lord. If they don’t fix the locks at my complex in a reasonable time I might give a 30 day notice of my intent to move due to their frailer to maintain the premises.

I checked my contract and:
(It dose not state that the roof will be free of leaks?)
(It dose not state that the water heater will provide hot water?)
Obviously not. It is implied that they will be functional. and I wouldn’t be expected to stay if either of these were not repaired in a reasonable amount of time.

If this happened to me I might just send letters outlining all of the problems I expect to be fixed. Give notice of my intent to move in 30 days if everything is not repaired and I would get another apartment.

I would find a new apartment tell the leasing agent that I was moving because of "8 shootings". I think they would understand.

I would be prepared to loose my security deposit.

I am not saying that you should do any of this.

Wouldn’t they have to get a judgment from a court first?

I would forward my mail, And I would give my land lord a letter IN WRITING stating my new mailing address. I would also give an alternate address of a friend or relative and ask them to send all legal notices to either or both of the addresses.

If they decided to try to get a judgment against me the worst thing that could happen would be for me to miss my court date. (I would probably automatically lose) However; If I showed up I could show the judge all of my letters about the condition of the gate, and a few other things, with dates and pictures. Then I might bring up as a side note that there was a shooting, which I felt, might have been prevented if the gates were functional. I would say that I informed the owner of the gate malfunction (exhibit 1 "copy of letter") but I have seen no improvement to the gate (exhibit 2 pic. date).



1 How much is your deposit?

2 Why do you say you need 6 months rent to move out?

Dose the gate have a broken lock on it?
Is the gate malfunctioning?

The reason that we would have to pay the 6 months rent is because our lease does not run out until the end of February. There is no break lease clause where we are able to give say 60 days notice and be able to get out of it. I realize that I can just pack up and leave but then they are able to sue us for the remaining months that we have not paid. I guess to some people that might not seem like a lot of money (about $6,000) but to us that's a lot of money!

As for the gate, they have been open the entire time we've lived here. I'm not sure what the actual problem is with them but they are definitely malfunctioning. I actually just spoke to another tenant that's lived here for the past 3 years or so and she said that when they did work that they would work for maybe a week or two and then something would go wrong and they wouldn't work for a week. She said they never really ever worked right since she first started living there. So apparantly they must have gave up on it and they haven't been in working condition for the past year or two. I know when the situation happened with the shooting that the concept of "if the gates were working, it may have prevented it" came up but the office personal had responded to that by saying that the clubhouse is outside the boundry of the gates anyway so it wouldn't have made a difference.

I think I will definitely write a letter to the management company and inform them that I haven't seen anything done that would lead us to believe that they are trying to make the security any better or to make the community any safer. There are 17 apartment buildings, which each have 16 apartments. That's a pretty big community so you would think that they would be more on top of making everyone safe and happy.

You say there is no "break lease clause"

What is a break lease clause?
what would it say?
Would it say "Term of lease is for one year unless tenant moves out in less than one year"?

I was wandering, Dose your lease have a "break gate clause"?

In my lease, I am entitled to peaceful enjoyment.

My question to any lawyer out there is:

Could a broken gate substantially affect my peaceful enjoyment if I really didn’t feel safe because it was malfunctioning?

[OHlandlord]

You have a lot of problems here, but not all of them are solvable. Do not follow the second poster's advice. He/she started out fine by sending a letter to management asking what steps they were taking.

But passing out fliers and conspiring to have people break their leases could get you in a lot of trouble. Additionally, becoming annoying like he says will get you more problems. It is fine to ask for repairs in writing. However, 19 states do not have the right to prior written notice before entering (not state statute there). Also, many judges would tell you that if you make a repair request you are giving permission to enter to do those repairs (why else would you have requested them?). And in some states, there are actually set hours in which repairs must be done (when set hours are listed they are usually M-F in daytime hours and on Saturdays). They are not allowed to do repairs after 6 pm in places. And if they cannot make repairs in a reasonable amount of time because you refuse to allow them in during normal business hours, you cannot use this excuse to break a lease.

Finally, most judges have found that you must avail yourself of other legal remedies (like rent withholding and/or repair & deduct) prior to breaking your lease unless the probelms are about habitability of your unit. His step 4 is unreasonable. Tripping hazards are no more than an insurance liability issue; broken/burnt out lights a simple maintenance issue; you can find glass nearly everywhere; the gate isn't even listed in your lease so unless this place was advertised as "gated" or you have it in writing somewhere, you have no grounds to complain about it; you surely recieved a lead paint booklet and signed a lead statement when you moved in; etc. I'm afraid this advise is not very good.

You should definately send the letter to management. Ask what steps they are taking to make the place safer. Ask what steps they are taking against the people who allowed their party to get out of hand. Are they being evicted? Were they arrested? Ask what steps they took to avoid any future incident like this. (Not just a generic "We're working on it".) You can certainly ask for them to fix the gate immediately and suggest that it may make the community safer from these types of incidents spreading inside the complex. But remember, it is not in your lease, you have nothing in writing about it being a gated community, and you can't prove the leasing agent's promise. There is no written clause, promise, or requirement that the gate would work. As such, I don't know if not fixing it would be enough to break your lease. Especially since this incident could not have been prevented by the working gates. It is an implied promise and those things are iffy in court. One of those things referred to as a gray area. Make sure you note in your letter that this incident has definitely violated your peaceful enjoyment rights.

If the management decides to keep your SD for breaking your lease (for unpaid rent until the unit is re-rented) they do not need a judgement to do this. They only need to send you an itemized statement listing their deductions within your state's time limit. To collect any further money they say you owe, then they need a judgement against you. If this happens do not miss the court date. You forfeit the case and they get the judgement.

And to the other poster who inquired what was a lease break clause. This is a clause written into a lease that says you will owe $xxx or X months of rent if you break your lease. This clause is not legal in all states. Some states prohibit this type of clause and require that the LL show exact damages (lost rent, advertising costs, credit checks on the next applicant, utilities you would have been paying, etc.) Often they make the lease break fee about the same as the length of time a court will allow a LL to recover unpaid rent when he can't rent the unit. Usually this is 2 or 3 months rent.

I can't blame you for being uneasy about such an incident where you live. Especially since you have a young child. But many times, incidents like these are not found to be enough reason to break leases. Unless there are multiple or repeat occurrences of this, it may be seen as one unfortunate incident. If they allowed everyone to break their leases as soon as there was one night of shooting there, think of how many empty apartment complexes there would be around the nation. I'm sorry there is no easy answer. Maybe you can negoatiate a break fee with management? Or be allowed to move out if you can find another tenant for them? If you feel you must move for your safety, the only other thing is to go ahead, give notice, move out, then deal with the consequences. Good luck.