I’m not even sure where to begin. At my old apartment, there were drug dealers, so we decided to get the heck out of there. I fought the good fight, meaning that I did my citizen duty to report and bring it to the property managers attention. That did nothing. Police did nothing. Property manager did nothing. I was getting threatened and harassed for being a snitch. I just wanted a safe environment for my girlfriend and me.
So, we found another place that was less expensive rent-wise in a safer town or so we thought. We were convinced that drug dealing and crime wouldn’t be where we’re at now because of the housing costs. An average house here goes for 400 to 500k.
We are renting in this woman’s furnished basement that has everything we need: 1 bathroom, 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchen, fenced yard and all our utilities are paid for by the landlord.
However, there’s a catch, which is that the landlord’s son lives upstairs. Who is this guy? Come to find out, he is a 36 year old male. We thought it was strange that he still lives with his mom, but we didn’t have enough information on him to do any digging. Well, I finally get his name after about 2 months and I do a background check on the guy. He has been convicted of robbery, assault and drug offenses. He has sketchy friends that come over with sealed boxes. These visitors only stay or about 10 minutes. The police have arrested someone on the property, this actually happened 2 weeks ago.
We know he’s dealing, but the landlord is his mom and we haven’t said a word about it. We’ve been keeping our head down, but we don’t feel safe with this guy. We have about 3 months left on the lease. What can we do?
He’s nice to us in person, but we just don’t know.
Hang in there for three months, and in the meantime start looking for a new place so you’re ready to move the minute your lease is up.
I guess you could call the cops if you are pretty sure you’re correct that he is dealing - but that might backfire on you. Chances are they know what’s going on anyhow. Were me? I’d just stay pleasant and plan to move in three months.
I would just keep my head down and move when the lease is up. I might also get a storage unit now for any valuables of sentimental worth and quietly take them there one or two things at a time. And I’d keep up to date on my rental insurance!
I have no clue whether rental laws where you are allow you to move out before a lease is up, without penalty, if there is illegal activity on the premises?
Any chance the mother is unaware? I mean, I assume she chooses not to notice but has her suspicions. I’d be tempted to tell her as you’re loading up your moving van.
This might be my paranoia talking, but maybe she is part of it as well. She’s a teacher, but I’ve heard stories about teachers selling drugs. Also, I doubt he had the money to pay for his own legal bills, so I’m guessing the mother paid for them. We’re talking a list of 30+ charges here. No murder charges. Mostly traffic, robbery/theft, assault and drug.
I’ve been tempted to tell her, but it wouldn’t do anything. The son would deny it. The mother would believe the son and brand me as a liar. So, not only would the son be after me, the mother would be after me as well for blaming her poor, defenseless son.
Of course, she would be in a weird position and would be an accessory to the crime. I’m not a lawyer, so maybe the lawyers on this board can confirm or deny this?
However, I’ve also read that if I suspect that drug dealing is happening and I don’t report it, I would also be an accessory perhaps?
What a difficult situation I’m making this seem. I hope this is just my paranoia.
Definitely. I wish I knew how not to end up in drug deal central. Can’t find reliable data on the web because I’ve been doing that already - looking at crime statistics and what not - load of bullocks.
Look into renting a single family residence next time around. Sure, your neighbors might still deal drugs or whatever but at least you aren’t sharing a wall. You can’t make people suck less, unfortunately, but you can put some space between yourself and the weirdos.
My only advice is to target an area to move to with a lot of senior citizens. They are usually vigilant about keeping the riffraff out of their neighborhood.
Have you been threatened by the son, or has there been violent/antisocial behaviour on the property? I don’t want to underplay the fact that you feel there are drugs being dealt in the house, but if you only have three months left on your lease, can you not stick it out?
How about for your own sake, you stop being such a busybody?
I mean seriously? A background check? All because what? He didn’t meet your standards of a decent human being?
It really sounds to me that you’re looking for trouble or drama. Someone upthread recommended you keep your head down. I suggest you do that and move out in three months.
There probably isn’t any mystery here why you keep running into drug issues.
You are picking cheap basements to rent and living in bad areas :). If a deal seems to be too good to be true, it probably is.
Let me guess - you can’t quite see it, but if you wanted to and went up high enough - you’d be looking at the back of the domino sugar sign?
Is the place your renting really going for that much - or are places near there going for that much? There is a big, big difference.
I know it sucks to have no money, but you aren’t going to escape drugs living in drug infested areas.
You keep talking about you are living with her son, but mention he lives with his mom - and his mom is your landlord. Unless I missed something about the transitive property or whatever it was called - doesn’t that mean you are living with his mom. So how would she be oblivious to the comings and goings? Do they only come when she is gone? Does he live on the third floor and the mom on the second?
Oh and listen to the person that said make sure your renters insurance is up to date. Of course - that would probably require a lease - which I’m not sure if you really legally have. I don’t know if renting a room is the same, but if an insurance company will take it - that should be all you need (as long as you honestly describe your situation).
I’d do what the others say and keep your head down and leave. It isn’t like if you get him arrested that is going to make your life any easier.
OK, I think we can make an educated guess as to who in this thread has something to hide.
Seriously, unless your name is Sheldon Cooper it’s pretty common to meet someone and just get a vibe that there’s something about this person that’s not right.
As for the OP, you’ve probably figured this out yourself, but if the rent is cheap, there’s usually a good reason why. Either the place is a run-down dump, or the location is undesirable. (Or both.)