Threat to personal safety, Reason to break a lease?

Factual Questions
1

My girlfriend and I rent in a quiet, residental neighbordhood in the better part of our town. Our building has 8 units in it, each unit shares a staircase with it’s adjacent unit, and until recently the unit across from us has been empty.

Two weeks ago we got a new neighbor. Very large (muscles) white male. In the two weeks he has been here our lives have changed. There are people coming and leaving his apartment all day, using the shared staircase. These people are not of the best appearance and usually stay at his place for less than a half hour. In addition, we witnessed our new neighbor drag a very young girl down our steps BY HER HAIR. the whole time swearing at her… We called the police but by the time they arrived she had left, and nothing was done. Our neighbors below us have confronted the new neighbor and it has turned into a yelling match. In general, this new guy is intimidating, unpredictable, and on the other side of 6 inches of drywall.

My girlfriend is afraid to come and go, not wanting to come into contact with our neighbor, or his acquaintances. I’m not too keen on it either.

For the factual question, Is this enough to break a lease? I know, you aren’t a lawyer, etc. I’m more curious about the actual law, reviewing my lease makes it pretty clear that there is NO way out, but that is the nature of a lease.

And in general… any advice? I’m frusrated and feel invaded. I can’t figure out a way to approach my neighbor and talk to him in a way that I think would make a difference. I can’t think of anything to say to the landlord that will spark action on his part. What should I do? What steps can I take to ensure our safety? Thanks in advance for any help, and thanks just for reading.

2

I am not a lawyer but I am a fan of Judge Judy. I have seen several episodes that involved cases similar to yours and it seems that fear for personal safety constitutes a valid reason for breaking the lease provided it’s done in a timely fashion. From the sounds of it your neighbor is dealing drugs (my guess would be cocaine or meth) and no tenant should be expected to put up with that kind of crap.

3

Please don’t take legal advice from Judge Judy.

Have you spoken with your landlord yet? You should at least inform him of what you’ve seen so far and that you intend to break the lease (with his permission or without) if it continues. You’re his customer, use that as leverage.

4

Check your lease. It probably has prohibitions against illegal activity, and maybe even being a jerk. Talk to the landlord.

Once, when I lived in a second-floor apartment, one of the downstairs families heard someone running up and down the stairs in the wee hours of the morning, waking the baby. They complained to the landlord, suggesting I was dealing drugs. I wasn’t, and I knew nobody was coming to see me in the middle of the night. One night I happened to be up late watching an old movie, and I heard somebody on the stairs. It was the paper boy, and he dashed up and down the stairs every night.

5

Agreed, when my GF gets off work today we are going to meet with the landlord. I wanted to have an idea of what my rights were first, and I’m making a few phones calls, checking the internet, and posting here.

I don’t want to threaten my landlord with the “we’re gonna break the lease!” I know that will set off all sorts of defensive bells and whistles. I’ll outline the situation, inform him that we feel our safety is threatened, and let him know under the current situation we will not be renewing.

If nothing is done, and we still feel our safety is in question, than we will move without hesitation. Unfortunatly this would be a losing situation for us. We love our apartment and have spent a lot of time making it feel like our home. It is withing walking distance of our jobs and in a fantastic neighborhood. The rest of the residents are all quiet, good folk.

6

I wouldn’t even mention breaking the lease*. Start out by explaining the situation to the landlord just the way you did in the OP. Then every time an issue arrises call the landlord on it, and encourage all the neighbors to do so as well. In addition, any time you feel someone’s safety is at risk call the police. After the landlord get’s 35 complaints in a few days they’ll have a talk with your new neigbor. I’m sure they’d rather break one lease then have 7 annoyed tennents.
Also are they doing anything that you can tell from ‘outside’ that breaks the law or apartment rules ie smoking in the apartment, loud music at night, parking illegally. Things that break apartment rules will give the landlord some leverage to get rid of them (if they choose to do that), things that break the law will help them get busted. Espcially if it’s something like loud music, or it sounds like he beating a woman up there, since these require an officer to make a visit to the apartment.

ps Be careful, if he big and has a temper (especially if he’s taking stimulants and/or alcohol) you might not want to piss him off.

*yet, after a few weeks of them not doing anything then talk about it, and encourage neighbors to do the same.

7

What friedo said.

Your landlord has a lease, but enforcing it will be a great big huge pain in the ass for him. If your other neighbor is also thinking about breaking the lease, he’s lost two tenants to keep one. You’re right, it’s best not to start with an ultimatum. You should, however, make sure he knows that this is a serious issue.

A good job from the other neighbors, by the way. They’ve let you know that you’re not alone, and let the new man know that his behavior is unacceptable. You should let them know you’re with them, so they don’t feel like they’re swinging in the wind.

8

Don’t confront the neighbour. In a reasonable situation (e.g., a neighbour who plays his music too loud) I think it’s better to talk to the neighbour. But if the neighbour has been witnessed doing a violent act (e.g., dragging a girl by her hair) or is suspected of illegal activity, then it’s not your job. It’s the manager’s job.

When you talk to the manager, don’t say that the new guy is dealing drugs. You might complain that unsavoury people are visiting for short periods at all hours, and that this is common behaviour amongst drug buyers/dealers. But you really have no evidence of acutal drug dealing. You should also lodge a complaint with the property owner. Be aware though, that your name may be mentioned to a potentially dangerous person.

You may also want to notify the police of the activities you have observed. They won’t be able to search the apartment based on your suspicions, but they might keep watch on your neighbour. If they observe suspicious activity, then they might come up with probable cause to search. (e.g., they might interview one of the visitors who just happens to be a known drug user, or they might run an undercover operation.)

This is what I would do. When I lived in an apartment, I did have the means of protecting myself. Your situation or temperament may be different.

Good luck.

9

Actually I wouldn’t hesitate to take legal advice from Judge Judy. Extrapolating advice from her show is another matter. My post was meant to be taken anecdotally, that it would appear there is a legal basis for breaking the lease. Nothing more.

10

A female friend of mine who lives alone just broke her rental lease b/c of the large number of break-ins in her building. She gave the landlord a chance to shore up security & when they didn’t she left, told them why, and they haven’t given her a hard time about it.

IANAL, but I imagine that a lot of what happens is up to how reasonable your landlord intends to be and state laws which might vary slightly. Maybe it would be helpful to post your location?

Best of luck with what sounds like a very crappy situation.

11

I think your new neighbor, not you, should be the one moving. Maybe you can help arrange that.
My neighborhood recently formed a block watch committee and I am learning all sorts of neat new things. A police officer attended one of our first meetings and explained that here in Louisville if the police are called to a residence a certain number of times within a certain period (I think it is three times in thirty days) the residence is declared a nuisance and the property owner is subject to sanctions if the problems continue. Two rental houses down the street from us had been the source of a lot of noise and traffic. After several police visits and a drug bust, the landlord evicted all the tenants.
I don’t know if your locale has similar policies but you might see if your local police force has community resource officers that serve as liaisons with concerned citizens. Maybe they can advise you.
Also, talk to your landlord. I have a small rental property; filling vacancies is expensive, so retaining quality tenants is a top priority for me. I couldn’t afford to let one bad tenant run off several good ones.

12

So far it sounds like there has been one report to the police about one incident. Do they know about your neighbor’s pattern of behavior, that people come and go constantly? I would think they’d be very interested in this, as it sounds like your neighbor is dealing drugs. If I were you I would pay a visit to the police and tell them what’s happening. They can then conduct an investigation which would likely get your new neighbor out of your lives permanently.

13

When you speak to the landlord, follow it up with a letter and keep a copy.

This way if you do decide to break the lease you have a document about your concerns.

14

What he(?) said.

I would first make a list of my questions and complaints. Take it along to the meeting with the landlord, just to help you keep on track. Then use it as an outline for the letter.

Make sure not to sound threatening, or even intransigent. The approach you want to take is, “We (you and the landlord) have a problem that I’m sure you didn’t know about. I want to give you the information I have so that you can decide how to handle it.”

When you write the letter, have someone else look it over. Your OP is articulate and well-organized, so your final draft should be fine. OTOH, how it’s written, as several others have already mentioned about meeting with the landlord, is even more important than making sure your meeting with him/her is friendly and non-threatening. Pieces of paper last far longer than verbal communication, and the letter would be the core of your defense in the event you have to move and the landlord tries to recover damages. Against that possibility, I’d send the letter via registered or certified mail, which sends its own message, and gives you proof that you sent it. If money is not an issue, you might even want to have an attorney write the letter. That’s a fershure way of letting the landlord know how serious you are.

However, I think the best way to go would be that friendly meeting with the landlord, complete with agenda. Then a still-friendly letter from you (with advice; maybe professional), then a meeting with the landlord, with your attorney accompanying, followed by a letter from the attorney.

Of course, if money availability is an issue, just do step 1, step 2, move, being sure to give the landlord a reasonable amount of time to oust the bad apple (at least two weeks, I’d think, but not a month, unless you live in a city or state that has strong landlord protection laws; OTOH, in such a place, the landlord rarely finds it hard to get rid of a tenant).

And that doesn’t include any of the “consult the police” moves that were mentioned above - and that I think are a very good idea. This new neighbor sounds like really bad news, and only an idiot (or maybe a user of whatever he’s selling) would want to live across from him.

15

Oh and start a journal and invite everyone else to do the same
ie
12:00 pm music very loud
1:00pm someone stomping up front stairs LOUD
1:12pm same person leaving, louder
1:12 yelling and screaming from apartment
1:30 girl being dragged down the stairs
etc…

Document (time and date) every noise and everything that bothers you or your neighbors. This gives you somthing to show your landlord and if there’s an eviction hearing the landlord may want copies of all your journals to help their case.

16

Getting more than one neighbour to stand with you is key to getting the problem resolved. When I had a family of about, oh, 15 (in violation of the lease) move into the apartment next to mine and set up a fucking Mexican food business in the apartment (also in violation of the lease), and had such fun things as walking through their catcalls and abuse as they sat on the staircase smoking pot (also in violation of the lease, and the law) in a group, the landlord ignored me because “well, no one else has complained about them, so it sounds like it’s YOU that has the problem”. If I wasn’t closing on my house at the time I’d have raised a bigger stink about it, but since I knew I was leaving in 2 months I felt why bother.

17

You also might want to look up a local tenant advocacy group. Quality varies widely across the country - some may have nothing to offer but “eh, either call the cops or move” and others may be able to guide you through the process of documenting events, key phrases and legal terms to use in writing letters and so on.

18

I’m not sure of the precise situation in the US, but in Australia we speak of the key right of a tenant as the right of quiet enjoyment. That is, the person actually in possession of a piece of real property (eg land and the dwelling built on it) must be able to live there without being interfered with.

This general principle has led to a whole lot of law. In the US, I believe it is the basis of the tort of nuisance, which can be enforced against neighbours. That is, if a neighbour interferes with your quiet enjoyment of your rented property, say by dealing drugs, you might be able to sue them for nuisance. Other jurisdictions, such as my state of Victoria in Australia have legislation codifying the idea of quiet enjoyment, for example to prevent a tenant from being harassed by a landlord.

This isn’t legal advice, but there most likely is law in your area that could deal with the situation you describe, so a lawyer might be of service.

19

Where do you live?

20

There’s a legal concept of “Quiet enjoyment of the property”, which can be used to break any lease. Look up in your library or bookstore one of the many fine books by NOLO Press, with names like Tenant’s Rights and Neighbor Law, etc.