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  1. #1

    Exclamation Breaking Lease Due to a Break-In

    My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: Texas.

    My girlfriend lives with two other females and their apartment was broken into last night. The guy who broke in is a friend of her neighbors, who is always at her neighbors apartment but doesn't actually live in the complex. He came in through a window and broke open her bedroom door, then took a laptop, a couple purses, TV speakers, a few watches and some of her lingerie. The man was eventually caught with pockets full of their belongings and his friends said he had done it, he got arrested, no question it wasn't him.



    My girlfriend is now terrified to be there. No one was at the apartment when it happened luckily but there's no telling what could've happened if there was. In fear of the man returning for any reason, she wants to move out. I got a copy of her lease agreement and it reads:

    EARLY TERMINATION OF CONTRACT: resident acknowledges there is no right to early termination of the contract and resident will not be released from this contract for any reason. However, residents may have rights under Texas law to terminate the housing contract in certain situations involving family violence, sexual assault, or military deployment.

    Is there a legal stand I can take with sexual assault since he broke in and took her underwear? He was not charged with that, only burglary of a habitat, but it does state he took her lingerie in the police report.



    I was going to ask if the apartments negligence to keep a criminal with warrants out of the gated community was enough to break the lease but it also says in the lease:

    Owner neither warrants nor guarantees the safety or security of residents against any criminal activity or wrongful acts of third parties.


    Any information is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

    - - - Updated - - -

    Also my vehicle was towed out of the residence parking lot while I was speaking to the police. It was 2am, dark, couldn't read the signs, and I had never been in the complex before (she just signed the lease) and wasn't aware of the towing policy. I should have been more careful but I was in a rush to get inside due to what happened. Any way the apartment complex reimburses my $270 wrecker fee? :/

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2012
    Posts
    1,026

    Default Re: Breaking Lease Due to a Break in

    "Is there a legal stand I can take with sexual assault since he broke in and took her underwear? He was not charged with that, only burglary of a habitat, but it does state he took her lingerie in the police report. "

    No. In fact, since you aren't on the lease, you have no legal business with any of this.

    Gail

  3. #3

    Default Re: Breaking Lease Due to a Break in

    Quote Quoting gail in georgia
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    since you aren't on the lease, you have no legal business with any of this.

    Gail
    Ok well is there anything she can do to get out of the lease?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: Breaking Lease Due to a Break in

    Quote Quoting zachalvarado
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    Ok well is there anything she can do to get out of the lease?
    No.

    The landlord is not a guarantor of her security.

    And the idea that stealing somebody's underwear is a sexual assault is just ludicrous (unless, of course, they were on her at the time).

    If she's that much afraid for her safety she can buy a gun and get some training in how to use. After all, she's in Texas. She can also install a burglar alarm in her apartment with sensors on the doors and windows that will trigger a very loud alarm, loud enough to wake up the dead. Those kinds of alarms are rather inexpensive at Home Depot and can scare off an intruder rather quickly.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    New Jersey
    Posts
    3,666

    Default Re: Breaking Lease Due to a Break in

    Quote Quoting adjusterjack
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    (unless, of course, they were on her at the time).
    Theft, yes, if not then robbery.. But not Sexual Assault.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Toledo, OH
    Posts
    16,307

    Default Re: Breaking Lease Due to a Break in

    Is there a legal stand I can take with sexual assault since he broke in and took her underwear?
    1) YOU don't have any stand to take. You're not the one who was robbed, you don't even live there, and your girlfriend is a grown woman who can handle her legal business herself.

    2) If you were standing in front of me, I would slap the taste out of your mouth. Stealing underwear is NOT sexual assault, and claiming that it is trivializes ACTUAL sexual assault. Someone took your girlfriend's underwear. This might come as a shock to you, but underwear is just clothing. Taking someone's clothing is not even REMOTELY the same as unwanted sexual contact. Where did you get such a ridiculous idea?

    No, she cannot break her lease because someone broke in. If she's suffering mentally - and it's understandable if she is - she needs to get counseling. But breaking the lease is not an option. It's not like she's going to sell her house if she's burglarized, right?


    Also my vehicle was towed out of the residence parking lot while I was speaking to the police. It was 2am, dark, couldn't read the signs, and I had never been in the complex before (she just signed the lease) and wasn't aware of the towing policy. I should have been more careful but I was in a rush to get inside due to what happened. Any way the apartment complex reimburses my $270 wrecker fee? :/
    Why were YOU talking to the police? You didn't witness the burglary, so you had nothing to aid their investigation.

    No, the apartment complex is not liable for your tow.

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