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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    2

    Question Apartment Robbed, Seems Like Maintenance

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

    The general question(s): What kind of responsibility/liability does an apartment complex carry for their employees, especially as it regards theft from residents? Also, what kind of responsibility/liability does the complex carry for keys that give access to a rented unit? Is there any obligation for reimbursement for theft? How would a claim hold up in a civil suite?

    My Situation:
    My apartment was recently robbed. There was no forced entry. The only time our door is ever unlocked is if it is being opened or closed, otherwise its deadbolt is locked 24/7 whether my roommate and I are home or away. Our locks were changed when I moved in about 4 to 6 weeks ago, so the only people with keys are my roommate, myself, and management/maintenance. The only explanation that seems feasible is that the person who robbed us had a key.

    Property was stolen from both my roommate and me, plus I have known my roommate for years, so he is not suspected in this.

    We live on the 3rd floor with a stairway that is highly visible to the parking lot. Both the officer who took the police report and a friend of mine, who is a former police officer, said it was odd for a 3rd story to be targeted. Apparently the ground floor is where usual targets for robberies are with apartments. Also, the property taken was all from a specific area. Nothing was out of place or seemed to be rummaged through. Both the officer who took the police report and my former officer friend have told me it seems as if the person had seen our apartment before because of how specific the items taken were without any other disturbances.

    There have been several maintenance people in our apartment recently due to various issues. If this is of any significance, the complex has just transferred ownership and the maintenance team is almost all, if not entirely, new.

    If any further information is needed or if anything is unclear, please let me know and I will be happy to provide addition info.

    Thank you for any opinions or advice you can offer!

  2. #2

    Default Re: Apartment Robbed, Seems Like Maintenance

    If it can be shown that the culprit was indeed an employee of the apartment complex, the complex MIGHT have some degree of third party liability (for example, if they failed to do background checks on their employees, and one or more had a record of prior theft crimes), or, if they DID do checks, and employeed such a person anyway. But just having items missing isn't likely going to be enough to trigger the complex to write you a check, nor enough to create legal liability for them.

    A lot will depend on how "ripe" the incident is for further investigation, like if fingerprints were found, or if you had serial numbers of the missing items to allow them to be identified if located, etc. There will need to be something to tie a specific individual to the property in question, AND that person would need to be identified before you can go much further.

    And just as a technical side note, you were the victim of burglary, not robbery. Robbery carries with it the conotation of confrontation, meaning person vs. person, so only PEOPLE can be robbed, not property. For example, demanding your purse from you is robbery. Grabbing your purse off your arm is strongarm robbery (use of force), and flashing a knife to get you to hand over your purse would be armed robbery, even if the knife wasn't used beyond showing it. Reaching under the changing room stall to swipe your purse while you're changing clothes is larceny, unless you see it happen and try to grab the purse back, in which case we're back to robbery (due to the confrontation). Someone reaching into your car window to snatch your purse off the passenger seat while you're in the convenience store is burglary to a conveyance, again, unless you confront them in the act, and turn it into robbery.

    (Sorry, I just had to put that in there - it's a dispatcher-pet-peeve!)

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Posts
    2

    Default Re: Apartment Robbed, Seems Like Maintenance

    Hah, thanks for the clarification of terms. I actually really appreciate it since I'm about to graduate with a poli-sci degree and have a definite interest in law. Anyway, I figured what you said would be about what to expect of it all, but I'm just the kind of person who needs to confirm things from several sources. Thank you for taking the time to respond and help me out!

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