Tenant’s Rights After Burglaries?
A friend of mine is living in an apartment complex in Florida, and his apartment was broken into 2 months ago. After reporting the incident to his landlord, no extra measures were taken to secure his apartment, and he was burglarized again yesterday, and a great deal expensive stereo and computer equipment was taken.
Although he doesn’t have renters insurance, he’s wondering if what happened is grounds enough to break his lease, as he obviously no longer feels safe there.
Just wondering if anyone’s had a similar experience or any advice…I tried searching tenant laws in Florida, but couldn’t find anything too specific on burglaries.
Thank you!!
Mail this post
comments
4 Responses to “Tenant’s Rights After Burglaries?”
Leave a Reply
As long as all the locks on the doors and windows are in working order it is not the responsibility of the landlord to secure the apartment. It would however be possible that he could terminate the lease under these grounds I don’t know the laws in Florida but here it would be enough cause.
He should first discus with the landlord what they can come up with to secure the apartment better the landlord will most likely have some ideas and may be willing to help install or even cover part of the costs involved.
I had my place broken into a few years back so I know what he is going through, I installed an wireless alarm system, put braces in my windows so the only open so far and set up some other devices to protect my place.
He should also get renters insurance it really cheap and will help allot if he gets robbed again.
There is a TV show on discovery channel that’s called It Takes a Thief that gives you allot of ideas to secure a home.
No, the apartment complex is not responsible. He should have renters insurance, and should have taken what steps he could to limit the threat. ONLY if the apartment complex refused to allow him, and says so in writing, the privilege to reduce his risk MIGHT he have grounds to break the lease. He signed agreements, and I am sure that those agreements covered such potential problems. The apartment complex gives him a at your own risk place to live, nothing more. He should have invested some of his money to have insurance, and done what he could to protect his apartment. The city planning office would be a great place to at least begin the search to find out what he can do, by law, to protect his property in the future.
A tenant’s rights after burglaries are precisely the same as they were prior to the burglaries. A landlord in Florida is not responsible for securing the premises. So long as there are sufficient safeguards (working door and window locks), the landlord has no liability. Unfortunately, your friend’s fears for his safety are not sufficient grounds to break the lease.
It is possible..but unlikely.
He would have to show that the crime rate when he moved in was very low and that was a reason he chose the apartment…then he would have to show the crime grew exponentially.
The court would most likely not allow the lease to be broken because the Landlord did nothing wrong unless he participated in the robberies.