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Old 11-03-2015, 03:37 PM
 
Location: NYC
544 posts, read 1,233,840 times
Reputation: 296

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Quote:
Originally Posted by momtothree View Post
At this point since there are options you aren't wanting to use right now, I would text/email landlord and ask them to beef up the locks on your door. Tell them you will stop complaining about the door downstairs if she sends someone to install lock or allows you to deduct cost of said lock from rent.

That way your own apartment is secure. And I don't think there's much of a difference if you are unsafe in the hallway or right outside the downstairs door as you said the neighborhood isn't safe. Just have 911 on your phone dialed to where all you have to do is hit send when you leave or enter.

A new lock was installed last night after i sent ll the video of this girl threatening me.. i wish i could post these videos.. so a slam lock was installed.. we get home a few minutes ago and two guys are standing in front of the door.. apparently this tenant's "peoples". Two young guys. My daughter is 11 she comes home by herself. So they're standing there and i'm guessing hanging out.. nope. they were waiting to be let in.. apparently they don't have the keys to the new lock yet and locked themselves.. as soon as i open the door, they let themselves in behind us and say nothing.. this is on video.. there's just two apartments in this building.. they go up into their apartment which the door is open, so they did lock themselves out and we head up.. i told my daughter if she gets from school and sees them, to go across the street to the babysitter and wait.

I also received a nasty email from my ll yesterday a full day after i sent her the video of this girl threatening me.. i'm going to send her a nice letter myself before i leave. She basically let me know she's not obligated to change any locks and if i don't feel safe and want to break the lease, i'm liable for the rest of the lease and need to pay up.. yea lady, i don't know my rights. Someone help me craft a letter to her.. there's so many nice things i want to put on paper .

The tenant is not yet home and hasn't made duplicates of the new lock apparently so these guys were locked out. I said nothing to them

Last edited by prettybaby80; 11-03-2015 at 03:39 PM.. Reason: left out info
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Old 11-04-2015, 04:55 AM
 
10,746 posts, read 25,946,760 times
Reputation: 16026
I'm still baffled as to why you're still there and what possessed you to renew your lease.


Now that you have your new lock, how are you going handle copies of keys being handed out? How are you going to stop people from following you in the building? What are you going to do when they start propping the door open? (and they will prop that door open, they always do)

So you might have won this small battle, but you didn't get any closer to winning this war.

My suggestion is to let the door battle go or you will drive yourself insane. Don't let your child come home alone if you know there will be people hanging outside your building; find somewhere safe for her to go until you get home.

I'd like to say stop trying to involve the landlord because it's obvious he has no issues with your neighbor's behavior, however if you're a big enough pain in his ass, he might let you out of the lease. (doubt that would happen, but I'm hopeful)

You need to focus on what you can control...you can't control the door, you can't control the coming and going of her 'people' (what is she, a queen?) and you can't control your landlord's lack of interest. What can you control? Calling the police every time the violence and fighting goes on. Be prepared to make a statement and be prepared for the fact that your neighbor will know its you calling the police. Also, don't trust your landlord.


Honestly I just think you should move...as snarky as this sounds, and I don't mean it to be, it's almost like you're surprised your neighbors act like this. This is the behavior you get when the area is the bad, the rent is low, and tenants have limited options (bad credit, low income, criminal history). Throw in a slumlord and you're done for.

This is not acceptable behavior by any means, but if your landlord refuses to address the issues, and you refuse to involve the police, what are your options? You only have two. 1)Move 2) Stay and fight with your landlord and neighbor until next June. Live under the constant fear of her 'people', worry about your child's safety when you're home, worry about your own safety when you home.

Even if you do call the police night after night after night, they're going to tell you the same thing: Move to a safer area. Your neighbor will know that's it you calling the police. She'll either figure it out on her own or your slumlord will tell her because he's annoyed with the police bothering him.

Good luck...and please keep us posted.
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Old 11-04-2015, 06:55 AM
 
Location: The Heart of Dixie
1,359 posts, read 1,799,429 times
Reputation: 3496
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kim in FL View Post
Honestly I just think you should move...as snarky as this sounds, and I don't mean it to be, it's almost like you're surprised your neighbors act like this. This is the behavior you get when the area is the bad, the rent is low, and tenants have limited options (bad credit, low income, criminal history). Throw in a slumlord and you're done for.

This is not acceptable behavior by any means, but if your landlord refuses to address the issues, and you refuse to involve the police, what are your options? You only have two. 1)Move 2) Stay and fight with your landlord and neighbor until next June. Live under the constant fear of her 'people', worry about your child's safety when you're home, worry about your own safety when you home.

Even if you do call the police night after night after night, they're going to tell you the same thing: Move to a safer area. Your neighbor will know that's it you calling the police. She'll either figure it out on her own or your slumlord will tell her because he's annoyed with the police bothering him.

Good luck...and please keep us posted.
I agree completely with everything you said. Personally in this situation, I would just move - especially if I had a child. Safety is worth much more to me than the money I'd have to fork out to satisfy the lease.

I still just don't get why you haven't involved the police. I sure did when I was in a similar situation. I lived in a craphole on the border of a "bad" area. I was going through money issues and it was literally all I could afford to stay off the streets. It was a small building and the people who lived there were all older and had lived there for years, so I wasn't concerned with my safety inside the building UNTIL one guy moved in next door.

This guy was seriously messed up. He came and knocked on my door all the time and once even asked to come in and secure my windows because he thought he heard something behind the building. He seemed friendly enough, but I'm not letting some strange guy into my house at night! As he was leaving, I saw that he was carrying a gun in his pants. After that, I never answered the door. I also informed the landlord, who took me very seriously.

Later I had to call the police twice. Once because of the noise from him and his "guests" in the middle of the night (he lived next door to me and nobody lived on the other side, so I got the brunt of it). I told the officer about the window/gun thing and she told me never to let him in and to call them if he bothered me.
Then a couple of weeks later some of his other "guests" started having a knock down, drag out on the sidewalk at about midnight. So I called the cops AGAIN. The landlord had also gotten other complaints about him so she started the eviction process.

I ended up breaking my lease and leaving and the landlord was perfectly fine with it after what I'd been through. She even asked if I could write up some of the things that had happened with him to help her evict him, which I did. Of course in my situation, I had a good landlord who wanted to help. Obviously you don't, but you CAN help yourself.

Like Kim said, keep us updated and stay safe!
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Old 11-04-2015, 01:31 PM
 
Location: Bloomington IN
8,590 posts, read 12,290,430 times
Reputation: 24248
I understand that you may not want to move your daughter mid-school year, but consider this: Is it better for her to move schools or is it better for her to continue to live in an unsafe environment?
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Old 11-05-2015, 07:10 PM
 
127 posts, read 194,463 times
Reputation: 213
You need to call the police and get everything on video. Read your lease thoroughly and check if there are any sections in regards to safety. Any contact with the landlord make sure it's through e-mail or certified letters. If the problem persists, give the landlord 30 days notice and vacate. If the landlord decides to take you to court, make sure you have all the paperwork ready to present it to the judge. Anytime you interact with these people, make sure you have your camera recording. If anybody touches you, it's aggravated assault right there and you won't see your neighbor for a while...
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Old 11-09-2015, 12:21 AM
 
Location: NYC
544 posts, read 1,233,840 times
Reputation: 296
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kim in FL View Post
I'm still baffled as to why you're still there and what possessed you to renew your lease.


Now that you have your new lock, how are you going handle copies of keys being handed out? How are you going to stop people from following you in the building? What are you going to do when they start propping the door open? (and they will prop that door open, they always do)

So you might have won this small battle, but you didn't get any closer to winning this war.

My suggestion is to let the door battle go or you will drive yourself insane. Don't let your child come home alone if you know there will be people hanging outside your building; find somewhere safe for her to go until you get home.

I'd like to say stop trying to involve the landlord because it's obvious he has no issues with your neighbor's behavior, however if you're a big enough pain in his ass, he might let you out of the lease. (doubt that would happen, but I'm hopeful)

You need to focus on what you can control...you can't control the door, you can't control the coming and going of her 'people' (what is she, a queen?) and you can't control your landlord's lack of interest. What can you control? Calling the police every time the violence and fighting goes on. Be prepared to make a statement and be prepared for the fact that your neighbor will know its you calling the police. Also, don't trust your landlord.


Honestly I just think you should move...as snarky as this sounds, and I don't mean it to be, it's almost like you're surprised your neighbors act like this. This is the behavior you get when the area is the bad, the rent is low, and tenants have limited options (bad credit, low income, criminal history). Throw in a slumlord and you're done for.

This is not acceptable behavior by any means, but if your landlord refuses to address the issues, and you refuse to involve the police, what are your options? You only have two. 1)Move 2) Stay and fight with your landlord and neighbor until next June. Live under the constant fear of her 'people', worry about your child's safety when you're home, worry about your own safety when you home.

Even if you do call the police night after night after night, they're going to tell you the same thing: Move to a safer area. Your neighbor will know that's it you calling the police. She'll either figure it out on her own or your slumlord will tell her because he's annoyed with the police bothering him.

Good luck...and please keep us posted.
I didn't renew my lease. It ends in mid March. I initially requested to stay month to month until my daughter finishes school in June. It's after 2 am. car parked outside, guys coming in and out. today i ran into two more guys putting out the garbage.. she's apparently duplicated the keys already. The ll is threatening to sue me if i leave early and said she's not obligated to change the lock , but she did. Again, someone is either coming in or leaving right now. wow. This is THE worst apartment we've ever lived in. How do i move when the ll is threatening to sue me for the remainder of the lease?
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Old 11-09-2015, 12:24 AM
 
Location: NYC
544 posts, read 1,233,840 times
Reputation: 296
Quote:
Originally Posted by Disabledveteran1 View Post
You need to call the police and get everything on video. Read your lease thoroughly and check if there are any sections in regards to safety. Any contact with the landlord make sure it's through e-mail or certified letters. If the problem persists, give the landlord 30 days notice and vacate. If the landlord decides to take you to court, make sure you have all the paperwork ready to present it to the judge. Anytime you interact with these people, make sure you have your camera recording. If anybody touches you, it's aggravated assault right there and you won't see your neighbor for a while...
Thank you. Does text count? I can't even sleep right now. One of her kids is on a rampage downstairs. pounding , running back and forth and it's 2:20 am. After the threats, coming in and going, i have my cell on video mode.
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Old 11-09-2015, 12:27 AM
 
Location: NYC
544 posts, read 1,233,840 times
Reputation: 296
Quote:
Originally Posted by rrah View Post
I understand that you may not want to move your daughter mid-school year, but consider this: Is it better for her to move schools or is it better for her to continue to live in an unsafe environment?
I really didn't want to move her as this is her second school since September. We were on a waiting list for this charter school and hadn't been called until about one month after school started, so i had to enroll her in her zoned school. I really don't have the funds to move, first, last, security and probably a brokers fee. I'm thinking of finding a room to rent, but don't know how safe that would be.
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Old 11-09-2015, 04:46 AM
 
10,746 posts, read 25,946,760 times
Reputation: 16026
Quote:
Originally Posted by prettybaby80 View Post
I didn't renew my lease. It ends in mid March. I initially requested to stay month to month until my daughter finishes school in June. It's after 2 am. car parked outside, guys coming in and out. today i ran into two more guys putting out the garbage.. she's apparently duplicated the keys already. The ll is threatening to sue me if i leave early and said she's not obligated to change the lock , but she did. Again, someone is either coming in or leaving right now. wow. This is THE worst apartment we've ever lived in. How do i move when the ll is threatening to sue me for the remainder of the lease?

So why are you up at 0200 worrying about your neighbor ? If they're partying, call the police. If they fighting, call the police. If all they're doing is visiting their 'friend', leave them alone. There is no law that says she can't have 'visitors' at 0200. The law will, however intervene when something illegal is going on and unless you know for a fact that she's doing something illegal, you should mind your business. You can't govern who comes and goes from the building.

Weren't you going to move to another unit your landlord had? Or am I confusing you with someone else?

Is it in your lease that you can't duplicate keys? I've always made extra copies of keys for family or friends. So unless your landlord has issues with it, your complaints about the lock/key are falling on deaf ears.

Your landlord is right, she's not obligated to change a working lock; nor is she obligated to constantly be on your neighbor's ass because you say so. Does the noise of them coming and going bother you? Sounds like it does, but doesn't make it necessary for you to confront them or send texts, emails and videos galore to your landlord. She's allowed to have guests, so are you, so unless those guests are breaking the law or violating the lease complaining about them is a waste of time and energy.

You should spend that time and energy doing what you have to do to get out of there and into a nicer place.

How do you leave early and not get sued? You pay the balance of the lease and move, that's how.

Good luck
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Old 11-09-2015, 04:57 AM
 
10,746 posts, read 25,946,760 times
Reputation: 16026
Quote:
Originally Posted by prettybaby80 View Post
Thank you. Does text count? I can't even sleep right now. One of her kids is on a rampage downstairs. pounding , running back and forth and it's 2:20 am. After the threats, coming in and going, i have my cell on video mode.

When you called the police what did they say?
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