<p>I know this would be tearing me apart if my D had this happened. The worst case is that the thief returns and she walks in on him or her…</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Where is this condo? I would say that there is a law called constructive eviction for something like this. The LL must immediately make the premises habitable and breakins or safety concerns can constructively evict a tenant making the place unliveable allowing her to break her lease. Check with a local legal authority.</p></li>
<li><p>You can buy and install portable alarms that will go off when the door is opened. </p></li>
<li><p>Check with other neighbors, of course it could be one of them…</p></li>
<li><p>Me personally, I would not want my D working a job getting home at 2:a.m.
and I would address that lifestyle…not safe for young women.</p></li>
<li><p>Get her a dog or a roommate or both.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My thought was exactly the same as maineparent’s - the unattended purse at work could have been an opportunity for someone. That would be scary since it would imply it’s someone she may know.</p>
<p>Atlmom, we are or have addressed many of the concerns you brought up. This condo is in a group of 10–all individually owned. The LL just owns the one and rents it. He has been good about doing what we have asked. He paid for and had installed the new locks on a Sunday and added a motion detector type security spotlight above the back deck. After police come make their rec., he said he would do whatever they suggested to make the place more secure.</p>
<p>We are checking on the portable alarms–though LL is also checking on installing a system.</p>
<p>She did check with other neighbors–of course no one saw or heard anything and they said they have not had problems–though none she talked with had lived there more than 2 years.</p>
<p>She does have a roommate and now has the pit bull on loan for as long as she wants her. (or at least until March when the owner is leaving the area)</p>
<p>As far as the job, unfortunately restaurant work often requires these kind of hours and right now that’s about it for work for her. Of course many nights she doesn’t have to close and is in well before midnight and other days works the early shift. She now has pepper spray that she gets out and carries to the door when she comes in at night and she does park immediately in front of her entrance door—literally less than 15 feet from car to door.</p>
<p>I talked with a lawyer friend who said it is difficult to break a lease when (I think someone earlier mentioned this) the LL is doing everything within his power to remedy situation—and so far he has been very compliant with requests.</p>
<p>Her boyfriend drove in from his hometown (about 10 hours away) and is cutting dowels or boards to place in all windows to add security there.</p>
<p>I am driving over later this week to pick up what remaining valuables she has there and doesn’t really need to have with her and bring them home.</p>
<p>Can she quietly tell her restaurant employer that this happened, and for the time being anyway, she’d feel better with shifts that end by 11:00 p.m.? It’s really a bit of a ruse, and disingenuous, but here’s what I remember from working late-nights in a dinner restaurant: Since you work for tips, the worst hours are the last hours, because you have to clean up and there are few customers, or folks are finishing up, so no chance for good tips. For a while I worked in an Italian restaurant in Boston’s North End, and they wanted to keep me until 2 a.m. to sweep the last crumb, but the place closed to customers at midnight. I hated earning so little between midnight and 2, so I lied to them. I told them I had to take the subway home, and the last one left at 12:15 a.m. (that part was true). In fact, I drove to that job and parked in the neighborhood, slinking to work hoping nobody would see me and rat me out. This was probably not a good idea, but I did it this way.</p>
<p>^^^Not a bad idea at all. And it is all true. The neighbors would be likely to be awake earlier if she had a problem. And she does hate the closing shift because like you said you just have a few hanger-ons and mainly are doing the silverware rolling, refilling things, etc. I will most definitely pass this idea along—thanks.</p>
<p>CGM, I’m not sure what a ccr is? Do you a manager for the complex? If so, then no–all units are individually owned and the townhouse assoc. (fees paid by landlord) pays for a landscaping service and I’m not sure what else–</p>
<p>Thought I’d drop back in on this thread and give an update. There were two more attempted break-ins. One was when d. was home and she heard someone trying to work lock–the pit bull started barking and she flipped on lights --by the time she could look out the window, they had fled. Then two nights later, she came home and found screens off of two windows with pry marks on the windows–called police again on that one.</p>
<p>I went over this past weekend along with my brother and moved the girls out to a “security” building. Keycard entry, locked garage, security cameras, resident officer, etc—had to take a handicapped unit to get them in, but at least they are moved. Landlord wasn’t particularly happy, but hope he is not unhappy enough to sue for remaining lease amount. Of course he can keep security deposit.</p>
<p>I feel so much better getting them moved. The girls had gotten to the point where they were afraid to come home alone–had to wait at someone else’s house until the other was off work or done with date or whatever. They were also sleeping with lights on, pepper spray at bedside and baseball bats by their sides. No way to live.</p>
<p>so sorry that things got worse rather than better…sounds like the thief is demented as well as dangerous…noticed that no one bothered with fingerprints when my son was cleaned out recently…they thought it was amusing he felt they would actually do that.
glad the young women are much safer…</p>
<p>mkm,
So sorry to hear the contents of this update! Unbelievable that it kept happening. It certainly sounds personal so what a great idea to get them into a well-secured building. I hope they are sleeping well!</p>
<p>In many places, when a tenant breaks a lease, the landlord has to make a good faith effort to re-rent the place, and can only sue for the period it was unrented, and maybe advertising costs or whatever. But I hope he’ll decide not to pursue it. But there are lots worse things in life than being on the losing end of a minor lawsuit. Glad your D. and niece will be where they’re safer. Someone trying to break in while they were home is really frightening. And God bless that little pit bull for barking.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone for your good thoughts. I really don’t think the landlord will pursue it—I talked with him on Monday and thanked him for being so understanding. I kinda worded it as “thank you for understanding that the girls’ safety had to be the most important factor. We really hate leaving you in a bind and appreciate what you have done to try and help, but it seems to be a situation out of your control. We appreciate you putting the girls first and not holding them responsible for the remainder of the lease”. </p>
<p>He didn’t correct me, so I took that as a good sign. He has advertised it, so I feel that it will rent again easily.</p>
<p>Holy cow. Mkm, do the police think there might be a stalker or something personal going on here (vs. they thought the girls’ apt. was an easy mark)? Are they continuing to follow up? I am glad the girls are out of there. It would have me pretty spooked.</p>
<p>What an update! How much MORE stuff could the burglars expect to find after having burglarized it multiple times! Glad the pit bull came in handy. And glad that the gals have been moved to another apartment. I would commit all info to paper now while the facts are still fresh in your mind and get copies of police reports (if it wouldn’t be too much trouble), just in case the landlord comes after you later.</p>
<p>Please update us later–let’s hope this will quiet down the burglary attempts.</p>
<p>^^^^Good idea about the police reports, I hadn’t thought of them. I did create a file and listed all that had happened with dates, etc.</p>
<p>The police seem to be leaning toward a previous tenant. Evidently a guy who used to live in the condo is still listing that address as his current address and he had 4 warrants out for his arrest–domestic violence, breaking and entering, violation of a restraining order and something else. So they think maybe it is him or a cohort of his. (of course they can’t find him) I guess I hope that it is something like that which means it isn’t personally directed towards one or both of the girls.</p>