In Maryland: Lease Agreement specifically states that residents are not allowed to have anyone other than who is on the lease stay more than 14 days in twelve month period without written consent from Property Manager. I have been recently been assaulted by a neighbor's son who both mother and son claimed he is on the lease. Long story short: He is not on the lease. I have a Peace order against him and have pressed assault charges against him. (2nd Degree according to the police record)I complained in writing to the Property Manager several times about the behavior and frequent, long term stays, of people who are not on the lease. I have also reported in writing about the same person who has assaulted me on another occasion when he purposely blocked my car and stated he was not going to allow me to leave. The Property Manager has done nothing. Has not replied to my complaints nor taken any actions or statement to insure that I will be safe. I would like to know 1) what legal actions does a Property Management Company have to insure safety and security for their residents? 2) What legal actions can I take against the Property Management since I have complained about the activities and now I have been assaulted? 3) What protection do I have from the Property Management retaliating against me by either evicting me or not renewing my lease?
Hello,Unfortunately, a landlord/property manager does not have any legal obligation to protect tenants against the unlawful actions of another occupant or third party. That is law enforcement's job..Further, if the other tenants are violating the lease terms of their occupancy, about the only thing another tenant can do is notify management of the violation. After that, it is between the other tenant and management. A third party can not force another party to enforce the terms of their own contract with someone else if they choose not to..However, if a tenant has filed a complaint with management due to another tenant's breach of the lease rules, the landlord is prohibited from retaliating. According to the Maryland Attorney General's Office, a landlord cannot evict you, increase your rent, or fail to provide services because you file a complaint with management. But if the landlord did retaliate in some way, the tenant would have to prove that retaliation was the only reason for the landlord's action in order to be able to sue and recover damages..But if a tenant is under a written lease for a set term, when that term expires, the lease ends and a landlord can offer to renew a lease or not at their option. A landlord can not be legally compelled to renew a lease if they choose not to..
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Thanks.
Barrister
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So basically the Lease Agreement is for the sole purpose of the Management if they choose to enforce it or not. BotXXXXX XXXXXne: Someone can be in breach of the contract, Management can overlook it if they choose, which could result in a crime against another paying resident and Management can walk away fully legally protected.I understand that the police are there to protect and I have taken that route. But I strongly feel if the Property Managment enforced what they state in a Lease Agreement, then this incident and another like it would not have happened in the first place. Is this the sum of the truth?
Essentially yes. A third party does not have any rights to intervene in a contract in which they are not a party..You can't force management to enforce the restrictions against the other tenants if they choose to look the other way..
Ok...I understand I can't "force" but can I sue because Management does not follow their own Lease Agreement that puts myself and others at risk of this type of crime or any other types of crime. I'm sure you know where I am going with this..hopefully....What good is it that a resident has to abide by a contract but the Management does not? Meaning...if I violate any of the terms of the contract..I can get evicted. If Management violates any terms of the contract...i.e. knowing there are residents violating the Agreement but does not follow through with their agreement to take actions...which in turns puts other's at risk. This complex turns the other check allowing multiple people to violate the agreement so it has invited (known fact) criminals into the complex and two assualts have occured. That is why I wanted to know can there be anything done about making a Property Management honor their own contract. In an indirect way, I feel they are putting people's lives at risk by not following through with the complaints and finding, in fact, there are person's with pass history of assault, drug dealers and so forth. I will pursue my legal actions towards the Respondent but I strongly feel had it not been for the Management's lack of enforcing the Agreement, I was put in harms way. If I know I have grounds, I will pursue legal actions because I feel it is wrong. I am willing to spend 59.00 right now to see if I could have a case. But if I don't, I feel the public should know because of the lack of a Property Managments actions, it raises risks to a person's family and self safety. Senerio: Family moves in..childern 4 and 8. Four months later another person moves in but as time goes by, there are other people coming and going. Father is concerned and reports activity knowing the stipulations of the Agreement. Management does nothing. Two months later, the mother is assualted infront of the childern while father is at work by a family member of a resident of the complex. They (the Respondent) is illegally occupying a unit with Management being alerted. Your statement according to the law is that Management is not held responsible for their lack of actions.Could there be a case?
I understand your frustration, but the management is simply not responsible for the unlawful acts of third parties. If that were the case, every time someone gets assaulted on an apartment complex grounds, or gets their car broken into, or has something stolen, they could sue management and that is just not the case..The landlord's obligation only extends to providing a clean habitable unit where all the major systems function and there are no health risks like mold, vermin or insect infestations. It does not include policing other tenants or occupants activities to ensure that everyone gets along peacefully. If there is a conflict between tenants, that is the police and the court's job to resolve. It also doesn't state in the lease anywhere (I am virtually positive) that the landlord is obligated to provide for the tenant's personal safety from others..Essentially the landlord's interest is in getting their rent paid in full and on time and that the tenant isn't damaging the property. They aren't particularly concerned about tenant conflicts unless it affects the cash flow of the property. They aren't violating the agreement anywhere because if a tenant breaches the lease, it gives the landlord the right to evict, but not the obligation. If they choose not to exercise that right, that is their decision..If you were to sue, the judge would dismiss the case because you have no legal standing to force the landlord to do anything other than provide a habitable unit and make any necessary repairs. You can't say, "Judge, the landlord won't exercise their right to penalize these people for breaching their lease, so I deserve to be compensated". You can only sue someone who has directly injured you or violated your rights. .Even negligence wouldn't work because in order for someone to be negligent, they must first have a duty to do whatever you are alleging they are negligent about. In this case, since there is no duty to protect you, there can be no negligence..
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This is so sad and you just confirmed what I feel. This management rather I should say company (they own multiple properties) only care about the money not people. We should have pursued the issue when they initially tried to move us in an apartment a year ago that had mold and reported to be infected with bedbugs. Ok, you have been awsome and very patient. I have one more question, in the state of Maryland do we have grounds to break our lease if we feel our safety is being compromised? I see the State Attorney Wednesday to see what actions are going to be taken next. Our lease is not up until December of this year. It is myself and my roommate (two females) living here. We are in our fifties. Tomorrow I see the judge to review the case to extend a temporary Peace Order for 6 months. The Peace Order I have now only protects me until Tuesday and was granted by the Commissioner. We know the Respondent has "friends" and the family...well as I said to the Commissioner, the apple does not fall far from the tree. What can we do to protect ourselves? My roommate is a nurse and works different hours..some times 3 or 4 in the morning coming home and she doesn't have Peace Order to protect her. It's just not a safe enviroment for us as you see with our situation. I don't want to sound like a prude but we are not use to living in these conditions.
I hate to keep piling bad news, but it all boils down to the duties of the landlord. Since he doesn't have a duty to protect you, the third party's actions wouldn't give you grounds to break the lease with the landlord without being liable..But if you did breach, the landlord could only hold you liable for his actual lost rent. So if it took him a month to re-rent the unit after you vacated, he could only hold you liable for one month's rent. The landlord has a duty to mitigate his damages by advertising and attempting to rent the unit as soon as possible and could only sue for actual lost rent. You might consider talking to the landlord to see if he would consider letting you buy out of the lease for some up front payment, maybe a month's rent so you could get out of this toxic environment. If he did agree, get it in writing so he couldn't later come back and sue for breach of contract..
Well, now you've gone and done it! You are making me ask one more question, hopefully! This is a multi-billion dollar corporation. In the Agreement it states we would have to pay current month (of course) plus two additional months. I could bring it up to the Property Manager but she would have to follow the change of command to corporate to make a finally decision. It actually could be good news for us because if it is possible that we could only be sued for the cost of the time it takes to re-rent, their turn around time is two to three weeks. Please don't tell me that it would be two additional months.
Ok, if the lease says you can buy it out for current + 2 months, then that is an option. .But if you actually breach the lease, they can only sue for actual lost rent. So if you leave it spotless and they can re-rent it immediately, then you will actually save money by breaching the lease. If it takes them 3 weeks, then that is all they can hold you liable for. Once they re-rent it, their damages stop because the law seeks to put them in the same postion they would have been in but for the breach. It doesn't allow them to get paid double rent once a new tenant takes over possession..
Ok, this question comes from my roommate who always like to play devil's advocate. I was getting excited! 1) How would we know when they rent again? 2) Does that jepordize us renting else where by breaching the contract? and 3) does that jepordize our credit? Neither of us have ever breached or broke a lease. We don't know how to breach a contract...meaning do we just leave..abandon the premises or tell them in advance or what. Paying less sounds great but at what price to our creditability.
Well, that is the tricky part. But if they were to file suit against you, you could request copies of any lease agreements on that unit as part of the "discovery" process that would show when the new tenant took over..If you breach and immediately move to a new unit, you would be moved before the landlord would have taken any legal action so it wouldn't affect you moving..Unless the landlord reports the breach to the credit reporting agencies, it shouldn't affect your credit..You would want to secure new housing then notify them in writing that due to them negligently allowing others to remain on the property in clear violation of the lease contracts, they have breached your right to quiet use and enjoyment of the property and you are therefore terminating the contract. It is possible that they might not even bother with filing suit if the place is left spotless and you actually move before the current month's rent is used up. If they don't know where you have moved to it also makes it much harder to sue.