Landlady's domestic dispute leaves my window broken - help!

February 5, 2009 5:04 PM

Landlady's domestic dispute leaves my window broken - help!

I'm a tenant in a duplex in DC along with about four others and a landlady who (recently) moved out. Last night at 10:15, a large cement block from the side of our house was thrown through a window on the first floor, I live on the second. She's admitted to me outright that this was her ex-boyfriend, assuming she still lived here, retaliating for her not keeping in touch. She's promised additionally securing the fence, cameras around the house. I doubt I'll have to pay for any of it. The problem is, this house is a great deal for me financially, and I haven't had any problems with the facilities or with her before. Still, this makes me nervous.

How unusual is this? Is my continued safety in jeopardy?

Should I trust my landlady to file a complaint against this guy? If she doesn't, how can I go about it if I don't know his name?

As a tenant, do I have any basis for legal action against her? Would this reasonably get me out of my lease?

At the end of the day, is this worth moving out over?

posted by anonymous to human relations (9 comments total)

Call the police and report that a brick was thrown through the window of your apartment building and that, based on conversations you've had with a previous resident, you think you may know who is responsible.

Yes, your safety is in jeopardy when people throw bricks through the window of a house in which you live.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 5:09 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]

cameras only deter a reasonable person, which in the heat of the moment this dude clearly is not. follow saucy intruder's (fitting name, btw) advice and call the cops. don't be sheepish about it when you talk to them. this is scary and you need to be scared. they should take this seriously.
posted by krautland at 5:57 PM on February 5

Crazy people can throw bricks through just about anything, anywhere. Since the throwee is not there any longer, and I'm assuming the thrower knows this now, you're probably as safe there as you would be anyplace.

Safe as houses, as the saying goes.
posted by Aquaman at 6:44 PM on February 5

I'm with Saucy. Keep it simple. Call the cops.
posted by originalname37 at 7:24 PM on February 5

You don't have to provide the police with a solved case, you can tell them that you don't know who did it, but that you have the name and number of someone who thinks they do.
posted by rhizome at 7:35 PM on February 5

follow-up from the OP

I've already called the cops, my landlady may or may not be filing charges (seems to be out of my control), and I'm looking to figure out what to do next?

posted by jessamyn at 7:36 PM on February 5

Aquaman's probably right. There's no reason to assume an exact replay of this event will occur later. Chances are it's a one-off, and if the guy's enough of a nutbar to do something again, it'll probably be something different.

Regarding criminal charges, the crime is likely to be wilful damage to property. Your landlady is definitely a victim of the crime. If it damaged anything specifically belonging to you, not the landlady--eg, the brick came through your window and hit your TV--then you'd also be a victim of the crime, and probably entitled to restitution from the perpetrator. Same if the brick actually hit you. However, if it only damaged property and only that belonging to your landlady, the charges would be out of your control, and you wouldn't be a victim of the crime. If you're involved at all, you're a witness.

If there's an history of domestic violence here you might have some ability to have the cops intervene on your landlady's behalf. Most jurisdictions that have specific domestic violence laws encourage police to charge perpetrators regardless of the opinion of the victim. But if that's not the case here, if he doesn't have a history of violence against her, if she's not in fear of him, I'd question the value of pursuing charges against her will. What do you hope to achieve? From your landlady's point of view, her unstable ex-boyfriend has damaged her house, scared her tenant, and caused her (not you) to incur expenses. Taking this into consideration, if your landlady doesn't want to press charges, what will you gain from having the charges pressed?

I'm sure you're scared and are feeling that you want to escape, but that will do you no good unless you have somewhere better to go. Do you? If you do, and you want out of the lease, nothing you've said here presents her in any way as an unreasonable person; in fact she seems to be going to some trouble to assure your safety. If you wanted out of the lease, the first step would be to ask her.

If it did have to come down to legal action, your case would be made on the basis of "quiet enjoyment", ie that a tenant is entitled to have use of the premises they rent without being disturbed by nutbar ex-boyfriends hurling bricks through windows. However given that this is a one-off event (so far), and she intends to take steps to prevent its recurrence, I don't like your chances of that.

Only you can decide if this is worth moving out over. It depends how much of a hassle moving out is going to be for you, what kind of options you have to go to, and a whole host of other factors. My advice to you is talk to your landlady, ask her what she's going to do about this guy, if she's willing to get a restraining order, if she's willing to get interior bars on the windows (which incidentally should reduce her insurance premiums and may even be partially paid for by her home insurer, look into that), and if the guy comes back when you're alone in the house (which is basically the major safety issue), what she thinks you should do. Then decide if you want to move out, if you want to improve your room's security yourself, or if it's not a big deal after all. In any case, she should pay for your glass to be replaced ASAP.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 8:38 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]

Seems like the problem is between your landlady and her ex. He wasn't after you, he was after her. I'd doubt there was more to it than a drunken idiot feeling jilted and acting before his sober brain could stop his drunk hand from lobbing the brick at the window. Now that he knows she's no longer there, he'll lob bricks elsewhere.

If you've lived there for a few months and nothing has happened before now, I'd doubt you have much to worry about. You would have known about him by now.

Anyway, you've sent a clear message to the ex and to the landlady. And hey, bonus, you've given her an opportunity to make it clear to him that you and she won't take this kind of thing passively.

Usually, what you save in cash in a great financial deal will be paid out in other ways. Maybe you've just paid the balance, as it were, for the rest of your tenancy? If so, you're safe to stay where you are.
posted by Grrlscout at 10:31 PM on February 5

Call cops, find a new home.

Standard disclaimers: I am a lawyer, I am not a DC lawyer nor am I your lawyer, this is not legal advice anyway. You may also want to consult a DC lawyer who works in landlord-tenant issues
posted by LilBucner at 7:17 AM on February 6