Home'scool Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 She is going to be a junior in college. She is renting a house with 4 other girls. Their lease started in June so they moved all their stuff in and spent the weekend decorating it. They lucked out because someone had a really nice sectional couch and I was able to give them my stepfather's nice dining room set with upholstered chairs that he wasn't using anymore. I bought my daughter a new bed and all new bedding. No one is really living there right now because it is summer, but one of the girls was in the area last night and went to check the house. She walked in and found one homeless guy sleeping on the couch and one homeless woman sleeping in my daughter's bed. They had eaten all the food in the house and made a mess of the kitchen. The dining room chairs have some type of gross spillage on them. All their stuff was rifled through. The roommate actually woke up the sleeping man (!!) and he was so drugged out he didn't even know what was going on. She called the police and they took them away. Now the poor girls are all freaked out. They are going to call the landlord - they have a legal right to break the lease because they house was not secure enough but it will be hard for them to find another place to rent at this point. I am hoping the landlord will respond correctly and secure the doors and windows adequately, install motion sensor lights and have a cleaning company come in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ondreeuh Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 (edited) Gross! The silver lining to this story is that the homeless people didn't "establish residency" in the house, which would require formally evicting them. It is pretty risky to leave a house vacant nowadays. All you need to is for someone to move their stuff in and start using the address, and boom, you've got new roommates. Edited June 15, 2016 by ondreeuh 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne in CA Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 That is awful! The girls must feel so violated. I know when our car was stolen and dh went to the wrecking yard to retrieve the car seat the thieves had left dh was really shaken. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 (edited) Aack! I thought they'd been robbed or vandalized but that was so much worse! And dangerous. Glad she's ok! Will they ever feel safe there? Edited June 15, 2016 by Spryte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TammyS Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 . They are going to call the landlord - they have a legal right to break the lease because they house was not secure enough but it will be hard for them to find another place to rent at this point. I am hoping the landlord will respond correctly and secure the doors and windows adequately, install motion sensor lights and have a cleaning company come in. I have never heard of having a legal right to break a lease because a house was broken into. What state is this in? I find it hard to fault the landlord just because one of their tenants were housebroken. Was the house made less secure than when it was inspected and accepted for leasing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 Oh, gosh, that's terrible!! We bought our dd a house in her college town and it's in a similar state this summer . . . We hired a handyman to check on the house (come inside, check thermostat and for water leaks, etc.) every week. It's pricey, but worth it to me. We (landlord) are paying that this summer, since we just bought the house and the girls haven't officially moved in yet, but in future summers, I'll suggest the roommates pay for the same service. I also encouraged the handyman to leave a vehicle there anytime he can, to make it look lived in. I also put a timer (under $10) on a lamp near the front windows to come on/off at random (sensible) times and left a radio on pretty loud 24/7 also within hearing of the front door/window. There are "fake TV"s you can buy that emit lights that mimic TV screens. FWIW, I wouldn't blame the landlord. There's only so much you can do as a landlord to protect a vacant property. Vacant = appealing . . . Oh, also, we are going to install a security system when the girls move in in August. You can get ones that you can "take with you" and have no contracts . . . We are going with SimpliSafe but there may be better options & I can't vouch for it since I haven't lived with it yet. Once you get it installed, you can leave it over the summer . . . We will have that for future summers. The only reason we didn't do it already was that I didn't want to deal with potential glitches with the alarm system right after installation on a vacant property. But, once it's all installed properly, you shouldn't expect regular problems. The alarm system will have a very loud alarm as well as the auto-dial to a monitoring center . . . so should provide some reassurance. For $300-500 investment plus 20/mo (optional) monitoring, it seems like a no brainer to me, even with me (landlord) paying for it all. I'd do that even if I was not the landlord, just for my peace of mind. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 What a nightmare! :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Home'scool Posted June 15, 2016 Author Share Posted June 15, 2016 There were a few windows that would not lock, which is the landlords responsibility. The state law says "every entry and window shall be capable of being secured from unlawful entry" There was a hole in one of the screens that the landlord hadn't fixed yet. I think the house is old and has not been updated enough the be secure. I am hoping the landlord is willing to secure stuff and they can end up staying there . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaeFlowers Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 That's awful. Dh's cousin lived in similar situation in college. Their house was broken into and all the electronics and medications were stolen. It was terrible for them and left them scared. I have to wonder if they had not been squatting there before and knew the windows didn't lock. I would definitely be on the landlord to fix those windows! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 In a way, this is a good thing. At least that it happened now rather than after they were living there. Stuff is just stuff. I had my house robbed once while living in it, but I wasn't home. I felt violated and it isn't a good thing. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted June 15, 2016 Share Posted June 15, 2016 You can get cameras that will send a photo to your smart phone if they detect movement when you've told it to watch for movement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lllll Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 (edited) nm Edited November 30, 2016 by cathey 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4arrows Posted June 16, 2016 Share Posted June 16, 2016 Oh, my goodness! How scary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2scouts Posted June 17, 2016 Share Posted June 17, 2016 That's scary! My son just moved into a rooming house in a college town last week. The first weekend they were there, a group of seven drunk guys kicked in their door at 4 am! My son owns an AR-15, so he brought it out while someone else called 911 and the guys all ran away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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