Question about apartment leases

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My sister in law lives in North Carolina. She called today to tell my wife that her apartment (which is located in the not-so-great part of town) was broken into while she was gone. Her back door is a sliding door, and is locked both with a bar that holds it in place, and a mechanism lock. The window above her bed is screwed shut, because the previous tenants broke the lock. When she came home from work, the bar for the sliding doors was gone, and the door was unlocked. The window above her bed was slightly open, and it can now open all the way. There were several boot prints on her bed.

Aside from the bar for the back door being gone, the intruder took nothing else. Not her TV, not her social security card, nothing that she owns. She just moved in, so not all of her stuff is there, but she had some valuable things that are still there.

She called the local PD, and notified her apartment complex owners. The owners put a new lock on the window and seem unconcerned. The PD has not yet talked to her, they said someone would be there in a couple hours.

I asked her about obtaining a firearm, and she said that she thinks that her lease prohibits firearms. Is that truly legal? Thanks for the input ya'll.

-T

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An apartment complex cannot preventanyone from owning a firearm in the apartment that they are renting. However, if the apartment complex is indeed in a not-so-great part of town, why would she sign such a lease anyway?

Regardless, your sister-in-law needs to go through her lease carefully, and if it indeeds states that she cannot own a firearm in her unit, then she should either think of getting out of the lease, due to not feeling safe after a break-in that looks like the perpetrators were planning on returning, or hire an attorney that can get this restriction removed legally.

I would like to know what apartments would be so brazen as to have such a policy. Do they have armed security patrolling? They need to be reminded that they are in N.C.

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Sounds like the breaker was setting it up so he could return for another visit through the bedroom window. If he didn't take anything the first time, his target may be her, not her property.

I'm thinking sheneeds to find another place to stay until she can secure things.

As for the sliding patio door, she needs to drop a piece of broomstick or 2 x 4 cut to length into the bottom track behind the door that moves. Cut to a fairly tight fit, but no so tight it swells with humidity and she can't get out in a fire.

In her shoes, I might ask the apartment complex if they would let her put a safety film on the glass door. Professionally installed. The kind that prevents bomb blasts from spraying shatteredglass. Just an idea.

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ToJas wrote:

My sister in law lives in North Carolina. She called today to tell my wife that her apartment (which is located in the not-so-great part of town) was broken into while she was gone. Her back door is a sliding door, and is locked both with a bar that holds it in place, and a mechanism lock. The window above her bed is screwed shut, because the previous tenants broke the lock. When she came home from work, the bar for the sliding doors was gone, and the door was unlocked. The window above her bed was slightly open, and it can now open all the way. There were several boot prints on her bed.

Aside from the bar for the back door being gone, the intruder took nothing else. Not her TV, not her social security card, nothing that she owns. She just moved in, so not all of her stuff is there, but she had some valuable things that are still there.

She called the local PD, and notified her apartment complex owners. The owners put a new lock on the window and seem unconcerned. The PD has not yet talked to her, they said someone would be there in a couple hours.

I asked her about obtaining a firearm, and she said that she thinks that her lease prohibits firearms. Is that truly legal? Thanks for the input ya'll.

-T

Click to expand...

Did she get her gun yet?

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I ran into the same clause in my apartment lease here in Texas. Unfortunatly I found it after signing and living there for a few months. I paid the property manager a visit and politly asked for an explanation. They told me that its was a "lagal safety" for the apartment to easilybreak the lease for crimes commited on the property by the lease holder, if one should take place.

I believed them at the time and believe it or not actually resigned for another year. Never had any problems with them and they have never said anything when theyopenly saw themduring "safety inspections".

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Does she live in low-income housing? Personal question, I know, but I'm pretty sure state funded type housings can and do prohibit firearms. There are a few low-income apartment complexes around here that have signs prohibiting concealed weapons . I carried in there openly one day to ask why, and the woman politely explained the low-income issue.

Anyway I understand where she's coming from. I don't live in the best neighborhood either, but that's why I made sure to get a 2nd story apartment with only one door accessible by stairs. I also make sure the neighbors see me,during a trip to the range,carrying my shotgun to my car and thenback to the apartment on a regular basis .

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Sorry about the delay in my reply. I read the replies yesterday, but for some reason I was not permitted to log in.

acritical, she lives there because she can afford it. She doesn't make a lot of money.

citizen, those were my thoughts exactly. Why else would someone take just a physical lock, and nothing else?

custodian, she has not, but she did choose to stay with someone else for the time being.

firemn, I appreciate the fact that you had similar experience, and nothign bad happened. Perhaps that story will help her to get over her fear of being evicted.

DreQo, She does not live in low-income housing, just cheaper housing. And yeah, I'd be doing the same.


I had her pull out her lease, and re-read it for me, and the exact prohibition is that she can not display or use a firearm on the apartment property. So she has it in her head that either she will shoot someone, and get evicted, or leave it home, and the intruder will get it and use it.

I don't know the NC laws on carrying, I did see that it was an anamolous open-carry state... Can anyone point me to some information about obtaining a CCW or anything? I would think that if she got one, she could keep it in her car while she was at work.

And I still can't get her to recognize that being evicted beats the heck out of getting raped/murdered.

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I had this same thing happen, my apartment complex explicitly stated that no firearms were permitted on the premises a quick phone call got the lease changed to allow an exception to my personal firearm. I got the signature I needed and end of story.

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Citizen wrote:

Sounds like the breaker was setting it up so he could return for another visit through the bedroom window. If he didn't take anything the first time, his target may be her, not her property.

I'm thinking sheneeds to find another place to stay until she can secure things.

As for the sliding patio door, she needs to drop a piece of broomstick or 2 x 4 cut to length into the bottom track behind the door that moves. Cut to a fairly tight fit, but no so tight it swells with humidity and she can't get out in a fire.

In her shoes, I might ask the apartment complex if they would let her put a safety film on the glass door. Professionally installed. The kind that prevents bomb blasts from spraying shatteredglass. Just an idea.

Click to expand...

Yeah, sounds like he is planning on returning again. Guess he thinks no one will notice if the bar is missing.

While a 2x4 or broom stick works, what she had was the best option, a charlie bar. They are tight fitting and usually have a small latch to keep them from being jimmied from the outside. Problem is the guy got in another way and took the device that stopped him the first time. The security laminate is good stuff, some even have hurircane ratings and can withstand multiple beatings.

Glad she is staying some where else till the situation is safe.

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Something I forgot to mention. You can buy alarms for windows and doors fairly cheap. I found a few for $1.50 a piece. They're simply in design. You put the alarm half on the frame, and the magnet half on the door/window. When the alarm is on, if the magnet travels away from the alarm, it goes off. And it's loud as all hell lol. The alarm I have on my door is at least twice as loud as my smoke detector. If you want to spend a few bucks more per unit, you can get units that have a delay setting, so you can set them before you leave and turn them off right as you come in the door. These alarms have two benefits: When you're in the house, they alert you if someone attempts to enter. Whether you're in the house or not, they will hopefully scare most criminals away.

Every once in a while I forget to turn the alarm off when I leave in the morning. After doing that maybe twice, my neighbor commented during a conversation that she noticed I had an alarm system, and that it was quite loud . I figure if she noticed, the other not-so-friendly neighbors have noticed as well. The more deterrence the better, I think.

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I'm not going to pretend to know the legal answer to your original question, but I can provide something about the rental property, itself.



The landlord can more than likely be held liable for something happening if it is due to negligence in their repairs, or lack of.



Make sure those doors and windows are fixed.