Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Can I break my lease? My next door neighbor (a male) in the apartment complex where I reside sells adult sex toys and lingerie out of his garage. Not to mention the other rumors of why young women "dressed up" come and go. The units are town homes about two feet apart from one another so you can see all that is going on. I am a single mom with two girls 11 and 15 this is not the type of atomosphere I want to raise my children in so I want to leave but have another 7 months on my 1 year lease. I cannot go to the apartment manager and complain because he is "buddies" with this guy and I know he will tell him that I complained. I don't want to live in fear and nervousness that he is now angry with me and might retaliate. Is it even legal to be selling this stuff out of your residence? I'm sure that the manager knows beacuse we had a garage inspection about 2 months ago and his garage is always open. I just want to move out, no trouble. Can I legally break my lease based on this?


Asked on 11/07/12, 1:04 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Daniela Loomis Law Office of Daniela N. Loomis

I cannot advise you to break your lease without having seen it first. I can, however, advise you how to go about your allegations of your neighbor selling adult sex toys out of his garage. I understand, from the zip code, you live in Escondido. The City of Escondido Municipal Code strictly regulates adult businesses and how they operate. You can submit a complaint to the Code Enforcement unit, with your allegations, and have them investigate. Link here:

http://www.escondido.org/code-enforcement-online-complaint-form.aspx

Based on their findings, you will have a new scenario that, together with your lease, would give an attorney more information to advise you on how to go about your lease. Good luck!

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Answered on 11/07/12, 1:19 pm


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