Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Texas
Burglary Of Security Apt. With Key
My son rents a security apt. in Dallas. It is supposed to be secure and has electric gates, etc. The apartment was robbed about 3 weeks ago, someone used a key to get in and of course, no one saw anything or anyone. He lost a laptop, carrying case, Game Machine, games, etc., about $5-6,000 worth of items; a police report was filed. Since the apartments advertise as secure, can he sue them for his losses and what are his chances of actually collecting from them? They are doing basically nothing and obviously it was either an earlier tennant, or one of their employees who had a key. There is a hole in the fence people go through all the time and I've seen people drive in the gates without entering codes, by following someone else, or coming in when they go out while the gate is still open, or closing and it then opens back up. What would you advise. Thanks........
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Burglary Of Security Apt. With Key
The fact that they represent the apartments to be secure and have security gates would not be sufficient to hold the apartments liable. The fact that the apartments themselves may have been negligent is a better argument. The use of a key -either by an employee of former tenant is evidence of negligence on the part of the apartment complex. They can be held liable for the resulting losses. You will probably have to retain an attorney to file suit, however, as I doubt they will voluntarily agree to reimburse your son for his losses. This is one reason tenant's insurance is highly desirable. It is also cheap. If your son had tenant's insurance, they would pay and then, to the extent that a third party was responsible, the insurance company could file suit to recover.
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