Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas

Re: Id this reason to break a lease?

While your question is straight forward and therefore would seem to have an easy answer, it does not. First you have to review the terms of your lease to determine if it spells out any duties of the landlord with regard to security. If so tell the landlord to comply. If the lease does not help you should express your concerns to the landlord in a letter and ask what security provisions has and what additional precautions he is taking in view of the high theft rate. Send this by first class mail, registered, return receipt requested. If the landlord fails to respond, or says it is not the landlords responsibility to increase safety you will have reached a decision point. You can move out, but will risk the lanlord suing you for rent. Your defense is the dangerous conditions at the apt. and the landlords failure to do anything about it. I have not looked at any of the cases, which interprete the statutes and define the landlords responsbiility, but I am making an educated guess that you have better than an even chance of winning. You can represent yourself or hire a lawyer. But first try to get the landlord to increase security so that you feel comfortable. Larry Maun 713.266.2560