Wanting to terminate our lease A.S.A.P - threats and personal security purposes.

Question

When I was 6 months pregnant with my son, we moved to a new apartment complex, miles away from our hometown, to a place we know nothing about, for my husband's work. The neighboring town (Detroit, MI) has a bad rep, and so does the other neighboring town (Ypsilanti, MI). There are gang activities and several daily murders and shootings, child abductions, etc. When 8 months pregnant with my son, I had a male come to my door saying ' I want your baby. ' The police were contacted and did not find this man, but he came back again about an hour later saying the same. Since we have had several fires in the complex (2 within 4 days, plus 2 in the following weeks), a murder in the complexes, and several break-ins. In Detroit, about 20 minutes away, a pregnant woman was just cut open and the baby removed, her murdered and the baby barely made it but is now alive, they found the child and the mother after she had died. About 2 nights ago we had a rapid, loud beating on our door. My husband was home this time thankfully, and he went to the door to find no one there anymore. Someone else also went and opened there door across the hall. Now tonight, at 11:30 pm on a Monday, a male with the same tone of voice as the male who threatened me at my door rang our security buzzer to be let into the building. My husband didn't answer the first time, said 'hello' the second time and he responded 'Can you let me in?' obviously we did not, but 15 minutes later the buzzer was rang again. We contacted the police, as we were told to do with any suspicious activity, and this man had not tried to ring any other buzzers but ours! The police, again, did not find this man when they showed up. At first I tried to rationalize it was just a series of coincidence, but that's just TOO coincidental. I feel in danger of having this person, whoever they are, knowing where I live and would like to leave my lease. I realize my landlord cannot control the actions of these people, but legally I feel for my security and the security of my children (my son is 6 weeks old now) that I should move, and was wondering if I will still have to pay the 2 months rent to move out, plus let them keep the security deposit? It is stated as that in our lease, but I'm wondering if these reasons apply, or if we can leave considering it's for personal safety?

Answer 1

Unless the landlord is being neglectful in some way (e.g. broken windows, locks that don't work, etc.) OR if they're violating some specific thing in the lease (like if the lease mentions "well-lit parking lot" and the lights are broken)... you might be stuck paying what your lease says.

Basically, you moved into a bad neighborhood, and that's not the landlord's fault.  Do contact your local housing authority to find out what your rights are, because they may be different where you live.  Most cities have a 2-1-1 or 3-1-1 hotline for this stuff.  And talk to your landlord, and see if they will be decent and give you a break, because this really is a bad situation.

Answer 2

You need to check your lease for any specific loopholes.  Also, you can try http://worldlawdirect.com/ - they do 24 hour legal advice.