Last fall, a North Side woman’s apartment was burglarized, and the woman found out the thief was a friend of the building’s manager.
She “no longer felt secure in her apartment, with the guy getting access to it,” said Michael Radzilowsky, a Chicago attorney with long experience in landlord-tenant law to whom the woman turned for help.
“When your space is invaded that way, it psychologically throws you off, and you just want to get out. That’s your No. 1 objective,” Radzilowsky said.
After Radzilowsky’s initial approach, the woman, herself an attorney, was able to get out of her long-term lease and achieve some other financial concessions, Radzilowsky said.
In that case, the landlord manifestly had some responsibility, since the burglary was linked to one of his employees. But often the issue of building security, and what a tenant can expect in the way of attention to personal safety, is not so clear-cut.
Many landlords are hesitant to discuss the matter. “Just talking about security, you’re walking on eggshells, because you’re talking about liability,” said Greg O’Berry, vice president of Amli Management, which manages property for Chicago-based Amli Residential Properties Trust, one of the country’s leading apartment ownership groups.
In fact, many landlords won’t even use the word “security” with tenants, according to Sandra Moore, director of corporate development for RELCON, an apartment-finding service based in Oak Brook.
“Properties are very sensitive about this,” Moore said.
Generally, according to Radzilowsky, landlords aren’t responsible for someone coming onto a property and committing a crime as long as the building has reasonably adequate security. Such crimes are known in legalese as “intervening acts,” meaning someone not under the landlord’s control committed them.
If someone robs a tenant, and the landlord has no connection with robber and couldn’t reasonably foresee that a robbery might occur, then there’s no grounds for blaming the landlord, Radzilowsky said.
But the landlord has to keep the building reasonably secure. Common sense dictates that a building has to have doors that lock and windows that close and hall lights that work. A landlord who knew of a basic security problem and failed to correct it might be liable, Radzilowsky said.
Beyond the obvious, many cities and towns have local ordinances obligating the building owner to take certain measures. Chicago, for instance, requires that apartment entrance doors have deadbolt locks and peepholes.
Landlords are responsible for seeing that such devices are installed and in working order. If a Chicago building lacks such protection and the landlord can be shown to be negligent in failing to provide it, the landlord could be liable for damages.
“The basic rule is negligence,” said David Frazza, executive vice president of the Schiller Park-based Chicagoland Apartment Association, a landlord group. “If a landlord is found negligent, the landlord is going to be liable.”
That would be particularly true if the resident had turned in a work order for a faulty lock or expressed concern about lights not being replaced, Frazza said.
“If a tenant was mugged or attacked in such a case, the landlord could be (liable),” Frazza said. “But if the landlord had responded quickly and taken the necessary steps to repair the condition, then it would be considered just an unfortunate part of our society.”
The matter gets more complicated when landlords offer security beyond the basics, which is becoming more and more common in some parts of the country.
“That’s what attracts attention in the advertisements,” said Patrick Chapin, a Las Vegas attorney who has lectured to that city’s landlord group on legal issues. “To beat the competition, (apartment complex advertisements) say `24-hour security’ and `gated community.’ That’s their hook for tenants.”
Such ads oblige the landlord to deliver what is promised or a reasonable facsimile thereof, apartment industry leaders note.
For instance, if tenants are told security guards patrol the property and the guards aren’t doing it, “somebody will be found liable,” Frazza said.
Francis Lynch, former FBI agent and head of the Indiana Crime Commission who consults on building security as a retiree in Las Vegas, recalls an attempted rape case there in which a woman won a $30,000 settlement from an apartment complex.
An intruder came through the patio door of the woman’s apartment as she was showering before breakfast and assaulted her, but was routed when her screams alerted neighbors.
The complex was walled, and had a staffed security gate and an alarm system, but Lynch, investigating for the woman’s lawyer, found that the gate guard only worked from 4 p.m. to midnight and the alarm was only on the front door, not on the easily forced patio door.
Lynch also posed as a renter and was told by the rental agents that the complex had terrific security. But the security was “pretty much of a bluff,” Lynch said. “It didn’t help that lady with her attacker.”
Lynch said many landlords and their insurance companies don’t want to go to court in such cases because of the bad publicity and the risk of a substantial award by a jury. Consequently, they will often settle for what they would otherwise incur in legal fees if they believe there are solid grounds for the litigation.
Juries can indeed hand out big bucks. Lynch cited a case several years ago in which a jury awarded a woman $10 million from a Las Vegas apartment complex after a tenant shot and killed her son who was visiting her there.
The award was reduced in a settlement, but it still ran into the millions, and it was paid despite the fact that the shooting occurred in a public-thoroughfare alley between two buildings in the complex.
Such cases make building owners think twice about beefing up security, said Frazza. “It’s a very frustrating issue. The more you do, the more you’re opened up to liability in one form or another. For every safety measure you implement, there is going to be someone testing it.”
As RELCON’s Moore pointed out, that has led some landlords to a total avoidance of mentioning security directly in ads, brochures or in front of tenants.
A whole code language has grown up as a result. Security guards are called “courtesy officers,” while security gates and doors are referred to as “controlled-access” or “limited-access.” Buzzers and alarms are part of the “entry system.”
Frazza said some landlords have dropped the guarded-gate concept because it lulled residents into a false sense of security. “They wouldn’t lock their windows or doors, so they invited opportunities for break-ins. They assumed if the community was gated, nothing would happen.”
Lynch said that prospective renters should inquire in detail about apartment security before moving in so they know what to expect.
Frazza also offered one clarification for renters: Security deposits have nothing to do with building security.
He said he’s seen some cases where inexperienced renters think that their security deposit means they are being guaranteed security on the building premises, and one woman even sued a management company on those grounds.
The security deposit is for potential damages to the apartment, and has nothing to do with being protected from muggers or burglars, he pointed out.
Finally, experts say that no apartment, no matter what the neighborhood or security provided, can be guaranteed safe from break-ins. So they advise tenants to get renters’ insurance.
“Everybody, no matter what kind of building they live in, should have it,” said Moore. “It’s inexpensive peace of mind.”
WORRIED ABOUT SECURITY? HERE ARE QUESTIONS TO ASK
Here are some questions that knowledgeable sources in the apartment industry suggest a tenant might ask about security in a building or apartment complex:
– What locks are there on the doors and windows? Do sliding-glass patio doors have locks or bars? In Chicago, is there a deadbolt lock and peephole on the apartment unit’s front door, as required by law? Are there, or should there be, bars on first-floor windows?
– Is there a buzzer system? How does it work? In some buildings, tenants have to go to the building door in person to open it, says John D’Ambrogio, spokesperson for The Apartment People, an apartment finder service in Chicago and Evanston. Other buildings have remote buzzers or surveillance cameras hooked up to the building’s cable TV system.
– If 24-hour security is offered in a suburban low-rise complex, ask if that means guards actually patrol grounds, parking lots and hallways on round-the-clock shifts. Some guards work just during the day, or at night; others stay in a central office or behind a counter in the lobby.
– In a high-rise, find out what the doorman’s security duties are. Is it a full-time or part-time job?
– If there is an alarm system, is it just on the front door, or on all doors and windows. Is it just a noisemaker, or does it connect with the complex or building security office or to the police station?
(Former FBI agent and apartment security consultant Francis Lynch points out that alarms that connect to the police station may not bring a response as quickly as alarms that connect to the building security office.)
– In a high-rise or urban-type apartment building without a lobby guard, can anyone enter the foyer without going through a security door?
– Is an apartment rekeyed when a new tenant moves in? Who has access to master keys?
– Have there been recent break-ins in the building or in the apartment for rent? What’s the crime frequency in the area? Police can provide crime statistics for a particular location or neighborhood.
– How is security provided for common areas such as parking lots, laundry rooms and exercise rooms?
