unrelated question

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aseay

Cathlete
i live in expensive apartment-almost $800 for 1 bedroom. i have just recieved notice that there is a criminal living there. is it a national law for a criminal to be able/or not live in apartment? i live in Texas. if he's not evicted, i may move. they say get to know your nieghbors but what if he's the one? just curious if anyone else has had this happen.

laura
 
laws are different from state to state. felons cannot live in apartments here in VA. so check your laws and if he is not suppose to be there contact authorities and then report the rental company for not doing a background check and letting him live there. sexual predators are rampid around here and we fight every step of the way to make sure things are done so they are not moved in here around our children.

kassia

http://www.picturetrail.com/ldy_solana

"And do what thee wilt as long as ye harm none"
 
Does the notice explain what kind of a criminal this person is? Certainly there is a range. Some worth moving because of and some not. Don't be too quick to judge there are certainly a lot of people out there who have had drug problems who cleaned their act up and need people to give 'em a break here and there.
Heather
 
I would also question how he is able to afford such an apartment? I wasn't aware that there were some states that didn't allow criminals to live in apartments. If they can't then where are they supposed to live once they get out of prison/half-way house?
 
Laura, it totally depends on your state's landlord tenant laws. In some cases the property owners may not be able to evict him simply because of a criminal past, and, if you are on a lease, his being there will not be considered a valid reason to break the lease. If he is breaking the law now, that's a different story. Out of curiosity what notice did you receive? Was it a meghan's law notification type of thing for sex offenders?

You might try posting at forum.freeadvice.com under the landlord/tenant law section. Be warned, the legal folks there are pretty snarky! You can usually get a good answer though. I found this myself, regarding Texas and felons, which leads me to believe that it is up to the individual landlord to decide:

"Private landlords can, and usually do, refuse to rent to felons. Even felons raising children are usually limited to the worst part of town to find an apartment because no other landlord will rent to them. No matter how long or how hard a felon works to improve his or her life, and no matter how many children depend on the felon for support, many felons must raise their family in substandard housing because of the label “felon”."

Sparrow

Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming ‘Wow - what a ride!’ — Peter Sage
 
>I would also question how he is able to afford such an
>apartment? I wasn't aware that there were some states that
>didn't allow criminals to live in apartments. If they can't
>then where are they supposed to live once they get out of
>prison/half-way house?

here they have special programs to help them out. there are some apartments complexes that will take them b/c they are part of the program(there are also tons of boarding homes here where they get rooms or one bedroom apartments,i.e. private owners) but when it comes to complexes like these(owned by lease/rental companies) they will not allow it. i think drug offenders can move here but they get a one strike deal, one screw up and they are out.but violent offenders(assult,rape,or otherwise)cannot b/c of the safety of others. its something with actual complexes that are runned by rental/lease companies whereas there are apartments that are privately owned, its up to the owners.

kassia

http://www.picturetrail.com/ldy_solana

"And do what thee wilt as long as ye harm none"
 
it's a sex-related crime. i wish they never given the notice because now every guy i look at i'm going to wonder if its him. wont be going to the pool til he's evicted. even if he is, he could still be living close buy. i was also wondering how he could afford it. thanks for responding. i've been a little concerned.

laura
 
Yikes, that's tricky and very scary. I have no idea what your options are, but most states do have Websites which allow you to look up information about exactly where sex offenders are living and what crimes they were convicted of. In Pennsylvania I think they even include mug shots. There's also some Website out there (maybe do a google search?) that will map out the locations of sex offenders in a particular area for you, like a bunch of orange dots on a map. My friend used this service when she found out her adult daughter was being stalked by some freak in California. (Lucky for them he was on probation and so was arrested.) She said she nearly died when she saw large clusters of them in particular areas, often near schools.

It's a really scary world out there. If you have kids, there's probably no better time to make sure they know all about tactics people like that use to lure them into cars. I read an article once that had great advice, like if they're on a bike, hang on to it and scream bloody murder (since it would be difficult to get a kid AND a bike into a car). Or they should jam a coin or stick into the car's ignition, and of course they should feel comfortable SCREAMING VERY LOUDLY. We teach our kids to be polite to their own detriment sometimes.

Sorry, obviously this really touched a nerve with me. I grew up with some very creepy relatives. I would never leave my kids alone with someone I didn't know and trust very well. I'm so ridiculously overprotective that my SO laughs at me, but I don't care. I just say, well, I didn't find my kids on a street corner, you know???

Good luck.

Marie
 
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