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a crazy morning - and now I'm in need of apartment-related advice
Without tell the whole long story - I had to call 911 this morning (6:30am) because the apartment directly above us had smoke billowing out of the door. No one responded when I knocked even though a light was on and the fire alarm had been going off for about 20min. The fire department came, tried to get in and ended up breaking down the door only to find our neighbor was alive and fine and something had been left on the stove or some sort. DH, who had seen inside their apartment when the door was opened, said there was a big tower of smoke. It was honestly really scary.
We had started knocking on our other neighbors doors because we weren't sure if we would have to evacuate or what was going to happen. Our friend across the hall had woken up from DH's knocking and we started talking. It turns out that our neighbor that lives above us spent the majority of the night passed out in the stairwell completely messed up on drugs or what not. He had to drag him up to the guy's apartment door, but pretty much left him there because the guy was so incapacitated (??) that he couldn't find his keys or walk on his own. So this is the idiot that almost burnt down our building....AND this is not the first time we've found him passed out in the stairwell or found him and a friend drunk on the stairs.
After talking to our neighbor across the hall, he's going to call our management and complain and I'm definitely going to call as well. Is there any way we should approach this from a more legal perspective that would give us leverage to have this person evicted or similar? I completely understand an accident, but this kind of complete negligence is absolutely scary and does not make for a safe living environment. It's a great building as a whole and several of our neighbors have young kids. How would you approach 'filing' a complaint with the management company and should we say something in particular?
Re: a crazy morning - and now I'm in need of apartment-related advice
wow...that's pretty scary Liza. I would totally feel the same way you do...as in wanting to get rid of this guy, but I don't know, besides filing a complaint with the managerial company, if there is anyway to evict this guy. =/ Maybe Lawyer Kocal will have some legal advice for you.
Unfortunately, you don't know who your neighbors are before you move into a neighborhood. We live in a townhouse (connected on both sides and behind to other people) and I always think that someone else's negligence can possibly burn our house down and that scares the crap out of me...especially 'cause my 4 little fur babies are here as well and couldn't escape if we weren't home. So, always make sure your fire alarms (along with carbon monoxide detectors) are working and also have at least 1 fire extinguisher in the house...I think we have 1 on each floor). You definitely don't want to pay for someone else's stupidity.
Ugh, that's so scary. I have definitely had neighbors that I've seen a bit intox before. In our old building we had one neighbor who sometimes passed out in the lobby after a night of drinking. I guess he could make it home from the bar, but couldn't figure out how to use his key or something. He'd be snoring away as I stepped over him to leave for work. He never, however, posed a danger to anyone so it wasn't quite like your situation.
I am not sure there is really anything you can do legally. Really, this person has an addiction problem and needs help. I understand your personal desire for safety. Certainly if the person is bad enough to leave things on the stove, it's a dangerous situation. Do they have any family that you can talk to about trying to get them help? Otherwise, I would let your management company try to figure out the rest.
Yikes...that is so scary.
I have no advice other than talking to your management co about it. And that the guy obviously needs help. Who knows, if he's into drugs maybe he's already behind on his rent and they'd have some grounds to try to get him out of there.
Last Race: California International Marathon - December 4, 2011 - 3:29:18, 7:59 pace
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TTC Journey
7/2008 - begin TTC
7/2009 - began charting
9/2009 - Dx Endometriosis
10/2009 - HSG/SA (Normal)
12/2009 -6/2010 - Lupron #1 & 2
Sep-Nov 2010- Clomid Cycles #1&2 = BFN
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