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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Mum's the word on this 'Sting'

So we are moving, back to Riverside! We are moving into our former Worship Pastor's house, they moved to the ATL, and we are so excited. For being such a small child, Connor takes up lots of room. This extra space will be such a blessing and soooo nice. We will have our OWN backyard for Andres to hit golf balls outside, instead of in the living room, and the dogs will have a yard to chase each other around instead of our tiny little patio! We are so excited about every little detail and I could describe each one for the next 20 paragraphs... but I won't.

Instead I will move onto more important matters... legal advice! So we are currently stuck in a lease that does not expire till July, sucks we know. However, there may be a catch that could save us lots of money. Mum's the word, but we are working with undercover cops running an investigation on a near by apartment. There is an apartment in our building, just one hallway down that is running a prostitution ring. Andres found out about it by 'interrogating' a random guy who looked lost in our building. He got nervous and spilled the beans rather quickly. Apparently there is an ad on Craigs List that offers 'Sexy Asian' women, just call 'this number'. So he and Matt called and were directed to make their way to our apartments and then call for more direction. They waited a few minutes and called back and were given an apartment number to find, right down the hall from us. Craziness!

So an undercover came by the house last week to ask a few questions and to inform us they would be 'hanging' out at our place a couple nights next week. They have been following these guys for a while and after being run out of Irvine, they have brought their ativity to multiple locations around us. The undercover told us they busted a 'massage' parlor last week who had ties to this place and are trying to get more evidence to bust the 'pimp'. So the 'sting' starts tomorrow night and we are to 'act normal'. Easy for them to say, acting normal may be abnormal for us.

So now on to the advice... can we use this to break our lease withouth penalties? Ideally I would LOVE to enter our leasing office, inform them we are moving and give them the reason. "We do not pay $1,#*7.00 to live in a home where we can ring the doorbell next door to borrow a cup of sugar and an STD (sorry, I was trying to keep this blog family friendly)!" So will this work? Can we break this lease and not pay 2 months rent to leave early? I am going to wait till tomorrow to ask the cop's advice and I am sure I can get some signed letter backing up our information. I doubt the leasing office even knows this is going on under their noses. Either way, we are going to leave, penalties or not. What do you think and does anyone know a lawyer who can give me a little advice and direction.

6 comments:

Cheryl Ann

Holy crap, Liz. Holy CRAP.

Liz Nicks

Is "holy crap" a law office out by you or something? :)

Cheryl Ann

I re-read this and am cracking up..."borrow a cup of sugar and an STD." !!!!! God, I miss California.

Michelle Kelley

no, no I said Temecula

Julie

ok...I have worded 6 years in the apartment business in Texas..here is what you do. Don't seek out a lawyer unless it is absolutely necessary! You need to get your lease and go over it with a fine tooth comb. In Texas we used a Texas Apartment Association lease and it was standard state wide. It stated that you could pay a reletting fee (which is 85% of one months rent)and find a replacement to take over your apartment as is. OR since you are going through so much drama with your tasteful neighbors I would find in your lease the paragraphs that THEY are in violation of and tell them that you do not have to live around "such filth" (ha) and you do not feel "safe" living there and it is a violation of your rights as a resident. Also, if it comes to it threaten to get some sort of "association (research to see if your state has such an org. in your city) involved. Go as high up in the apartment management company as you can get. Raise as much hell as you can and at a last resort get a lawyer involved. Im telling you it works every time! The more hell you raise the more you will get done...they dont want you to give them a "bad name". I have worked in these situations MANY times and the management company ALWAYS caves and lets them out of their lease. I could go on but I think you get my point! Let me know if you need more help! Like I say I have LOTS of experience in the apartment business!

Julie

Julie

also....mention that the police are insisting that you help them...and you dont like being involved..that you just want to get the heck out before any crap hits the fan...play the victim!