Can I hold the property management company liable for damages to my car?
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Can I hold the property management company liable for damages to my car?
My car was vandalized; the apartment complex has cameras. I’ve filed a police report and have been trying to get the management company to show me the tapes. They keep giving me the run around on when they would get me the tape and told me that “there was movement around my car, but nothing was clear”. I had the police request the tapes, but they’re now saying they can not make copies for some reason. This leads me to believe that the cameras don’t actually work and are there just for show but the management company doesn’t want to admit it. What can I do about this?
Asked on April 6, 2012 under Real Estate Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
It is very unlikely that you could successfully recover rcompensation for the care, unfortunately:
1) An landlord does not insure his or her tenant's property, and is not generally responsible for the criminal acts of third parties not under the landlord's control.
2) While a landlord can sometimes be held responsible for the criminal acts of third parties if the landlord failed to provide adequate security and said lack of security led to the criminal act occuring, whether or not their cameras were working would not have prevented the car from being vandalized. After all, even if the vandals were caught on tape, they still could have committed their vandalism. Therefore, it is unlikely that you could show a sufficient causal link or connection between the cameras being inoperable--if they are inoperable--and the vandalism.
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