My upstairs neighbor shot a bullet through my ceiling! Can I break my lease?

[Tori Rose]

As the subject says, my upstairs neighbor owns a gun that was loaded by a drunken acquaintance last Saturday around 1:30 am. The neighbor then went to disassemble the weapan and not realizing it was loaded, discharged, shooting a hole through their floor and our ceiling. The bullet (a 40 caliber) lodged in the carpet about an inch away from my roommates bed.

My realty company is trying to tell me that unless I can prove that my upstairs neighbor is a homicidal maniac (which he is not, I've met him, he is a very nice person who just did something stupid with a gun) then we have no right trying to void our lease.

Now, the neighbor claims that he took the gun home and that he isn't bringing it back on the premises. But I still don't like the idea of living in a home with a bullethole, the general feeling of being unsafe, and leasing from a realty company that doesn't stick up for its tenants.

Do I have a case?

[Maryann L.]

Hi Tori,

I don't think you have a case. The landlord had no control over what that tenant did, so truthfully it's not cause to break a lease. If I had a tenant break a lease every time a neighbor did something stupid, I'd have no tenants.

I think you could approach the landlord and ask if you can be let out of the lease early? There is no harm in asking, but be prepared if they say no.

Good luck.