What Would You Have Done?

[Tee&A]

I only belong to one other message board (that is geared towards people who live in places that are polar opposites of where they have previously lived and/or where they were raised, lol). So I read a post tonight that flipped my lid. Basically, it went something like this:

"So apparently our landlord thinks since we are moving that he can let himself in at all hours of the night to show the house to people. His father in law showed up at 945 last night, didnt knock or ring the doorbell and used his key to unlock the front door. When my husband heard the noise he went to the door and found some guys arm poking through the door trying to unlock the chain. My husband of course smashed the arm in the door and unlocked it then proceeded to beat the hell out of the arm and the home invader. The man was on the ground getting his face pounded in but was finally able to sceam who he was and what he was doing there. He is my landlord's father in law and was there with a couple to show them the house. What????!!! The couple was at the bottom of the stairs horrified. He was seriously going to come into the house and show the house and we were supposed to what, smile and say come on in? So sorry man but u dont call to say u are coming, then u show up at 945 then u proceed to let yourself in... um no wonder u almost ended up in the hospital. And then we laughed our asses off when your potential renters called you an asshole and didn't want anything to do with u after they witnessed first hand how u and your son in law treat your tenants. What a night!"

Thoughts, lol?

 

[crescendo69]

I get repairmen in without notice at times, but at least they knock before trying the landlord's key.

 

[D_Percy_Prettywillie]

I can't say for absolute certain (not being well versed in legal matters) but I'm pretty sure there are requirements for this kind of thing. At my apartment, for example, they have to notify you at least 48 hours before the intent to enter your home to perform whatever it is they're going to do (last year they replaced the hardwood floors and the year before that they changed out our shower heads.)

The only other time they can enter is when there are extenuating circumstances... like, if screams of bloody murder or billowing pot smoke is coming from your apartment, they can use the master key to come inside.

Out side of that I'm pretty sure, again, not being versed in legal matters, it's against the law for renters to just waltz up into your house whenever they want. 9:45 at night would certainly fall outside the bounds of regular business hours so I think the SOB got what was coming to him. I probably wouldn't have resorted to physical violence but I would have definitely called the police.



JSZ

 

[D_Rosalind Mussell]

While none of us would have laughed about it, I'm pretty sure my husband would have gone into action as well. If you think you are being burglarized there is no time for niceties.

If the father-in-law didn't know the place was not vacant then I feel sorry for him getting beat up like that. If he knew and let himself in anyway then he was trespassing and can only blame himself for what transpired. Either way, this falls squarely upon the shoulders of the landlords.

 

[Hoss]

I only belong to one other message board (that is geared towards people who live in places that are polar opposites of where they have previously lived and/or where they were raised, lol). So I read a post tonight that flipped my lid. Basically, it went something like this:

"So apparently our landlord thinks since we are moving that he can let himself in at all hours of the night to show the house to people. His father in law showed up at 945 last night, didnt knock or ring the doorbell and used his key to unlock the front door. When my husband heard the noise he went to the door and found some guys arm poking through the door trying to unlock the chain. My husband of course smashed the arm in the door and unlocked it then proceeded to beat the hell out of the arm and the home invader. The man was on the ground getting his face pounded in but was finally able to sceam who he was and what he was doing there. He is my landlord's father in law and was there with a couple to show them the house. What????!!! The couple was at the bottom of the stairs horrified. He was seriously going to come into the house and show the house and we were supposed to what, smile and say come on in? So sorry man but u dont call to say u are coming, then u show up at 945 then u proceed to let yourself in... um no wonder u almost ended up in the hospital. And then we laughed our asses off when your potential renters called you an asshole and didn't want anything to do with u after they witnessed first hand how u and your son in law treat your tenants. What a night!"

Thoughts, lol?

MY thoughts are it sounds highly suspect. Since the chain was on the door, I'd think the landlord's father in law unless brain dead or drunk or high on drugs would have stopped then and there and called out to the tenant.
Maybe the door was knocked on and they didn't hear it? It happens. If I have water running, am in a different room and have a fan on (my one fan is loud), or if I have headphones on. All those have kept me from hearing someone knock or ring a bell.

The tenants can also now face charges for having assaulted the older man.

Most interesting

"smashed the arm in the door, then unlocked it" which I figure means he took the chain off. No problem so far.

Then it says "proceeded to beat the hell out of the arm and the home invader...face pounded..."

Beat the arm huh? After seeing the person? If an arm comes through, try to get it out of the opening then shut door, relock, place furniture against the door while the wife calls the police.

Beat the arm? Now that the tenant was an idiot....there could be a few people out there and someone might have a gun.....they beat the arm?


Hope the tenants go to jail for a long long time. They are most likely delinquent on rent payments. They are lucky nobody had a gun and could have blown them to kingdom come.

 

[poultrygeist]

MY thoughts are it sounds highly suspect. Since the chain was on the door, I'd think the landlord's father in law unless brain dead or drunk or high on drugs would have stopped then and there and called out to the tenant.
Maybe the door was knocked on and they didn't hear it? It happens. If I have water running, am in a different room and have a fan on (my one fan is loud), or if I have headphones on. All those have kept me from hearing someone knock or ring a bell.

The tenants can also now face charges for having assaulted the older man.

Most interesting

"smashed the arm in the door, then unlocked it" which I figure means he took the chain off. No problem so far.

Then it says "proceeded to beat the hell out of the arm and the home invader...face pounded..."

Beat the arm huh? After seeing the person? If an arm comes through, try to get it out of the opening then shut door, relock, place furniture against the door while the wife calls the police.

Beat the arm? Now that the tenant was an idiot....there could be a few people out there and someone might have a gun.....they beat the arm?


Hope the tenants go to jail for a long long time. They are most likely delinquent on rent payments. They are lucky nobody had a gun and could have blown them to kingdom come.

It is useless to break this thing down into the tiniest of suppositions and assumptions. You're 3 layers deep in speculation with your response and then basing an opinion upon your own speculation.

But the reality is this.....a person is going from a dead sleep fully relaxed....now they are forcefully made fully awake, heart pounding like a freaking hammer, tunnel vision, your mind racing trying to figure all this shit out....and on top of this you believe your being home invaded and your family's life is in jeopardy. Now that adrenaline hits you like a ton of bricks. I don't care how cool you are under pressure, your fine motor skills, perfect reasoning and judgment go right out the window when your adrenaline spews out and your heart rate goes 160+ beats a minute. This is called the fog of war and it happens to everyone eventually no matter how well trained they are. The average person who is not trained in combat warfare, close quarters combat and regimented self-defense may simply not be aware of what's happening until after it's over....you know....when reasoning and judgment skills come back.


Yeah, let's put them in jail because someone chose to enter their home without the proper precautions. I wish I were on the jury, if it even goes that far.

 

[Hoss]

It is useless to break this thing down into the tiniest of suppositions and assumptions. You're 3 layers deep in speculation with your response and then basing an opinion upon your own speculation.

But the reality is this.....a person is going from a dead sleep fully relaxed....now they are forcefully made fully awake, heart pounding like a freaking hammer, tunnel vision, your mind racing trying to figure all this shit out....and on top of this you believe your being home invaded and your family's life is in jeopardy. Now that adrenaline hits you like a ton of bricks. I don't care how cool you are under pressure, your fine motor skills, perfect reasoning and judgment go right out the window when your adrenaline spews out and your heart rate goes 160+ beats a minute. This is called the fog of war and it happens to everyone eventually no matter how well trained they are. The average person who is not trained in combat warfare, close quarters combat and regimented self-defense may simply not be aware of what's happening until after it's over....you know....when reasoning and judgment skills come back.


Yeah, let's put them in jail because someone chose to enter their home without the proper precautions. I wish I were on the jury, if it even goes that far.

and now you add to supposition, because although it was late the OP doesn't say that anybody was asleep.


I still think the tale sounds fake.

 

[poultrygeist]

and now you add to supposition, because although it was late the OP doesn't say that anybody was asleep.


I still think the tale sounds fake.

Everything I said was supposition because I was not describing his behavior, but rather talking about what happens typically in nighttime home invasions. I may not have been clear about that and I can see the confusion it might cause.

It very well may be fake. But it's a "what would you do" type question and in the speculation of whether the story is real or not, these type situations do occur.

My opinion is that in this situation the homeowner, whether right or wrong legally, was faced with a limited amount of information at a time and opportunity where he had to make a split second decision. I think the landlord's father was lucky to survive, personally.