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Having someone break into your home is a terrifying experience that can be very difficult to get over.

That is what happened to the young couple in this story, and it has caused them to have trouble sleeping, and they are scared all the time.

So, they are wondering if it is legal for them to break their lease a couple of months early, so they can get a fresh start.

They likely can’t break their lease without penalties, but it doesn’t hurt to ask the landlord if he will let them go voluntarily. Read through the story for yourself and see what you think they should do.

Can I break a lease if I experienced a traumatic break-in in the apartment?

Several weeks ago my partner and I (23F both) had a traumatic break in.

This would be terrifying.

A mentally ill man shattered the glass of the locked door to the common area with his hand, let himself in, and entered our apartment as our door had been left unlocked on accident.

We woke up to him standing over us (we were naked in bed, extremely scary) screaming that he needed help- I’d managed to talk him into “waiting in the hall” for us and quickly locked him out and called the police.

They will never forget what happened.

Unfortunately, his hand was severely injured and he bled all over our stairs, carpets, furniture, walls, etc. Something we had to clean ourselves in the middle of the night, which added to the trauma.

He was not violent but it was an absolutely gut-wrenching and gory experience. When we’d turned on the lights and saw the blood everywhere, we thought he’d harmed our roommate or cat.

It can be very difficult to move on from something like this.

My partner and I are having trouble sleeping. We can’t help but listen closely to the noises outside and within the building. Any time our cat shoves open the door I shoot up expecting to see a strange man. We all feel like we can still smell blood.

What makes things worse is that our landlord (independent landlord, he’s a nice guy) hasn’t yet replaced the carpet or door. I forgot to mention the police had to kick it down as the man locked himself inside, so we don’t really have a safe door.

It doesn’t hurt to ask the landlord.

Seeing the shattered/unsafe door and blood stains is making it hard to move on. It’s not exactly his fault – insurance is slow apparently – but we just really don’t wanna live here anymore.

So, does anyone know if legally we are allowed to break a lease for this? It’s up in June, but we were hoping to end it by the end of next month or so.

There is no need to sue.

Maybe things will get better, but we don’t really want to be around to find out. Again, our landlord is a kind man, but he’s under stress with the damages and I don’t want the request to blow up in our faces if it isn’t remotely appropriate.

Landlord is suing the man for damages, we don’t think we will as it seems like it’s even more trauma. But if we’re stuck in the lease, can we sue for two months of this rent due to the trauma he caused us? Is that a thing?

Thanks guys.

If the landlord is a good guy, he will just let them out of the last couple of months of their lease. Honestly, he might be happy to do it so he can get everything cleaned up and fixed up.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this story.

This type of thing can happen anywhere.

Getting a security camera is important no matter what.

The repairs might be a reason for breaking the contract.

Apparently, it varies by state.

This commenter says there is no legal reason to break the lease. Some landlords, however, will let them anyway.

No need to jump right to a legal situation before talking to the landlord. He seems like he is pretty reasonable, and in today’s market, he won’t likely have any trouble finding new tenants.

That being said, these two may find that they are scared no matter where they go, so they will need to find a way to work through that.