LETTER TO ANOTHER DICK LANDLORD
Dear Mark,
Thank you for your letter. We feel that while you have made valid points about the condition of the property, we feel some are unwarranted and require explanation.
After the property was burglarized, we put our efforts into making the property feel more secure. You must realize that while you were visibly upset about the condition of the door, the criminal made all of us residing here feel intensely violated. Officer Dancer (the officer handling our case) exacerbated our distress after explaining that we are in a neighborhood well known for crime. He also explained that while, even though we have a gate, a criminal who really wanted to enter this property would do so, with or without the Ocotillo. We were and currently are under an extreme amount of distress about the conditions surrounding the incident.
Before the burglary, we locked every door and window before leaving, but we left the gates unlocked because we were told by you, at the time of our first meeting, that it was okay to do so during the day. After the burglary, we have made sure that all three gates are locked, even when we are home. We were having trouble locking the drive-in gate, but after lubrication the lock is in working order.
After our initial tour of the house and interview with you, we were felt confident that this neighborhood was safe address for us to reside at. Officer Dancer explained that because of the proximity of _______ Park, this type of crime is very common in this neighborhood. Officer Dancer was astounded to find that we were not aware of this fact. This statement has set us on edge, and we are much more cautious about our actions concerning the property.
In the case of pet residence, we must ask you to refer to our rental application, where Brenné listed the number of animals that would reside on the property. There are three (3) ten pound dogs listed. We also discussed, before the signing of the lease, that there would be three dogs (the two Chihuahuas of Amber, and the miniature Daschund of Brenné) coming to live on the property. On the night of the break-in, we three felt incredibly unsafe, and decided to protect ourselves and the property by having a full-sized canine patrol the yard. Officer Dancer made us feel that if we had had a large dog in the in the yard before the burglary, there would have been less of a chance that this type of brazen violation would have occurred. Upon hearing this, a friend loaned us his dog until we could discuss viable ways with you to increase the security of this property. While the dog is completely harmless, she does possess an intimidating bark, and she alerts us to the presence of random people walking by. She is of a breed that is allowed under the lease under Section 1.06; as a Labrador/greyhound mix she is not amongst the list of breeds prone to have an aggressive nature.
Please forgive the condition of the yard after the burglary. The burglar completely trashed the rooms of Molly and Brenné, and they concentrated their efforts into picking up and sanitizing the property inside the rooms, and the rest of the house. After the door was kicked in, plaster chunks and dust completely coated the entire living room and dining room, and we are still combating the dust through various cleaners and Swiffer dusters. Before the burglary, we were diligent in yard maintenance; the canine fecal matter was removed routinely and all plants were watered once a week (twice a week if they were juvenile). We accept full responsibility for the feces populating the yard, but our concern was to take care of the inside of the house, taking inventory of our missing property and assessing various ways we could secure the property, and then focus on the outside.
After the burglary, we now store our bicycles outside, on the north side of the house, because of the damage that was caused to the floor by the burglar. When the door was kicked in, the door frame fell onto a bicycle, damaging both the body (in particular the rear fender) and the floor when it toppled over. The floor was also damaged (by either the officers who responded to our case, or the thief himself) when, according to Officer Dancer, up to eight other officers walked through the debris littering the living room floor. You may recall hearing Brenné’s mother asking you and your girlfriend not to step on the debris because of the possibility of it scratching the wood. You may have noticed that there is a gouge in the floor caused when the bicycle was knocked over by the door frame when it was kicked in. We were unsure as to how to advance with the repair of the floor, and it was decided that we would wait to tackle that problem until after the front door, door frame, and wall were repaired.
Your vexation with the condition of the yard is understandable, and we spent the weekend of November 3rd though the 4th cleaning our yard to the condition it was in upon our initial move in. The bags we believe you are referring to in your letter were not trash; they were recyclable cans which were hauled away to a recycling facility by Brenné’s mother. We also experienced some kind of wind storm which blew our trashcan, recycling can, and cigarette receptacle over, and we have spent a lot of time canvassing the yard to clean it. The cigarettes were the last thing on our list to tackle; because they are small it is very time consuming to pick them up, but we divided the yard into zones and removed them for disposal. At no time during our residence has anyone smoked inside the house.
Please understand that while we enjoy living here, we are extremely upset at the very idea that a stranger came into what we consider our home, and stole our belongings and consumed our food. We had to dispose of every open container in the refrigerator, because we were unsure as to whether or not the burglar had eaten from them. Having found a pie from our refrigerator on the floor of the dining room made this necessary. We are very anxious whenever strangers walk by our house slowly. This type of victimization is extremely stressful; Molly slept in the living room until the door was repaired to make sure that no one entered without her knowledge. We are three young women who live here on our own without any male presence, and we feel that makes us vulnerable. We are also terrified of the idea that this could have happened when one of us were alone in this house when this egregious crime was committed.
As stated, we will have the property prepared to the specifications set forth in the letter concerning Section 3.04 of our Residential Lease Agreement. Please contact any of us to set up a time on Sunday, November 11th that is convenient for both parties.
Thank you for your letter. We feel that while you have made valid points about the condition of the property, we feel some are unwarranted and require explanation.
After the property was burglarized, we put our efforts into making the property feel more secure. You must realize that while you were visibly upset about the condition of the door, the criminal made all of us residing here feel intensely violated. Officer Dancer (the officer handling our case) exacerbated our distress after explaining that we are in a neighborhood well known for crime. He also explained that while, even though we have a gate, a criminal who really wanted to enter this property would do so, with or without the Ocotillo. We were and currently are under an extreme amount of distress about the conditions surrounding the incident.
Before the burglary, we locked every door and window before leaving, but we left the gates unlocked because we were told by you, at the time of our first meeting, that it was okay to do so during the day. After the burglary, we have made sure that all three gates are locked, even when we are home. We were having trouble locking the drive-in gate, but after lubrication the lock is in working order.
After our initial tour of the house and interview with you, we were felt confident that this neighborhood was safe address for us to reside at. Officer Dancer explained that because of the proximity of _______ Park, this type of crime is very common in this neighborhood. Officer Dancer was astounded to find that we were not aware of this fact. This statement has set us on edge, and we are much more cautious about our actions concerning the property.
In the case of pet residence, we must ask you to refer to our rental application, where Brenné listed the number of animals that would reside on the property. There are three (3) ten pound dogs listed. We also discussed, before the signing of the lease, that there would be three dogs (the two Chihuahuas of Amber, and the miniature Daschund of Brenné) coming to live on the property. On the night of the break-in, we three felt incredibly unsafe, and decided to protect ourselves and the property by having a full-sized canine patrol the yard. Officer Dancer made us feel that if we had had a large dog in the in the yard before the burglary, there would have been less of a chance that this type of brazen violation would have occurred. Upon hearing this, a friend loaned us his dog until we could discuss viable ways with you to increase the security of this property. While the dog is completely harmless, she does possess an intimidating bark, and she alerts us to the presence of random people walking by. She is of a breed that is allowed under the lease under Section 1.06; as a Labrador/greyhound mix she is not amongst the list of breeds prone to have an aggressive nature.
Please forgive the condition of the yard after the burglary. The burglar completely trashed the rooms of Molly and Brenné, and they concentrated their efforts into picking up and sanitizing the property inside the rooms, and the rest of the house. After the door was kicked in, plaster chunks and dust completely coated the entire living room and dining room, and we are still combating the dust through various cleaners and Swiffer dusters. Before the burglary, we were diligent in yard maintenance; the canine fecal matter was removed routinely and all plants were watered once a week (twice a week if they were juvenile). We accept full responsibility for the feces populating the yard, but our concern was to take care of the inside of the house, taking inventory of our missing property and assessing various ways we could secure the property, and then focus on the outside.
After the burglary, we now store our bicycles outside, on the north side of the house, because of the damage that was caused to the floor by the burglar. When the door was kicked in, the door frame fell onto a bicycle, damaging both the body (in particular the rear fender) and the floor when it toppled over. The floor was also damaged (by either the officers who responded to our case, or the thief himself) when, according to Officer Dancer, up to eight other officers walked through the debris littering the living room floor. You may recall hearing Brenné’s mother asking you and your girlfriend not to step on the debris because of the possibility of it scratching the wood. You may have noticed that there is a gouge in the floor caused when the bicycle was knocked over by the door frame when it was kicked in. We were unsure as to how to advance with the repair of the floor, and it was decided that we would wait to tackle that problem until after the front door, door frame, and wall were repaired.
Your vexation with the condition of the yard is understandable, and we spent the weekend of November 3rd though the 4th cleaning our yard to the condition it was in upon our initial move in. The bags we believe you are referring to in your letter were not trash; they were recyclable cans which were hauled away to a recycling facility by Brenné’s mother. We also experienced some kind of wind storm which blew our trashcan, recycling can, and cigarette receptacle over, and we have spent a lot of time canvassing the yard to clean it. The cigarettes were the last thing on our list to tackle; because they are small it is very time consuming to pick them up, but we divided the yard into zones and removed them for disposal. At no time during our residence has anyone smoked inside the house.
Please understand that while we enjoy living here, we are extremely upset at the very idea that a stranger came into what we consider our home, and stole our belongings and consumed our food. We had to dispose of every open container in the refrigerator, because we were unsure as to whether or not the burglar had eaten from them. Having found a pie from our refrigerator on the floor of the dining room made this necessary. We are very anxious whenever strangers walk by our house slowly. This type of victimization is extremely stressful; Molly slept in the living room until the door was repaired to make sure that no one entered without her knowledge. We are three young women who live here on our own without any male presence, and we feel that makes us vulnerable. We are also terrified of the idea that this could have happened when one of us were alone in this house when this egregious crime was committed.
As stated, we will have the property prepared to the specifications set forth in the letter concerning Section 3.04 of our Residential Lease Agreement. Please contact any of us to set up a time on Sunday, November 11th that is convenient for both parties.