Vandalism and landlords (an interesting Sunday)
So my place was SEVERELY vandalized last night by a freshman Notre Dame student who was out of his mind on something. He attempted to break in through all 4 of our entryways, doing a good amount of damage to them all. Finally he settled on throwing a concrete flower pot through the patio door. Once he got onto our enclosed porch and realized there was another door to get through, he decided to take a different route....by digging his way through a wall:
This is just a small fraction of the damage done. It's all fixable, thank god, and none of us lost anything important. He didn't even touch our cash drawer or computer! He did spray fire retardant on everything, and smashed a few items and walls. One of the girls I work with went in this morning to get something, found the place all disheveled and called the cops. They found him, still passed out upstairs, surrounded by drumstick wrappers and hot pockets....apparently his parents could pay the insane tuition at Notre Dame, but they couldn't give the kid some lunch money. Or teach him not to do drugs...or respect other people's property....Something tells me he'll be going to a community college once he gets out of jail and we finish pressing charges against him.
So in this instance, who's insurance covers the damages? Business owner or landlord? Our landlord has ADT installed, but it's never been active and she refuses to give us the password to activate it.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ally Draizin on
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Oh. My. God. That is the craziest thing EVER. Whoa. I'm glad you are ok, and that it's all fixable. I am sure someone here will know about insurance, but I would probably ask the police or ask my insurance company who is responsible.
So sorry that happened! :(
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Permalink Reply by mk on
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Yeah, all of the renters were there (including the girl who's room got an extra window), and we were all laughing at how insane the situation is. I would LOVE to hear what his perception of reality was at the moment when he started digging into the wall....or when he sprayed the fire extinguisher on everything....
My hope is that Notre Dame won't be able to sweep yet another aggressive student story under the rug. These things unfortunately happen often in my part of town.
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Permalink Reply by Cindy Greenwood on
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Landlord is responsible for repairing structure.
If any equipment is damaged landlord may push that off onto renters.
I doubt she has loss of business coverage - but you can ask, and check with your own insurer.
Make sure that someone calls the media to come take pictures and get in the paper or TV. Too bad no one took a pic of the passed out student. What a mess!
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Permalink Reply by body&skincarebyenith on
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what on earth :/
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Permalink Reply by Amy Sherman on
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We had something similar happen to us! Only they were doing drug deals in our parking lot after business hours. Someone smashed through all our windows and stole....the fridge. That was it. No cash, no safe, nothing. Just the fridge.
I am SOOOO glad everybody is ok! As I live so close to Bloomington, I can understand your situation. How incredibly frustrating for you and everyone involved.
The first person I would contact would be MY insurance company. They will know. Usually it's landlord for structural damage and yours should cover the cost of your stuff IF it's insured!!!
PLEASE keep us posted on how it goes!
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Amy, a mini fridge or a full sized fridge??
The business owner's agent came and looked the place over. They still have to figure out who's paying for what, as far as the landlord vs business owner goes. Our landlord has been horrible about every repair we've made up to this point, and she's trying to tell us that the business insurance should cover it. Turns out her deductible is higher than what the proposed repairs will cost, so she's trying to avoid paying out of pocket.
Here's another interesting photo
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tidestruction.JPG, 72 KB
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We got interviewed just now and will be on the news at 5:30 tonight. So at least we are getting a bit of advertising out of this predicament. We have a local architect/property manager who is going to be lending us space while the repairs are being made.
Now we just have to clean up as much as we can so we can stay open for business!
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Update: We moved our business down a few blocks to some rental rooms. The legal side of things is getting out of control, and I think we're going to be getting screwed. If anyone has been through this before, please message me.
This is my temporary room. The brickwork is original from the early 1900s, it's very beautiful.
^ Our view of the St Joe river is nice too :)
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full size fridge.
THIS IS BEAUTIFUL!!! What a great temporary location!!! I am so sorry this happened to you! Keep us posted!
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Yes, we were very lucky to know a local property manager who just so happened to have this space available. We're chugging along!
Unfortunate factors: Our business lawyer is a ND graduate, and dropped us in favor of representing the kid who broke in.
The kid is 19, so if we take him to court, it's likely that he has no assets. I'm not sure how we will recoup our money going down that path.
The family is offering to settle, but so far their offer has been less than the initial out of pocket costs.
Because of the media attention, we've gotten a few "prank" appointments. Not too many people are that cruel, thank goodness. It's just another added stress.
Again, anyone with legal knowledge, feel free to message me and tell me your story or give any advice for this situation. It's been confusing to navigate all of the legal processes, and to top it off we are all still trying to keep business going as usual!
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Permalink Reply by Janie Moorehead on
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Kim, what an unfortunate incident for you to endure. I do love your temporary space though! Sorry for your hardship and wish you all the best.
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