Hi all,
I have a question about the landlord / tenant's laws in Puerto Rico. I have searched on the internet and am unable to find info pertaining to my specific situation.
I am currently in the middle of a year lease. Unfortunately I had a home invasion while I wasn't home. There was no forced entry but items moved around and food half-eaten in the fridge that I hadn't eaten. I have reason to believe that it is the maintenance man of the building (multiple reasons but the main one being that the main office has a copy of each unit's key and when my landlord called to talk to the office after the incident, my key was missing. Upon already having suspicion of the maintenance man, this confirmed it in my eyes, or at least somebody with access to the building/office).
When I called my landlord the night it happened, she said she would get the locks changed the next day and get a chain installed. When the locksmith was here to change the lock, he told her the chain would cost extra because of the way the door frame is, so she decided not to do it.
I also feel uncomfortable because the office lady told the maintenance guy what happened (which upsets me because I suspect it was him and I would prefer that he not know that I noticed someone was in my house, if it was him). I have to see him every day and he always talks to me, and when he asked me about this he told me that I need to have the landlord install a chain on the door-- he didn't ASK if there was a chain, he simply told me that I need to have one installed.
Anyways, because of this situation I am now very uncomfortable living here. I feel that my key was mishandled by the office and that whoever did this has access to the building. This means that even if I have a new lock, to me I am unsafe just walking in the building at night, in the parking garage, taking my dog out to walk at night, etc). I also feel that I should have been made aware that my key was available to anybody in the office, because this maintenance guy has always made me uncomfortable and knowing he had access to my key would have really upset me.
Anyway, my lease states that if I terminate the rental before the end of the rental period for any reason I will forfeit the security deposit.
Does anybody know if I have any recourse here due to my concerns, the way the situation was handled (there are more details but I don't want to make this too long), or my safety that I am able to leave the rental early without paying a penalty? In some states, there is a law that a victim of a stalking (which I feel I am) is allowed to terminate the lease with no loss of deposit. However as far as I can tell that is not a law here.
Any advice offered would be very much appreciated. Thank you
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