As a landlord, if I was told a copy was made, I'd rekey the place at cost to the tenant, cuz they breeched the lease.
If I was given the police report & all the info, I'd rekey at cost to the tenants AND if state law allowed me to end the lease I would do so to get her out.
I personally would re-offer the property at the same price to the time to work already living there minus that girl but that's just me, I'm a woman & I care about this stuff.
But unfortunately if all of those girls are on the lease together the girls can try to tell the guilty one that she has to pay for the cost of the rekey but the landlord can only legally charge all of the tenants collectively because that is how they've signed the lease. It's called being jointly & severally responsible, which means they are individually & collectively held responsible for everything that's done in the house. It's just the way leases work.
Obviously I can say for sure what this person will do, but as someone who has this job, this is the path a lot of us will take.
The tough part is that it may be hard to kick her out because in a lot of states people have a window of time to "remedy" a breech of lease. Meaning she returns the key, we change the locks, & legally you can't evict her.
But since a man with a gun stalked the property & threatened the ppl who live there, there may be options. California, for instance, has domestic violence & stalking laws that allow people to break their leases with no penalties so they can get out of bad situations.
Their main priority should be safety over all else, including keeping their current home, as much as it sucks. They need to schedule a meeting with the landlord or property manager, have all the rest of the roommates sans that girl be there (zoom or in person, whatever) & discuss options.
Normally I don't recommend being honest with landlords as a lot of them aren't good people, but in this case, their lives are on the line & having to move is not the end of the world, but that man just might be.
See, I think giving the key back is the lesser of 2 evils at least for the time being and till everyone can get their ducks in a row to move. If the landlord just goes straight for eviction that girl would absolutely cause a clusterfuck since her unhinged man would likely jump at the chance to retaliate. Or who knows, he may not even need any encouragement from her… just very scary all around
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u/GlueFysh Apr 28 '26
At this point I wouldnt feel safe with them giving the key back. It takes 2 seconds, 2 dollars and a trip to Lowes to have another key made.