Posted by
bh06
19 yrs ago
I live in a serviced apartment and have had some personal items missing. There was a period of time when we had a different cleaner coming everyday to clean the apartment. I noticed that a designer hand bag I had used the week prior was missing, along with other valuable personal items. The management offered to do a search themselves but I declined this as I felt it was too invasive. They also offered to get the police to take a statement but we declined this as well because we knew we wouldn't get our stuff back as we didn't have household insurance then. However, I have noticed more things missing.
I am considering breaking my 2 year lease as we are no longer happy to live in this apartment.
Can anyone offer advice on this situation???
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TC
19 yrs ago
I think if you break the lease you could face the full 'wrath' of the landlord because in theory you have no just cause to take such action. From your point of view you say/know that personal items have been stolen (and I'd be very uncomfortable about staying in those circumstances too), but from the landlord's point of view there is no proof and you declined to involve the police. Otherwise anyone wanting to break a legal lease contract would simply be able to claim that things have gone missing and then walk away from their obligations under the lease. Of course, if the lease contract allows you to break it mid-term (with prescribed 'penalties') then it's a different matter. Good luck either way.
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Goloh
19 yrs ago
"You know you wouldn't get your stuff back" even if you filed a police report? How do you know? Miracles do happen, police find things, and they might have info you don't have....such as other people, possibly in the same building, who have filed similar reports. Seems to me you have to put your money where your mouth is, so to speak, and get some reports made in writing. Another possibility is to lay some kind of trap, hidden camera, etc. That works all the time. As TC said, good luck.
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unfortunately, you haven't filed any formal complaints that would help you break the lease... You need to have a paper trail in order to have any success. And, are you sure you have a two-year lease? That sounds extraordinarily long for a serviced apt.
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bh06
19 yrs ago
Appreciate your replies, they have been helpful. We did sign a 2 year lease with no break clause which was a very silly thing to have done in hindsight but I guess we just have to bite the bullett and live here until the end of the lease, we thought that we had locked in a good deal, which essentially we have.
Unless anyone has any advice on subleasing and how it works?
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Subleasing would only be possible if you have the landlords agreement, you can be charged if you do not inform him beforehand. A lot depends on your relationship with the landlord and the people you want to move into your ex-appartment.
To get back to the issue at hand, it just ain't very smart not informing the police, if you are a legal person in HK you should not worry about informing them of anything, it might not help but if they don't know they can't help.
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Brig
19 yrs ago
I agree with you about not informing the police but honestly how much man power do you think they are going to a sign to a missing hangbag case? I'm sure it would be fairly low on their priority list. In hindsight a police record would have been prudant.
Would appreciate it if anyone has information or advice on sub leasing.
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TC
19 yrs ago
The issue is not whether or not HK's finest are going to drop all their important cases to look for a missing handbag; it's whether the owner of said handbag really believes it was stolen - enough to want a record of the theft lodged with the police.
As suggested somewhere above subleasing is generally legal, but is dependent on the specific wording of the basic lease contract. It often states that subleasing is not allowed under any circumstances (in which case it is not allowed...), but if it isn't specifically mentioned then it would still be advisable to discuss with the landlord first.
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Ask for a look at the security camera in the hallways? You should be able to see if someone is leaving your apartment carrying things? Also there mustn't be too many people cleaning the apartment? Easy for them to narrow it down.
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