Unforeseen Trouble in your neighbourhood?

If your tenant is a victim of crime, is this an unforeseen change in their circumstances which may result in them breaking their fixed term lease early?

I'm currently waiting on the outcome of a Tribunal hearing to find out.

Some people would consider having their car broken into as a reason to move away from an area as soon as possible.  Others would shrug and say 'that the roulette wheel of life, could have happened anywhere'.

If you have a tenant in the former category, and you are firmly in the latter, your tenant will probably find you unsympathetic to their cause.  But will they win over the sympathy of the Tribunal should they wish to break their fixed term tenancy early?  

The Tribunal does not need to feel that the hardship caused by an unforeseen event is severe for a reasonable person, but that it was severe for the person affected.  So if that person is a drama queen, their drama is real for them, even if the rest of the world is rolling their eyes at their thespian antics.

I personally can't understand it when people make a big deal out of a small issue.  I'm not cut from that cloth and I'm told I have a higher tolerance to stress than most.  I'm pretty hard to panic, it really needs to be life and death for me to get that feeling of 'OMG what am I going to do?', which is why I am so good at first aid.  I don't like feeling that way, so I prepare and practice.  (I'm definitely one to have on your team when the Zombie Apocalypse happens; the only question is, are you one I want on mine?).

If you have always lived in a plain, foothills will seem as high as the Himalayas to a mountain goat.  What do the Himalayas look like to an astronaut in space?  A wrinkle on a tablecloth?  Problems are all a matter of perspective.  

It was suggested to me today that landlords buying property in a particular area should expect problems with crime, and their tenants wanting to leave as a result, and it is a risk they should bear.  I wish I'd retorted that tenants wanting to live in a particular area should expect problems with crime, and their landlords wanting them to stay in spite of it, and it is a risk they should bear.  If an area has a reputation, is an event in keeping with that reputation unforeseen?

I will find out when the order comes.