Q. I moved into a garden apartment. There are bars on my front and side windows but not on the back door. I warned the building manager that the back and side gangway gates did not lock.

While I was at work one day, the back door was kicked in. A burglar took all my stuff except the bed, couch and my clothes. If I had been home, I could have been killed.

I didn't have renters insurance because I just moved in. Can I sue the owner due to his negligence? Should I withhold rent and move out without giving him 30 days notice?

A. While harsh and not reassuring, statutory law and court decisions do not hold landlords responsible for most acts of third parties, whether known or unknown. Unless your door was not properly repaired after the break-in, you have no apparent right to move out or stop paying rent.

Generally, a landlord does not become liable to a tenant unless the landlord reasonably could foresee a criminal activity taking place based on previous criminal acts on the premises. Upon knowing of this type of activity, it is the landlord's duty to inform applicants and current tenants and take reasonable precautions, such as repairing locks, replacing burned out bulbs, and complying with building code requirements that are directly related to the known security threats.

After that, the landlord is not usually liable for others' criminal activities unless the landlord guarantees what he does will accomplish 100 percent of the intended security goals.

In your situation, if the landlord was aware of previous break-ins in the building involving busting down doors and failed to warn you, that could be grounds for terminating the lease and demanding restitution.

When you first saw the apartment, bars on the windows should have been a clue about what you might later expect. Even if your landlord had put up back door bars and gangway locks, it is no iron-clad guarantee of security, only a deterrent.

As an applicant, it is important to talk to neighbors before signing a lease. Visit the building at night to learn about nocturnal activities in and around the building. Before applying, ask the landlord to state in writing what types of criminal activities have happened at the building.

Check the Chicago Police web page http://gis.chicagopolice.org/, linking to Reports and Statistics, and then check with your local police district for local crime information in the previous 60 days. Talk to the neighborhood relations officer at the local police district.

Write mediator Ed Sacks at Apartment Watch, Homelife, Chicago Sun-Times, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago IL 60654, or e-mail apartmentwatch@earthlink.net.