Did landlord violate commercial landlord-tenant law and make himself liable for theft that occurred in my space?

I'd been renting an art studio with another artist since '96 in the basement of a bldg downtown. We never had any signed lease agreement with landlord. We'd just pay him every month. The bldg was sold in '02. New landlord kept on renting spaces out. I began renting space myself when the other artist in my space left in 2011. I'd fallen behind a couple months paying rent. No notices had been posted. One day he busts open a doorway that'd always been sealed shut citing smelling something burning. Finding no fire he did not secure the broken open doorway. I was told to clear out, he needed my space. Before I could finish, locks got changed on access doors upstairs. $2000 worth of my supplies got stolen via the broken open doorway. When told about the theft he just says, "too bad."