Problem With RC Tenant
I own a house with a rent control tenant, yes I know, who thinks he can do whatever he wishes and does this…among other things! After discovering that he hands out, and has been handing out for years, front door keys to whomever he likes so he does not have to come down the one…
I own a house with a rent control tenant, yes I know, who thinks he can do whatever he wishes and does this…among other things! After discovering that he hands out, and has been handing out for years, front door keys to whomever he likes so he does not have to come down the one flight to let his people in. I changed the front door lock. You know, the lock with keys where you need a card that authorizes you to make a copy. I gave him two keys as required by law, thinking at least that not everyone had keys to my house. So now he puts one key in the mailbox and hands out copies of the mailbox key to who knows. After informing him about jeopardizing the security of the building, etc, etc, I was told “F†you! Not my problem! While I try to figure out how and who can help me get these people out of my house, can anyone suggest a way for me to short circuit this S.O.B. and protect my wife and kids and MY property from strangers in the hall.
Side note; Any housing lawyer recommendations would be appreciated as well. I have evidence, pictures and recordings as backup. Yes, its bad.
Thanks!
Sadly, Bowl of Dicks and Sam have it right.
If you solve the mailbox problem, the key will be left in another, even less secure location. The tenant feels that it is perfectly OK to make his key available to all his nice friends, and their nice friends, and even nice friends he hasn’t yet met. He’s not going to change this fundamental belief.
The only temporary solution is to make entrances as separate as possible. On the plus side, market-paying tenants prefer a separate entrances.
I doubt you can get rid of him through the courts, although taking the whole space for family purposes seems to be a successful strategy. Your best bet would be to buy him out, if you can afford to.
In the meantime, while it is YOUR HOUSE, it is also HIS HOME. I understand your point, but a huffy, entitled attitude (no matter how justified) will get you nowhere. A charm offensive is required.
Sympathies and best wishes.
Are you worried about the security of your personal residence or are you just pissed that the tenant seems to as he pleases?
If your worried about security, would it be feasible to install an alarm system in this situation? I realize the tenant could just pass out the code, but i’m not even sure you really would have to secure the entry door(someone with an alarm system, please cut in). However, by arming the portion of the building that you occupy, you could provide yourself a level of protection you currently don’t have.
If your pissed about the behavior, i’d say get over it.
Bxgrl: In this case, you’re not much different from Rob. Rather than just make your point, you’re complaining on this thread about what Rob’s writing elsewhere. OP has never written that the RC tenant and friends are walking through his personal living space. If that’s the case, I’d like to see it specified. He’s complaining that anywhere the RC tenant and friends walk in the building constitute an invasion of his space, an affront to his ownership and a threat to his security. That’s a pretty clear window to me of OP’s inability to separate the business end of being a landlord from his personal likes and dislikes, and skew the argument into a threat to life, limb, family, home, motherhood and apple pie. Tenants are not children. Landlords CAN’T set curfews, limit friends, hours, work shifts, etc. The issues are much more in your face if your property is small and you and your tenants are next-door or vertical neighbors. But that situation existed before the purchase was made.
The best thing OP can do is rectify the environment and relationship with tenant to the greatest extent possible. Alternatively, OP can dig in, roll up his sleeves and enter a dragged-out, expensive battle in housing court, fully understanding he STILL might not get the outcome he wants. As to roommates, there are very specific laws governing that, too, and they’re not about tenant’s “property rights” and they vary depending on whether the apartment is rent controlled, regulated or unregulated. Anything a landlord writes into a lease which contravenes existing law is null and void. I have sympathy and personal experience dealing with tenants who play the margins of their leases. However this issue is a bit like buying a brownstone and then complaining that the facade is frail and needs repeated and expensive maintenance. It’s only a surprise to the new owner who didn’t understand the range of issues they’d be dealing with, and who resent it to some extent. It’s was never an unknown factor for an informed owner re: owning the building.
rob.
that story is true.
I swear I did not make it up.
I have been around a while and have had experience with a wide variety of things.
I admit that there are other things I know very little about. Tattoos for instance.
Not that naive, sam. there is a law that a tenant may not subrent at a profit. They can subrent, yes,but they can’t make money off of the landlord’s property. And I believe that the tenant must get permission from the landlord to take in a roommate or to sublet.
Its sad but you cant do much. Guy has you by the balls.
I suspect that you could write into the lease that its not allowed.
bxgirl: you are naive about the ways of housing court in Brooklyn. It is not at all illegal for rent control or stabilized tenants to rent out portions of their apartments.
As far as the courts are concerened it is their property. The owner just better provide heat, hot water, and a non-harrasing environment or risk jail time.
i think sam makes stuff up sometimes when it comes to rent controlled stories. . i dont know, it’s just the Raven side of my brain guessing that..
*rob*