Tenant Complains Of Sexual Harassment From Other Tenant
I have two four-unit properties next to each other. I got a call from one of my tenants who said that when she came home from work one day last week, she was approached in the parking lot by one of the tenants from the property next door. He apparently had some buddies over, and they were sitting outside by the garage drinking beer and chatting away. According to her, when he approached her, he was clearly drunk, got right up in her face and said, “You’re f*****g hot. I used to run an escort service and had lots of girls like you. I’m keeping my eye on you.”
She’s very scared, and has even covered all her windows. To make matters worse, she’s white, while he’s African-American. However, his common law wife is white, so maybe this is a non-issue. Anyway, even though a few days have passed since this occurred, I told her to file a report with the police. I also intend to send her a letter acknowledging her complaint and recommending that she speak with the police. Finally, I plan to send a generic letter to all tenants informing them that inappropriate behavior towards other will not be tolerated. But at this point I’m not convinced that taking a more aggressive stance against the accused tenant is justified. Despite how despicable this sort of event is, right now it’s just a he-said-she-said situation.
Is there anything else I haven’t thought of and should be doing?
If you have the extra cash and are looking for a good improvement for your properties you could consider installing a security or video surveillance system. Prices have dropped considerably on these systems and you can get them for relatively cheap if you install them yourself. You can even monitor the cameras over the internet. I get all my stuff from SuperCircuits. Good luck!
[addsig]
What does the tenant who had the friend over have to say about the incident? You definitely need to have a direct conversation with him and not just rely on the generic letter.
If he is remorseful and apologetic you can give him a stern warning with an accompanying letter. If he denies or tries to blame her, you might want to get him out.
Monopoly...i think you just proved his point...regards, CWal