When you're in the landlording business, you will have problem tenants once in a while. It is very common to evict a tenant for non-payment, only to have them blame the landlord. That is exactly what happened to me today.
While I was doing some painting at the Pink Elephant, I received a call from the city fire inspector. He told me that they had a complaint about one of my rentals from - guess who - the tenant I'm evicting. The tenant had called to complain that his side door was screwed shut, which violates the city fire code (all doors must be operational, even though only one door is required). I explained to the fire inspector that the idiot tenant was the one that screwed the door shut after one of his druggie friends broke in the side door. At any rate, I told the fire inspector that I would remove the screws today and he said he would re-inspect it tomorrow.
I arrived at the apartment and knocked on the door. When the tenant opened the door, I said that I was there to remove the screws from the side door and walked in. Suddenly, the tenant shoved me! Feeling somewhat threatened, I shoved back and knocked him nearly across the room. I asked him what he thought he was doing. He stated that I had to give him a 24 hour notice. I informed the moron that he called the fire inspector to complain about an "unsafe condition" that he caused and that I did NOT need to give him a 24 hour notice.
I proceeded to remove the screws from the door. As I was leaving, this idiot tried to slam the door on me, but I caught the door with one arm and it swung back, striking him in the face. Being finished with my business, I left.
A few minutes later, another one of my tenants who live across the street and saw the entire incident called me to say that the tenant had called the police and that the police were there. I asked her to give the phone to the police officer, but the police officer was in his apartment.
About a half hour later, I received a call from someone who claimed to be a lawyer friend of the idiot tenant. He asked me for my side of the story and I told him that I didn't talk to scumbag lawyers, and then I hung up.
This is the first time in 5 years that I've had a physical confrontation with a tenant. The odd thing is that I had not had a prior confrontation with the tenant - not even a verbal argument. This incident just illustrates how landlords must be prepared to defend themselves at all times. Who knows what was going on in this person's mind?
3 comments:
The eviction hearing is July 1. I was just surprised that he became violent when I haven't done one thing to him. However, this illustrates the thought process of these morons. He didn't pay the rent, but he is blaming me that he will be homeless.
I'm doing my best to let every landlord in town know what a moron this guy is.
Did the police ever call you to get your side of the story? If not, why?
No, they didn't call me and they certainly know how to contact me (I see them all the time). They probably were able to tell that this guy was a moron and probably explained to him that he can not prevent a landlord from entering his apartment when he claims that there is a hazardous situation.
Finally, they can't convict me for defending myself and I'm sure the police know that.
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