New Landlord, Crazy tenant

[Kevin Cas]

Hey guys, So my wife and I recently purchased a 3 unit house. Unfortunately, it appears to have come with a crazy tenant in one of the units.

Short version is we are worried one of the tenants might do significant damage to the property / our vehicles in the parking lot. He yells at us repeatedly for really insignificant things (he just looks for reasons to be mad). Then we noticed small tools missing from the basement (which everyone has access too for the washer/dryer), damage to our cable wires, and my mother in laws tire was popped purposely by someone while she was here.

He obviously did all of this but we cant prove it.

The only thing that could of provoked him has been contractors occasionally blocking his car in the parking lot, but we are always there and can quickly move it if he asks, and he purposely parks in the only spot where he would get blocked in. If he does all that just from getting blocked in the driveway, what is he going to do when we evict him?

What are our options? How can we handle this situation? Even after he is evicted we are worried he will come back to damage the place.

Our lawyer suggested putting a lock on the basement and only opening it at certain times or installing security cameras. The lock seems like it wont help unless its locked 24/7 and we had a security guy come look at the house yesterday and can install cameras but it will cost almost 2k.

Is there anything we can do besides the security cameras? Its a good neighborhood so they will probably never be needed again (besides to make sure he doesn't come back). I'm sure security cameras would work but after searching this forum it seems other landlords are able to deal with similar problems without them...?

Thanks for any help, I tried to keep this short so if you need more details just let me know.

[Jean Bolger]

First, I'd put any tools and anything that can be "lifted" into a secured area. It's not that hard to cordon off a section of the basement and put a lock on it- certainly less than 2k. And be rigorous about putting all tools back there. He probably did steal the tools, BUT you need to be aware that it's awfully easy to misplace stuff like that and then jump to conclusions... especially once suspicion/conflict has started to develop. You are the one who needs to keep their cool here, and not rise to any bait. Stay calm and professional.
There are cameras that are available (battery operated, motion activated, all sorts of cool stuff) for a lot less than that, if you decide to go that way. If you can catch him sabotaging something, that would certainly strengthen an eviction case, I'm sure.