All Forum Posts by: Ben Gleason

Totally.  What a good an idea.  

Quote from @Mark F.:

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

 Then talk to him and tell him you are concerned.  you could tell him if the police are coming over (in his mind-but leave that part out), perhaps he would rather live in another place that is a better fit for him.

 Assuming what you've posted is true, this person is seriously mentally unstable. You need to either get rid of him ASAP somehow (lease violation or speak to his emergency contact/family member) or get out of there yourself. No amount of money is worth you and your wife's safety. Severe all contact immediately.

I quoted that part above as confronting him directly and saying you're concerned about is behavior is HORRIBLE advice. He's obviously not all there and you put a target on yours and your wife's back by openly acknowledging his behavior. For the love of everything do not do this. Not one good thing will come by you bringing it up to him. Whether or not you are trying to play into his games is irrelevant.

Think about this. He's obviously paranoid about someone coming to get him. And you tell him he's scaring you and your wife and to knock it off? Don't play into his delusions. Ignore all communications and work to get him out or move yourself. People who act like this are insanely unpredictable. 

 I would never confront him about any of this.  I can see that as a potential for escalation.  

Problem is, I’m unsure how to get him out while he’s in a lease. 

Aside from being totally creepy, (and to be fair, I need to understand this is potentially a mental disorder and I don’t want to shame or discriminate against that) there have been no actual violations. 

I pretty much rush through our face to face convos and stick to text. I try to be as pleasant as possible while keeping my head in a swivel. 

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

If he month to month or on a lease?  I'd give him notice that you aren't renewing his lease.

He is only 3 months into a 12 month lease. 

I own a property where I rent out the lower apartment while my wife and I live in the upstairs one. Consequently, I see my tenant quite regularly. I've had issues with this tenant in the past, as discussed in a previous post.

Currently, I'm concerned that my tenant might have a drug problem, as he seems to never sleep. I'm also quite certain he has an alcohol issue, as I always smell alcohol when we speak in person.

When the tenant first moved in, he would wait for my wife to leave for work and then rush outside to talk to her, often presenting significant problems he was facing – hospital visits, sick parents, cyber hacking, and more. Eventually, he shifted his attention to me, and now I receive the same treatment. I try to be cordial and brief, but his issues have become increasingly bothersome.

He now believes he is the victim of a serious crime, often calling to tell me the police are coming over (which they never do), or asking if I see a specific car on the street because he fears they are there to harm him. He constantly mentions either coming from or going to the police station due to this vague crime issue.

We have a driveway, but only my car is allowed to park there; the rest is street parking. Tonight, I came home to find his car parked partly on the lawn and partly in the driveway. When I asked him to move it, he said the police had visited and that he would move his car in a few minutes. I left the house to drive around the block to give him time, I noticed him standing in the dark, staring out of his window recording with his phone. Upon returning, I saw him still recording from his apartment window, facing the street. It was quite unsettling.

I ended up parking on the street and going inside.

What should I do in this situation? Both my wife and I feel extremely uncomfortable with him here. 

Quote from @Bruce Woodruff:

Quote from @Ben Gleason:

This (among other things) has honestly made me feel so uncomfortable now.  I'm not sure what to do since I live upstairs from him.

Get rid of him at the first available opportunity. I mean legally if course, not a drive in the desert.....

 HAHA!  The deserts of Middle NYS have no secrets!!

Quote from @Craig Janet:

The bed was fragile? LOL! That means that it was a piece of junk.

I would not have any further contact with the tenant. You offered multiple reasonable solutions. I'm 100% positive they will not hire a lawyer. Don't offer any cash or discounted rent. If they try to withhold rent move to evict immediately.  

Agreed.  I think someone else mentions, and i agree, that if he were going to call a lawyer, he would have.  Im done with it.

This (among other things) has honestly made me feel so uncomfortable now.  I'm not sure what to do since I live upstairs from him.

Thank you, everyone.  I see everyone has the same opinion, and I will just wait to see what he does.  This morning I did offer him the ability to, once and for all, offer me a concrete solution.  So  I will see what he has to say then.

Since I live upstairs, and him and I up to this point have been very cordial, I have this all in text form rather than letters.  

Appreciate all of the help here.

A note: I own the home, live upstairs, and rent the lower apartment.

I hired a contractor to replace some windows, and and repair the damaged frames.   I gave my tenant a 30 day heads up on the repairs, I then gave him a reminder two weeks out, and then I stayed in constant contact with him the week of, and the day of the repairs.

In this time, the tenant did not move any of his furniture out of the way for the contractors to do their work.  When myself and the contractors went into the apartment to look at the windows, we noticed the tenant had his bed  situated  roughly 32 inches away from the window.   Contractors informed the tenant they the bed would have to be moved in order to do work on the window.   The tenant let them know the bed was fragile, but agreed to have it moved.

While moving the bed the slats on the bottom came loose and came off the bed.  

By now the windows were fully installed.

The tenant informed me about the bed, and offered photos. I contacted the contractor who immediately apologized, and offered to repair the bed that day.   The tenant refused to let the contractors repair the bed, and refused to let them back into his apartment.   I asked i'm what he thought was the best, most straight forward path forward and he declined to offer a solution.   I then said I, myself, would pay for the repairs and then deal with the contractor solo to get my money back.  He still did not offer any monetary value or solution.

I reached out again to the tenant and said I would give him the contractors information if he wanted to file a claim, and have the bed repaired, or replaced.  He declined and instead mentioned contacting a lawyer, and made a few vague comments about how the contractors were people of color, which surprised me.  He said to have the contractor "do whats right", which is both subjective, and not clear at all.

As soon as I hear lawyer speak I tend to stop talking and prefer to keep everything in writing.

I am at a loss here.  I offered multiple solutions, the contractor offered a solution, I offered to pay direct, and still haven't seen a monetary value and he keeps mentioning lawyers.   At this point I feel like telling him to call a lawyer, although I am sure they're going to suggest the same thing I have been suggesting for over a week, which is "find a solution".

Any help? Any tips?