Reader Mail: Dangerous Tenants
12
February
2/12/2008:
Today, we have a long and controversial letter sent in by a Hoboken411 reader about some “suspicious” characters hanging out in their building.
What do you think they should do?
“To whom it may concern (since all residents of Hoboken should be informed):
The tenants of a certain building on Monroe street have been having problems with one tenant throughout the course of a year.
Most of the residents of this building have gone through the brokers at Liberty Realty. However, we were not informed that the building allowed Section 8 and low income housing to occupy the apartments, even though we asked beforehand. When the Realtors initially displayed the apartments, potential renters (who have become tenants) asked questions regarding the history of the building (Is Section 8 allowed here? What crimes have been committed in the building? What cautions do the landlord take to protect his tenants? Etc, etc, etc…) Currently, there has been one troublesome tenant (lets just call her Tenant X) who has been terrorizing the entire building with the bad crowd she brings in.
Three months ago, a tenant came home to find 3 men masked in ski masks waiting outside of Tenant X’s apartment. The tenant ran outside the building to call the Hoboken Police Department while the 3 masked men took pursuit of the tenant. The assailants then ran back into the apartment building. HPD arrived and entered the building to find the men hiding in Tenant X’s apartment. Unbelievably, HPD escorted the men out of the building and told them to go home. The names of the assailants were never taken even though it was obvious they did not belong in the complex!!! Isn’t this an atrocity since the police should be protecting Hoboken residents?
Jump forward to 2 weekends ago. Early Saturday morning at 4am, the front security door was kicked down. Of course, most people are in deep sleep or coming home intoxicated on a Friday night. The following progressed through one tenant’s eyes:
The 3 men were creeping through the building jiggling on resident’s doorknobs. I assume they were trying to burglarize the first door that seemed plausible. Meanwhile, the 3 men ran into Tenant X’s household in fear of being caught. I then called the cops and they arrived immediately. HPD found the men standing in the hallway and asked them to leave. The cops never even asked me to file a complaint or took the names of the men down. Isn’t something the matter with this recurring picture????!!!!
Ever since that night, there have been men coming out of Tenant X’s apartment jiggling the doorknobs to residents apartments. The time this happens is approximately 3am-5am in the morning. The last incident occurred when residents of an apartment were waiting for a cab to the airport at 4:15am. A man walked out of Tenant X’s apartment to the resident’s floor. The residents looked through their peephole to see a man standing outside their door. Fortunately, the cab company called the residents cellphone. The suspicious man heard the cellphone ring then ran back down to Tenant X’s apartment!!!!!
Residents are now terrorized and are placed in an uncomfortable living situation in this building. Obviously, the problem stems from Tenant X’s crowd she brings around. We have filed complaints against the tenant with HPD and have continuosly asked our landlord to evict Tenant X. According to our landlord, it is very difficult to evict Tenant X.
As Hoboken residents, we fear retaliation and are unable to find peace in our households. We are asking for advice on this matter since we feel we have taken preventative measures to this situation before one of us is injured. It frightens us to write this letter to you, as well as talk to HPD. When we’ve filed complaints, the names of those who’ve filed are shown to Tenant X. We are in true fear for our lives and DO NOT KNOW WHAT FURTHER STEPS TO MAKE. Of course, the easy thing to do is break our lease, but we would have to go through a long and strenuous battle with our landlord which requires financial sums of money being disposed on our side.
February 13th 2008 - 17:36:07 |
First off, I think your situation is horrible.
I dont think Frank’s connectedness is the reason this isnt getting addressed. If anything that should help the cause assuming he realizes it is in his best interest to get the pos out. He is either going to help you or he is an idiot and will not help you..
One thing, he is telling you to do the right thing when telling you to call the HPD. He does need to get documenation in order to evict. Otherwise his case will get thrown out in court. For him to have a good case in court he will need multiple documented incidents. Remember tenants in NJ have lots of rigthts, including bad ones.
I dont know what the landlord is thinking but rather then pitty you or tell you have an awlful landlord I will give you some advice.
Get copies of all those police reports… You need that no matter what happens. You need it for the landlord to evict or you need that to force his hand in letting you break your lease. So not matter what the most important thing is to get police reports.
When the police come make sure they write this stuff up. If they are not writing reports you have a problem with the police that needs to be escalated up the chain of command there.
Be aware, it does take a few days for any incident reports to be ready. However when they come out I think they can give you the incident number on the spot. Make sure they plan on writing this stuff up.
Get your hands on two police reports and get together with the other tenants and tell him either the bad tenant goes or all the good tenants go.
If it comes down to it you have documented incidents no court will fine you for breaking the lease.
But realize, if the landlord wants this tenant to go it doesnt happen in 30 seconds. The landlord needs to file a ‘notice to quit’ to tennant X. It will need to say that loitering in the hall with skymasks distrubts the quit ejoyment of others in the building. You are requisted to quit distrubing others.
He then has to wait 3 days and then another documented incident will need to take place after the 3 day notice period. He can then file to evict which takes a good 30 days.
Give him a chance to show you he is evicting this tenant. As a landlord I feel bad for landlord too. I am sure he doenst want a pos tenant in his building even if they pay the rent. Realize it will take more time then you would like to get the tenant out but at the same time make sure the landlord is doing something to get to that point. you dont want to wait 45 days and find out he didnt do anything.
Really this is all about getting your documenation together and making sure he is doing something and just not sitting on his butt.
As far as cameras… I helped a friend purchase a camera setup for a commericial building he ownes. A decent set is a few thousand.. If he really is doing this he is showing effort.. But when we ordered our system he received in 7 days and had it installed by the next week.. camera systems are not anything really custom, they are not cheap but you can by a controller and some cameras and have it ship the same day..
good luck…. keep us informed of your progress… and personally I would like to see you out the tennant.. other landlords need to be on the lookout..
ConcerndHoboResident wrote:
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February 13th 2008 - 19:08:38 |
Concernd: Personalt has given you sound advice and suggestions. I have one more, if you know a good Real Estate lawyer contact them. I believe there are a lot of laws on the books that support the tenant over the landlord. (Although I could be wrong) But if you don’t know of one personally since you are a professional, I am sure one of your friends knows one. Ask around! Find out what your rights are! There is NO REASON why you should be terrorized where you live!!
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February 13th 2008 - 22:45:28 |
personalt, your advice to concernd is sound, but you assume Pupie wants to get this POS out of his building. concerned, I’ll bet you that they know each other well and are ,or have been friends at one time, or relatives of friends. and he’s DEFINITLY not going to install cameras in his building, christ, he can’t even get the front door fixed!
as i said, Personalt advice is sound, but EVERYONE in the building has to document the violations, the police visits, and such. If you’re the only one, it will look like an isolated incident. a clash of personalities. everyone must rally against tennant x, and don’t expect any help from Pupie.
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February 14th 2008 - 09:51:04 |
thebinatwork2 wrote:
it has nothing to do with cowardice, it has to do with intelligence. i’m not a lawyer, so i don’t know for sure, i’m going based on what my friend, who is a lawyer, told me. self defense in most states, is nearly impossible to prove if you are using more “force” than the attacker. so if they come at you with no weapons and you have a gun, you could be in trouble.
i’m not saying don’t get a gun. like i said, my father has plenty, i grew up around them and using them. i’m saying, not everyone is right for owning a gun, and they could cause more trouble than they prevent for some people. i would never blindly recommend to anyone, especially a complete stranger, that they should get a gun, without knowing the type of person they are. you don’t want to tell someone that is very reactionary and emotional that they should own a gun. if this person has a roommate that comes home often late at night, you could end up with a dead roommate rather than a dead/injured burglar.
i’m just sayin…..guns are not right for everyone.
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February 14th 2008 - 10:08:14 |
Stop blaming section 8… blame the shitty ass police department!!!!!!!!!!!!
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February 14th 2008 - 10:12:25 |
You may be confusing self-defense with the duty to retreat. In NJ, as far as I can tell, you actually do have a duty to retreat – which means you can’t use deadly force unless you can prove that you were trapped and reasonably believed you would be killed if you didn’t.
We’ve talked about this and it’s implications before, so I’m not going to bother with it again.
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February 14th 2008 - 10:21:54 |
personalt wrote:
i think you underestimate the power of demand for apartments in hoboken. while you are right, tenants can keep moving out, without people knowing about the problem tenant, tenants will also keep moving in. i’m sure there is a cost involved with getting new tenants, but since renters pay the broker fee, maybe the landlord doesn’t care that much and it’s less hassle than trying to get the guy evicted.
i’m obviously making a lot of assumptions that i may not completely understand, but it sounds plausible.
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February 14th 2008 - 10:36:34 |
Katie_Scarlett wrote:
Another reason to hate NJ and it’s wimpy laws for protecting burglars!! Power to the people!
I don’t care if someone is unarmed – if they break into *MY* home to try and ROB me, I damned well feel it is within my rights to shoot them…
And as the old addage goes, you better be prepared to kill someone if you’re going to use a gun…
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February 14th 2008 - 11:02:55 |
trueblue11 wrote:
yes, it’s difficult and expensive to move, and yes, the bad tenant should be the one who moves, but if these people feel like they are in danger, i think it’s worth the hassle. also, just simply having a bad landlord is reason enough to move.
listen, we all know the broker fee is expensive, and it sucks to lose it, but it’s a small price to pay to feel safe and have a good landlord.
consider it a lesson learned.
next time you search for the apartment, maybe you would actually talk to tenants that currently live in the building, ask more questions of the Realtor, etc.
file a complain with whomever you can. can you file a better business bureau complaint against a landlord? how about against the realtor? did they do anything wrong?
find these things out and take action.
call the landlord more frequently about the security cameras and the door. write him certified letters so there is a paper trail. ask for dates of when they will be installed and fixed.
sounds corny, but the squeaky wheel gets oiled.
as for the cost of moving, consider it the cost of the lessons learned. you got your first, or second apartment, and didn’t fully investigate, so you ended up with a crappy situation. unlucky yes. fair, no. but it is what it is.
write a letter to the hoboken reporter about the landlord and the building and the situation. write a letter to amNY and Metro. write a letter to the star ledger. see if there are magazines and consumer advocate groups you can inform.
get the word out there to as many people as possible, so less people would be willing to move into his buildings.
that’s strength in numbers. all the tenants that don’t act out are just facilitating this to continue.
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February 14th 2008 - 11:07:43 |
personalt wrote:
can’t the bad tenant simply deny knowing the people loitering?
i’d say you probably need some evidence that they are friends of the tenant, which is where security cameras would come in.
maybe the fact that everyone but that tenant has complained, if that is the case.
but i’m sure you’re gonna need something along those lines to evict, maybe not to break the lease though.
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February 14th 2008 - 11:37:34 |
Katie_Scarlett wrote:
they may be what my lawyer friend is referring to. but he also said if you have a “greater force” weapon, it could be seen as excessive, and not self defense.
maybe that has to do with the duty to retreat and that you need to believe you would be killed.
bottom line is, you have to prove these things, because the prosecution will have plenty of evidence to prove you “murdered” the person, so it’s up to the jury or you take the plea that is offered.
i’m just saying i’d rather not be in that situation and would take many other precautions to secure my apartment/house before it came to using a gun.
if you’re gonna use a gun, i hope you have cameras so you can at least show video of the attack.
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February 14th 2008 - 11:40:57 |
rapperd wrote:
sooooo true. unless you just use a gun for sport.
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July 28th 2008 - 15:13:47 |
I am a landlord in Long Branch and am in a very similar situation. One tenant, tenant C, is stealing from other four tenants, including going through their mail. He has gotten his vehicle on tenant B’s auto insurance policy. Has stolen a cell phone delivered to tenant A and made two weeks worth of phone calls to his wife, brother, former place of employment, etc… At least one MAC card was stolen from the mail and used to make several small purchases which probably didn’t require PINs. He probably broke into tenant B’s apartment while they were on vacation as is apparent from the puke left behind on their futon; Tenant C spends lots of time in garage drinking with friends, vomiting on lawn, urinating in a bucket outside of the garage door. Apparently his wife wont let him do this in the apartment. He and his friends also steal tools from tenant A’s side of garage and have broken into at least one other tenants vehicle and stolen change and a GPS. Long Branch police come by the house regularly and just shut off the music and lights and leave tenant C passed out on the garage floor. They never file a complaint or give a summons and there is no record of them ever being there. I have been to the police several times and they refuse to do anything about this situation even though they claim to have a “Zero Tolerance Policy”. I’ve had the fence in the front of the house destroyed by a drunk driver and the police report mentioned nothing about alcohol even though they were lining up dozens of bottles on top of the assailant’s totalled minivan and laughing about it in front of many witnesses. Four police vehicles on the sceene and not one of them remembers anything about alcohol being involved. And better yet the police report has a fake insurance number on it. Long Branch police are apparently here to protect and serve criminals, just as the court system exists to assist deadbeat tenants.
Sorry, I’ve strayed from my original topic, tenant C, to enforce that LBPD will be of no help here. I’ve talked to a lawyer and he says I have no grounds for evicting tenant C. He recommends that I raise rent 10% and hope he refuses to pay. Other tenants are also terrified and will neither confront the creep or come to court with me. The court will not accept written statements as evidence. A lot of posts here blame the problem on the landlord. I WISH I COULD GET RID OF THIS GUY! As a landlord. I am at the mercy of an inept police force and court system. I may be stuck with this guy until he kills somebody, and from what I’ve seen of the Long Branch PD, that might not even be certain. HHHEEEELLLPPP!!!
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July 28th 2008 - 15:26:25 |
yuseff wrote:
You need to install some cameras to record this guy’s activities.
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July 28th 2008 - 16:11:48 |
i fail to believe that all of what you stated is not grounds for eviction. what about “quiet enjoyment” clauses in leases? raise his deposit, raise his rent, and anything you include in rent bill him for (water, sewage, whatever) as a separate item. price him the hell out of it. i still don’t believe you cannot evict him.
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July 28th 2008 - 17:55:30 |
Tenant C is innocent until proven guilty. One lawyer I consulted, who is also the Long Branch Municipal Court judge, claims tenant C would have a case against me if I continue to investigate crimes committed against my tenants and use this information in court. If the police don’t think there is cause to even issue a summons, nobody other than the tenants that are being terrorized even care. And considering that they wont even come to court to back me up, I’m doubting how much they really care to do anything about it. He claims that the other tenants are framing him. As for raising the rent, I will certainly go down that path but if I raise too much within a year the court may perceive it to be “unconscionable” and throw the case out. My lawyer suggest raising no more than 10% per year. In addition, rent must be within the going rate for apartments of this type in the area. I could raise the rent another 30% but it will have to be incremental over the next three years, but hopefully he’ll give up before then. The obvious way to resolve this issue would be for one or two tenants to back me up with spoken testimony in court but for various reasons (they are scared of him and the potential retaliation, they can’t take time off from work to go to court, etc…), but they sure had time to complain to me constantly. The court will not take written statements from tenants, so otherwise it’s my word against his and the court will more than likely side with the tenant in that case. I had a huge fight with the guy and the other tenants have temporarily stopped complaining. I showed them I meant business, and they wouldn’t back me up. It’s only a matter of time until he starts up again. Believe me, I’d rather see him gone than the others leave when their leases expire, but my hands are tied behind my back without support of tenants and/or documentation from the police. I bought this house thinking I’d never be a slumlord, but this guy is taking the wind out of my sails.
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