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Angry Tenant Kills Four People in Seoul apartment building
It wasn’t a good day to be a tenant or a landlord in Seoul, Korea. A jobless man set fire to his apartment on the third floor of a five story studio apartment building. The blaze damaged the building, injured seven people people and killed four. The angry tenant apparently attacked fleeing tenants as they left the building. 100 residents fled the building and 11 were hospitalized.
As economic tensions mount, be aware of potential changes in your tenants behavior. While your tenant and building security is top notch, and it is beyond the scope to know of a tenant’s potential for violence unless a documented violent behavior in the past has occurred. If your tenant is arrested, if there is a police report or police called the building, make sure your security personnel write their own report documenting what happened. You do not want to be held liable if what occurs could be construed as foreseeable. Also, arguably, even if you could win the lawsuit, you don’t want to spend money and time on it.
Always conduct proper tenant screening to adopt a screening policy that include criminal records searches. Better to be safe than sorry; and make sure that your tenant screening policy is consistent.
Background Checks on Tenants in Texas
Increasingly, cities across the United States are considering new laws to govern apartment complexes, including new regulations mandating criminal background checks on tenants. Irving City, Texas is the next big city who’s city council is considering a sweeping proposal of reform.
Landlords also would be required to conduct criminal background checks on all new tenants and would have to participate in a crime-free training program conducted by police. And property owners who lease to tenants who have committed certain crimes, including sexual assault, arson and the manufacture or sale of drugs, could face Class C misdemeanors. Police would provide direction on which prospective tenants are granted exceptions.
This is the first example we have seen where a city would seek to criminalize noncompliance with the new law. Since we work daily in the background check world, we wonder about all the potential problems this regulation could cause should a problem arise. For example, what happens if the background check misses an arson conviction that occurred 20 years ago and is no longer available at the courthouse record? What happen an expunged case? As cities pursue these tougher regulations, and we congratulate them for pursuing this, we hope that city leaders would be fair to their property managers and owners, and not through draconian policies force them to pursue owning property elsewhere.
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Renters and tenants are victims of mortgage crisis
Have you received an eviction notice even though you have paid your rent on time? Chances are that the property owners are in foreclosure. According to CBS, renters and tenants in Los Angeles are getting evicted in record numbers due to foreclosure by the owners of the property.
35,000 housing units are currently in default within the city of Los Angeles, and are at risk of being lost by their owners. A large percentage of those homes are occupied by renters who face eviction as their residences are sold.
California state law requires a 60 day eviction notice for tenant who has paid on time and is in a month to month lease situation. Some renters are getting evictions notices telling them they need to get out in less than that time. Some renter are claiming that they have been asked to leave in 3 days. If you are in this situation, call your local authorities and report the eviction. Usually you will receive a revised eviction notice given you 60 days. Then the real problems begin. As more people are looking for replacment housing, the available rental market is feeling a spike in demand; rents are certainly to rise.
Tenant Screening Program helps Bite Crime
Sometimes landlords and property managers can take a bite out of crime when they run criminal background checks on their prospective tenants. In addition to running tenant credit reports for financial history, landlords are now running criminal records searches to make sure their tenants don’t have a history of violance or are currently out on an active warrant. Not only can a tenant with a violent history open landlords to potential lawsuits from other victimized tenants, but tenants with active warrants have a habit of getting arrested and incarcerated, and not making their rent. This can potentially lead to the costly and time consuming eviction process.
Saving time and money with Tenant Screening
With a fast tenant screening program, you can run an instant credit report and a nationwide criminal database search and have the results returned instantly. Further criminal research can require a county researcher, but the instant report is pretty effective in many states.
Criminal Background Checks are part of Tenant Screening
Owners and property managers of large low-income properties are facing increasing pressure to regulate and improve the safety of their complexes. With the advent of the 24 hour news cycle and the availability of the Internet, the crime and safety levels are increasingly transparent in most residential communities, as bad news is publicized all the time and readily available forever.
Using Media to promote your safety policy
However property managers and landlords can use electronic media to their advantage by publicizing their efforts to increase security. By taking proactive steps to increase property safety, such instituting a comprehensive tenant screening program with tenant credit reports and background checks, property managers can publicize this information and usually reach a local newspapers. For example Denton Apartments in made headlines in Dothan Alabama by discuss how they are cracking down on the partying teenagers in their parking lots. The rest of the article discussing how running a background screening program and checking for drugs has become a full time job for the management company.
“We do not rent to felons and sex offenders. We may have a good person with a clean record to rent a place for somebody else and they try to slide in under the radar,” Hallford said.
“It’s a full-time job for me, looking for unauthorized persons in units. Residents have three days to get those people in here for background check. We do not want felons and sex offenders on the property and we do not want drugs on our property.”
Tenant Reps role changing in tighter economy
Tenant Representation Brokers across the country are taking on more advisory roles in the face of a tigher economy. They are increasingly helping their client find deals on real estate and managing the expenses involved in searching for commercial leasing, as well as build out construction. Tenant Reps are helping with negotiating the lease of real estate with the building owners, and can help clients locate cheaper, more affordable office space in areas outside of a firm’s known area of operations.
There has been a significant amount of what I would call hand-holding and advisory services in guiding our tenants on the choices available should they need to make a decision,” said Marc Miller, executive vice president at Winoker Realty Company, a privately-held, mid-size commercial real estate management and leasing firm in Manhattan.
Require Your Tenants to get renters insurance
According to a survey by Allstate insurance, 60% of tenants nationwide do not have renter’s insurance. The cost of renter insurance is very cheap, usually $15 to $20 per month, and within the price range for most tenants who are not absolutely destitute. Some landlords are requiring their tenants to carry renter’s insurance because it protects the landlords cash flow. Should a tenant sustain a devastating loss without renter’s insurance, they might not be able to pay the rent. And then the landlord must begin the long and costly job of the eviction process.
Tenant’s Liability
According the OC Register, some tenants believe that they don’t need renter’s insurance because they are covered by the building owner’s policy. While the building owner’s policy covers the building, it doesn’t cover theft or kitchen fires. Tenants are arguably liable for “any problem they create” such as a kitchen fire. Even if your landlord doesn’t require renters insurance, it’s valuable for tenants the protect their property and the risk of a lawsuit with renter’s insurance. Renter’s insurance should defend you should someone decide to sue you for slipping and falling inside your apartment or on your balcony. Another little known detail is that renter’s insurance might be able to provide assistance should you be involved in a civil suit, similar to the protection provided by a home owner’s policy. Talk to your insurance broker about the exact details of each policy.
Landlords Benefits of Renter’s Insurance
Landlords who require renter’s insurance enjoy the benefits of having tenants who are protected, should a tenant-caused accident occur in the apartment, and it also provides a level of tenant screening, by screening out some tenants who are so strapped that they can’t afford to pay an additional $15-20 per month. If your tenants cannot afford this small amount, chances are they might not be able to pay the rent very soon.
Building gets makeover with tenant screening
Creative Management in Columbia, South Carolina has received some positive press for instituting a new tenant screening and eviction program at the Broad River Terrace apartment complex. The building has 103 units and had a reputation for violence, criminal and gang activity. The new owners instituted a strong tenant screening program after taking ownership in 2003, and crime decreased from 364 incidents in six months of 2003 to 25 incidents in a recent full calendar year.
The article says that the city council is pondering whether to mandate other apartment complexes to pay for security measures, such as security cameras, security guards and better lighting. They are wondering if legally, these apartment complexes pose an unacceptable risk to public safety. It should be interesting to see how this legal issue plays out, especially since some property managers can be held liable if the crime is foreseeable. The new mandate seems a touch heavy-handed and big government (will they be instituted for every apartment complex, or only larger, crime ridden ones?) Is it open to manipulation and graft? It’s worth pointing out that it appears Creative Management instituted this additional security policy and tenant screening program based on their own business strategy and not by government mandate, and now they are enjoying a better reputation, probably charging higher rents, probably seeing higher property values (in the long run) and receiving positive press and developing a excellent business image. Hopefully the other apartment building owners will see these benefits and institute similar policies without government intrusion.
Chicago tenants may get protection against foreclosure evictions
Chicago tenants who face eviction due to landlord foreclosure may receive some additional assistance from City Hall. The plan is being put forth by the Chicao mayor Daley, which will provide up to three months of rent and moving expenses for tenants affected by the landlord foreclosure. The new bill is also looking to expand the notice to 90 days notice for all tenants affecting before being evicted from foreclosed properties. According to the Chicago Sun Times, some renters “get as little as five days’ notice.”
Keep them renting or abandon the building
This bill addresses a larger strategic issue for urban planners, whether to keep foreclosed buildings with renters inside to maintain the value of the property, or evict them and have an abandoned building on the block, open to vandalism and abuse.
Screening Tenants for Criminal Activity
The importance of maintaining a safe living environment for your tenants cannot be stressed enough, specifically with regard to criminal activity. According to Amerilawyer.com, “A landlord can be sued for failing to take at least minimal steps to alleviate the risk posed by a violent tenant, a Court has ruled.” The court action’s purpose was to clarify the term “heightened foreseeabillity” and the duty of the landlord to the tenants. The case law indicates that the tenant had a previous history of intimidating behavior and brandishing a firearm at other tenants.
To protect against these type of lawsuits, a landlord or property owner/manager should conduct a thorough inspection of their property and determine any environmental concerns that might breed crime, such as back alleys, dark corridors, lack of lighting, security guards or security cameras. Consider whether your property needs a security guard or security camera. Is the parking area safe? Next review any criminal activity that has occurred on the premises and determine whether the same factors leading to this case could arise again. Are the same tenants still living in the building? Then, consider whether you can conduct an annual criminal background check on your tenants. Depending on the laws of your jurisdiction, consider including such language in the body your initial tenant background check release form. Keep your property safe from crime will limit and reduce any possible lawsuits filed against you for negligence.
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