Rental Property Investor · New York City, NY · Member since 2016 · 11 posts · 1 vote
It's crazy I have to ask for advice on this, but here goes.
I own a 3 family in NYC. I live on the ground floor with my wife. I self-manage (Why? WHY?!?).
My second floor tenant is a nuisance. I will not renew her lease and if I were anywhere other than NYC I'd evict. But I digress.
Last night I came home to find a pair of sneakers in front of the building entrance. This is a small building, the entrance feels like one for a private house. Except for these sneakers, wrapped in tape, and spray-painted yellow. The concrete was apparently the backdrop for this tennis shoe Picasso, because the ground was spray painted yellow as well.
But wait, there's more.
My front yard, all concrete, now looks like a Diwali festival, because in addition to the yellow spray paint, there is a 3 ft in diameter purple dot where the same tenant dropped a can of paint a few weeks ago.
My question (besides do you have a good lawyer in the Bronx, New York) is how should I handle this? Should I bill this back to the tenant? If so, how much? Or is it just the cost of doing business since I didn't have a question about "aspiring graffiti artist" on my application.
Thanks in advance,
Fuming Red
Hire a contractor to remove all the paint (purple and yellow) and bill the tenant directly for the cost, do not do the work yourself, do not deduct it from any deposit you may be holding. Deposits are only used only for after move out costs. If she refuses to pay you may then deduct the cost from her deposit after move out.
Have you done a inspection of the property lately....why did the tenant have purple paint at the apartment. Have you checked to see if they did any unauthorised painting inside. If so you will want to have that repainted by a contractor and bill to the tenant as well before you give notice to not renew their lease.
You might ask someone that removes graffiti how to proceed,, sand blast the paint off would be my suggestion,, you could always paint the concrete to cover the mess, This is vandalisim and I'd check with police department to see about filing a complaint.
Insurance ?? you could check with agent.
FOR SURE Bill them the cost to restore and get the bids and document with photo's
I would try to come to some compromise with the tenant and hopefully make them understand that #1 they need to clean this up and #2 should other things like this continue to happen it can cost them money.
If you need an attorney I can recommend someone as I do a ton of business here in NY but hopefully you don't have to use one at all and you can come to an agreement with your tenant.
Forget the police. I just had the situation with a bad tenant, who threw a whole gallon of pink enamel paint against the house. Called police and was told that this is a civil problem, because it's tenant / landlord dispute. Because the tenant has lease and is allowed to live in the house it's not vandalism.
He also threw paint all over our gate, that opens to 10 other residences and was told that since he's allowed to use the gate to get to his house, it's also civil and not criminal.
Do not allow the tenant to do the clean up or to hire a contractor to do the clean up. Tenants are irresponsible, and you can not trust that it will be done properly, to your satisfaction or without doing additional damage to the property.
Never allow any tenant to have any responsibility regarding your property.
My plan right now is to speak with an attorney to understand legal options and with my insurance to understand options there. This being NYC, the courts are SO tenant friendly, the best option might be a bill for cleanup (that tenant likely won't pay), not renewing the lease, and then trying to get the payment on the back end via security or small claims. I'll post back with an update after I speak with the lawyers.
If I could throw my 2 cents in here. It's always smart to get the advice of an attorney. Knowledge is power !! I would also speak with the tenant. You don't want to make a tense situation worse, and like I read above more damage could easily be done, If the tenant leans towards violence. ( Not sure if they do but I won't chance it. Not renewing the lease is also a GREAT idea. Is that going to be very far in the future I hope. Also make sure to document the damage, Just in case there is a court date in the future, It's always good to show the court what you were dealing with. I wish you the best of luck
@Steven Aponte I don't know of a single state in the United States that would protect the rights of a tenant for defacing a property. So sorry you have to go thru something like this. I think I'd be seeing red too.