Tenant wants to install Ring “camera” doorbell
Rental Property Investor · Papillion, NE · Member since 2017 · 398 posts · 1k+ votes
I have some residents moving into a duplex that is in a downtown area. They would like to install a ring doorbell system. Overall the residents are the ideal people but are just concerned with security do to busy street and location. I would prefer not to install my own cameras as that just increases my responsibility for handling footage etc.
Let him invest in your property and install their own camera. Makes them more invested and less likely to move.
@Shane Willis they have their own entrance.
@Collin Schwartz then I would t have a problem with it at all. Just my 2 cents
"Overall the residents are the ideal people but are just concerned with security do to busy street and location."
I guess I don't follow this thinking... On a SFH, I get it. But who is coming to the door who you didn't invite? If a friend is stopping over they text, delivery person- you called, I really don't get it. Where is their security threat? Maybe it is a generational thing, but the days of just dropping by someone's house for a visit without texting/calling are gone.
Why would a peephole and window not solve this? Are they living a version of "no country for old men" and they can't go by the door? Are they dealing marijuana out of the apartment? I am lost and I pride myself as scooping up the "just not" high-end market.
I don't have one, but I wish I had it installed. I live in a duplex which I own, and I have good tenants. My situation is:
1. My tenant get almost daily deliveries from Amazon and Whole Foods, and delivery services ring my front door bell constantly. My tenant has a separate entrance on the side. If I got "ring", I can just tell the delivery man thru "ring" it's OK, leave it there.
2. I notice many new stories of porch pirates, they grab your stuff and run. With ring, I could take and quick look and see who's at the door, and what they deliver.
3. I'm also near several churches and several times a month, the Seven day Adventists, Korean church, etc. and several others would ring the doorbell. Without "ring", we run to the front and we have to engage in a conversation, like "no, we not interested right now", and sometimes it takes 5 minutes to got rid of them. Then I also have other vendors dropping by, like the Verizon, Sprint etc.
4. What makes it worse is I have mobility problems from a stroke, when I'm home alone, the doorbell rings, takes me five minutes to get from the back of the house to the front, just to see if it's a package, or someone from the "Seven day Adventist". Just two weeks ago, my daughter rushed to the front door when the doorbell rang, to be met by some church lady, who said, "where's your dad". She yelled upstairs to me "some lady wants to talk to you", and I yelled back "about what"? Then I added, if it's the church lady, just tell her to leave the flyer. With "ring" we just wouldn't answer the door.
Maybe it's a generational thing, but I feel technology is at a point that if someone suffering from a stroke like me shouldn't have to rush to the front door. In fact, one person remarked, "it took you awhile" after ringing a dozen times. So I said to her "if I was 31 instead of 71, I can do a hop skip and a jump to the front door, and unfortunately I can't".
Still think I should put in "ring". or should I answer every doorbell? And if you're talking generational, my folks 50 years ago don't have Amazon, Wholefoods and Seven Day Adventist, porch pirates come calling. We only got the milkman.
@Frank Chin Thank you... I had thought about the "born agains" as a possible reason.
You have made a compelling case and I agree you should put one in.
I would just get rid of the doorbell... I have long realized I am wired differently.
Only consideration here is, how is the entrance setup? If separate entrances, let them do it. Just make sure they know that the Ring has to stay when they leave, or the old one goes back. Personally, I would rather take the old one back, since a Ring bell is another item to maintain when the next ones move in, and if it breaks on your next tenant they will expect you to replace it with a new Ring bell.
If there is a shared entrance, my answer may change. It would be awkward for only one tenant to have a bell at the front.
This; I also agree with asking them to return to the way it was at move-out to avoid being stuck with them (and the expectations of them) in the future. Otherwise, they'll likely just do it anyway and they're just asking to be polite and do the right thing, which is a pretty rare thing these days. Keep the tenants happy and invested in a case like this where it's a pretty minor thing.
As for fees.... I installed a Simplisafe alarm when I was rehabbing a unit and some a- hole broke a window tryin to get in while it was vacant, so I installed it so I could monitor it while it was vacant. When the tenant was placed, they had the option to pay for the monitoring service or not... without monitoring it still works and has sirens etc, but no call center is notified....if the tenants wants monitoring, then they pay it directly......their choice, not my expense.
Same with Ring..... if they don't want cloud storage, then they don't pay for it......not my expense
"Overall the residents are the ideal people but are just concerned with security do to busy street and location."
I guess I don't follow this thinking... On a SFH, I get it. But who is coming to the door who you didn't invite? If a friend is stopping over they text, delivery person- you called, I really don't get it. Where is their security threat? Maybe it is a generational thing, but the days of just dropping by someone's house for a visit without texting/calling are gone.
Why would a peephole and window not solve this? Are they living a version of "no country for old men" and they can't go by the door? Are they dealing marijuana out of the apartment? I am lost and I pride myself as scooping up the "just not" high-end market.
There’s a lot of people that come to your door these days, sales people, package delivery, etc. we have a right to know who’s there, especially when one isn’t home. You should see the family (in my area actually) that probably had their life saved by a camera doorbell. Person at the door had a gun. Not sure why that would actually frustrate you that someone would want a camera...
i do not see any downside for you, he can leave it at move out or put it back to the way it was
"Overall the residents are the ideal people but are just concerned with security do to busy street and location."
I guess I don't follow this thinking... On a SFH, I get it. But who is coming to the door who you didn't invite? If a friend is stopping over they text, delivery person- you called, I really don't get it. Where is their security threat? Maybe it is a generational thing, but the days of just dropping by someone's house for a visit without texting/calling are gone.
Why would a peephole and window not solve this? Are they living a version of "no country for old men" and they can't go by the door? Are they dealing marijuana out of the apartment? I am lost and I pride myself as scooping up the "just not" high-end market.
In today's world having a monitoring system is becoming the norm for all the reasons bellow, this is the electronic peephole, know who is outside, communicate from where ever you are and allow for tenants safety.
I have no real issue with the ring door bell what I have a issue with is paranoia. Todays society is no more dangerous than it has ever been. What has changed is the wide spread instant access to information that was not available in the past. This has created a illness in society, paranoia, that is unjustified and has imprisoned our society. Children are not allowed to be children, adults live in constant fear.
I am highly suspect of anyone suffering from paranoia. It is a mental illness that justifies behaviour through seemingly logical reasoning. It conceals irrational thinking.
One of my goals in screening is to try to identify applicants that may be suffering from some form of concealed mental illness. I do not want tennats with mental issues that will complicate my ability to manage them.
I have no real issue with the ring door bell what I have a issue with is paranoia. Todays society is no more dangerous than it has ever been. What has changed is the wide spread instant access to information that was not available in the past. This has created a illness in society, paranoia, that is unjustified and has imprisoned our society. Children are not allowed to be children, adults live in constant fear.
I am highly suspect of anyone suffering from paranoia. It is a mental illness that justifies behaviour through seemingly logical reasoning. It conceals irrational thinking.
One of my goals in screening is to try to identify applicants that may be suffering from some form of concealed mental illness. I do not want tennats with mental issues that will complicate my ability to manage them.
Tenant's wants and needs vary. Over the years, I have tenants wondering if it's safe being the first floor, whether window bars are needed, asking about installing alarms etc. I don't put it in the categories of paranoia as I had a few frightening incidents myself.
I moved to a new town after a job move, and a few weeks later the doorbell rang, and I don't know any one in town. Looked through the peep hole, it's no body I recognized, so I opened the front door to ask what she wanted. She rudely pushed past me, saying "you know what I what", rush into the kitchen, then to the bedrooms, yelling out a name, saying "I know you're hiding here". She ran in so fast that took me a few minutes to find her, told her "I just moved here, still unpacking. You must be looking for the folks who moved". I bought the house from an elderly white couple, and this unhinged lady was black, so I don't think there's a connection. She left before I call the police, and I was going to wait outside, as I had no idea if she's crazy, or how crazy.
Then I moved back to New York, and I'm in the habit of forgetting to lock the front door, sometimes leaving the keys hanging outside the door. But on two occasions, strangers walked in, the first time, I was home alone, and heard someone walking around the living room. I went to look, and the guy acted surprised and asked "doesn't so and so live here?". I said no, I just moved here a few weeks ago. Then a few years later, it happened again.
After going through these incidents, I don't mind tenants asking about safety. In fact, one tenant downstairs, who's an undercover narc, had his apartment broken into by someone climbing through the opening in the wall for installing air conditioners. The tenant installed a window air conditioner instead of a thru the wall, and was easily pushed aside. Because he was a police officer, and his gun was stolen in the burglary, the police crime unit with it's large trailer was parked in front of our house all day the next day, and a crime scene unit took fingerprints. He told me later they caught the burglar based on the fingerprints.
So I always have an alarm installed, and am in the middle of considering installing video as well, something like ring. As I mentioned above, I now have mobility problems after a stroke, and I have deliveries two or three times a day, So going to the front door is a big problem every time the bell rings. I also get visitors from local churches, and with ring or some other type of video, I can choose not to answer the door if no one else is home. Most of the deliveries are for the tenant, if I could see from "ring" it's a delivery, I would tell the delivery man it's OK, just leave it there, and then text the tenant. So it's convenience, not paranoia. But after what happened, now that I have wife and kids, it would be negligent to not consider their safety.
@Collin Schwartz your contract should be that the property be returned as it was received. If they upgrade it then all the better but you shouldn’t pay or be responsible for any of the features on ring. I wouldn’t go taking away deposits because they left an awesome upgrade.
Also yes, it makes them more invested in staying. It’s Kind of like pride of ownership
I would install it with my people and charge them just to make sure it's not a mickey mouse job. Leave it when they go. Attached property is real property !!