You're fast, Joker!

JW24, I would not expect it to get better, as from what he said it sounds like at least one of the renters feels no one can tell him/her what to do, and I just get this feeling what type of person it is. As far as the "visitors", I am guessing they think that they are over there for some drug and or sexual activity. Maybe the landlord is a nice guy and just isn't around to see this, or as you are getting at not around and doesn't care or won't do anything. But the city, county or whoever needs to go after code and nuisance violations and get these people out of there, and/or they go after the landlord. Hopefully with the OP taking the advice, mostly by Guru, that the renters will be out of there by summer.

I actually own rental property. I once got an anonymous letter from someone for a problem I didn't know existed. Personally, I find anonymous letters a cowards way out. A couple of other times, I have had people talk to me about issues, and have been very glad they did. As an owner, I don't want people trashing my place. People like that do a lot of damage and it costs a lot more than a security deposit to fix.

 

I would never tell a renter who made the complaint. I would talk to the owner first. If he does nothing, then talk to the city and police.

If your jurisdiction is one that issues citations to the property owner (landlord) for trash, noise and other violations, that is one way to get the LL's attention, especially if the LL lives out of town. There is nothing like having to pay fines and/or appear in court to motivate people.

If they are violating the law, call the Police. If they are partaking of illegal activities, it will not be long before the WANT to move if the Police become frequent visitors.

Call the landlord and see if he wants to buy your house. If he is an investor that has multiple properties he might be interested and having properties near each other will get his interest, plus the neighbors won't be a concern to him, he will not be living there.

I actually own rental property. I once got an anonymous letter from someone for a problem I didn't know existed. Personally, I find anonymous letters a cowards way out. A couple of other times, I have had people talk to me about issues, and have been very glad they did. As an owner, I don't want people trashing my place. People like that do a lot of damage and it costs a lot more than a security deposit to fix.

 

I would never tell a renter who made the complaint. I would talk to the owner first. If he does nothing, then talk to the city and police.

 

But you are assuming that the owner is a reasonable person like yourself. Some people are scared of what may happen if it is leaked who complained to the owner. Plus with this case, there were threats already given, what kind? We were not told, but if one is concerned about it getting worse, or safety, it's kind of hard to put your name to a letter.

 

I have family that has rental property, and I know what you mean by the damages far exceed the security deposit, and lets face it, many times after an eviction the owner will never recover the cost for repairs.

As an owner of quite a few rental units, I have the following observations:

-the owner lives in another city, if the type of renter has declined the last 2-3 years after many years of good tenants, one of 2 things has occurred, either the landlord is losing interest and is now not screening his tenants properly or the economy in your area has declined(it may be a combination of both). Either creates a bad situation.

-IMO your only real initial option is to have a frank discussion with the owner, and even if the owner listens it will take quite a long time to turn around the reputation of rental property. If he has lost interest, I wouldn't expect him to fix the problem.

-I saw a similar thing in my parents neighborhood when the neighbors began to leave, they were replaced by people who either could not or would not maintain their property, it is now a complete slum.

-unfortunately, you are in a situation similar to owning a stock that is down in value. Your either hold the stock and hope it rebounds or sell the stock and cut your loss. Not knowing the situation fully, it sounds like this will not get better and you are likely to be better off by cutting your losses and getting away from that neighborhood. Best wishes, I know it must be extremely frustrating....

I think everybody here has given great advice. Having had to deal with almost this exact same situation, I'll offer what I did.

 

Used to live in a duplex with an extremely nice landlord. Like, would have been friends with him if I hadn't moved out of town. Across the street were some apartments with less than stellar characters, and a different LL. To put it in perspective, I would refer to my neighbor as Senator, because he was. The people across the street had a car on blocks. The apartments didn't use to be that way, but when the economy started to turn south so did the people renting across the street. Senator moved, I didn't. And old lady replaced him, and she was too old and deaf to hear or care what they were doing.

 

I asked my LL if he knew who the guy was across the street, he said he wasn't sure because the property had changed hands recently.

 

The people across the street had almost the exact same behavior. Frequent visitors, often for short periods of time (drugs), loud stereo and frequently they would have both drunken and sober public arguments.

 

So I started calling the cops. There were enough other places around that it could have easily been several people. Not for everything, because I realize the cops would hate that. But, usually every 4 or 5 times for a loud, dish rattling stereo, for almost every drunken fight. And I alerted the police about the random, frequent visitors.

 

After about a month, almost everything stopped. Can't say it would work in this situation, but it worked for me.

 

 

 

 

And the random visitor thing worked again for me. A lady down the street from me several months ago would have random people show up, knock on the door and shadily exchange money for something they immediately hid. Let the cops know, they investigated. Was sitting on the porch having a drink last summer and got to watch a surprise drug bust. Don't sell meth, guys!

Have owned investment property for over 15 years and will tell you from a high level of engagement this guy is probably just collecting a guaranteed HUD check and is far removed from care or concern. I've been an owner-occupied property manager for the entire time as well. Poor screening owners typically enjoy the buffer and won't impose change until the guaranteed monthly payment is at risk. Good owners screen their tenants well and guard their property interests and don't need HUD. Good HUD tenants are few and far between. Some times good tenants are in a bad season and act out. You could be witnessing this.

 

I've owned property throughout blue collar communities of NKY. I've just about seen and heard it all. I agree with the prior posts regarding not engaging the offenders. However, you can document disturbances, build rapport with city council, talk to the local police and ask them for insight, and more importantly build consensus with your non-offending neighbors. City council know their bread is buttered by the happy single family home owner. If not, they are a part of the problem.

 

If these folks are upsetting you. They don't discriminate and are upsetting others as well. IF enough of you voice concern at city council meetings and file complaints with the police dept. you may gain traction. I've seen city councils impose fines upon long term bad owners with unruly, community bashing tenants! However, know this, if they aren't selling drugs and just being a nuisance with loud music and disrespect of the neighbors...that doesn't have a lot of teeth anymore unless you really build consensus and have a rental owner with a heart who will listen to your concern ( especially if damage is being done to their investment ). Don't think your neighborly owner fits this description.

 

Ask yourself when the trouble began. Hopefully their lease is up soon or they simply depart by getting evicted or other circumstances prevail to your communities benefit. I feel your frustration and empathize otherwise I wouldn't have put the time in with this response. Remember, bad neighbors come and go in seasons. If this season is longer than what you and yours can handle. Do this much...sell when the bad tenants are gone and realize the good season will end in due time.

 

Prayers you all id a better community to meet your needs without the current trials and tribulations. Hang in there!

 

The key has always been communication and consensus which nets leverage where necessary. Good luck!

Old dog you have already confronted them and there are only 3 homes accross the street from them. Pretty sure they are going to figure out who is ratting them out. I'd consider a security camera for your house. My guess is these thugs will not go out peacefully.

JW24, I would not expect it to get better, as from what he said it sounds like at least one of the renters feels no one can tell him/her what to do, and I just get this feeling what type of person it is. As far as the "visitors", I am guessing they think that they are over there for some drug and or sexual activity. Maybe the landlord is a nice guy and just isn't around to see this, or as you are getting at not around and doesn't care or won't do anything. But the city, county or whoever needs to go after code and nuisance violations and get these people out of there, and/or they go after the landlord. Hopefully with the OP taking the advice, mostly by Guru, that the renters will be out of there by summer.

 

I know and I completely agree with most all of what you're saying.

 

I was just pointing out that there's not really anything that can be done about people parking on a public street, even if they are sketchy. Obviously, if there's more to it and they are breaking laws, then yes, but in my experience, the best thing for him to do is stay anonymous. I'm not sure that everyone giving him advice is telling him the best ways about going about that though.

THANK YOU ALL for your input and advice. BGP is a wonderful thing.

Good luck Oldog!