N/A housing/landlord issue

dell30rb

dell30rb

Final Approach
Joined
May 18, 2011
Messages
7,148
Location
Raleigh NC
Display Name
Display name:
Ren
Long story short I take care of the yard at my girlfriend's house, its a small yard in a subdivision with a bunch of starter homes all packed together.

They rent through a property rental agency. The property rental agency contact person is nice enough, but keeps relaying complaints from the actual owner of the house, who says the yard looks bad and he is going to get fined by the homeowner's association.

I mow the yard about every week and a half, never more than two weeks between mowing. The girls pull the weeds out and have trimmed the bushes. It looks better than the neighbor's yards, much better. But this guy keeps complaining to the rental property association. The guy will drive by the house and take pictures from his car. Probably 2-3 days per week, he drives by, stops in the street, whips out his camera, takes a bunch of pictures, drives off. This has been going on for two months.

We know it is the owner photographing the house - only because the rental agency accidentally left a message on one of the girl's phones, intended for the picture - snapping owner. "Yes, mr. so and so, I got your pictures of the house and the girls have since mowed the yard"

I know photographing a house you own from the street is not illegal, but obviously it is strange behavior, and its downright creepy. The yard looks ok and to our knowledge, the guy has never recieved a fine from the homeowner's association for the grass being too tall.

From a renter's perspective, what can be done about this? I told them to meet with the rental agency person and complain about this owner. Tell him that they will pay any fines (it is spelled out in their lease that they are responsible for any city fines etc..) and please discontinue the picture taking etc..

They are meeting with the rental agency tomorrow. If he continues this behavior i'm tempted to report him to the police as a stalker. The girls are all in their 20's, and really creeped out by this guy driving by and snapping pics of their house all the time.
 
Last edited:
So, you got this geezer landlord with nothing better to do but drive around a few hours per day to find things to complain about. He probably spends the most of the remaining day on his lawn. Water every day, fertilize 6 times per year, cuts on the diagonal, and doesn't have one single weed. You say that the girls are pulling weeds - so there are some. And, if you can go a whole week without cutting you are clearly not up to his standards. "OK" is a far way from perfection. He is never going to be satisfied.

I'm sure the rental property agency is sick of listening to him complain as well. So tell them that the yard is being cared for and you don't need to be harassed over nothing any more. Let them deal with the geezer on their own.
 
Capt. Geoffrey Thorpe said:
I'm sure the rental property agency is sick of listening to him complain as well. So tell them that the yard is being cared for and you don't need to be harassed over nothing any more. Let them deal with the geezer on their own.
Click to expand...


I agree with that, and that was my advice to them! I'm not really sure if that will solve the problem however.

At first I berated the girls for picking this place in a subdivision and not caring for their lawn.. look what that got me, now I mow the lawn. But i've been doing a damn good job of it and he continues to complain so its personal! Haha
 
You could always sit on the front porch (or lawn) and photograph him as he photographs you. If nothing else, that might weird him out enough that he stays away for a while.

-Rich
 
Double up on the lawn mowing and be f-ing done with it WTF over? Jesus I can't believe you can't take the hint!

Having owned rental properties, this is annoying as hell.
 
If I knew who was doing the complaining, the complaining would stop as the complainer would no longer be able to drive in front of my rental property due to a sudden outbreak of mysteriously flat tires.
 
When the is lease up? I've got a small 3BR looking for a renter starting Aug 1st...

Be sure to edge because it makes a difference in appearance.

Take pictures yourself, including comparison shots of the neighbor's yards. The next time the complaint comes, ask the realty company whether there are complaints from the HOA or just from the landlord (and phrase it that way...they'll inadvertantly confirm your suspicion).

Generally - don't worry about what the landlord is saying. Eviction is not an option for him, just non-renewal of the lease. It's a landlord's market right now, so there isn't much you can do about it. Keep it together until the lease runs out, move and find a new place.
 
Henning said:
Double up on the lawn mowing and be f-ing done with it WTF over? Jesus I can't believe you can't take the hint!

Having owned rental properties, this is annoying as hell.
Click to expand...


Done, place looks fine and the guy is not recieving any fines. The girls were doing a poor job but I started mowing it in late may and its been in good shape ever since. But he keeps up with the picture snapping.
 
Just remind him that the young females WILL call the police about his indecent gestures and look forward to seeing him on Megans list.
That would probably get the point across real fast.


But if he is the property owner ,why doesn't he talk to you/them instead of going around his ******* to get to his elbow ?
 
bflynn said:
The next time the complaint comes, ask the realty company whether there are complaints from the HOA or just from the landlord (and phrase it that way...they'll inadvertantly confirm your suspicion).
Click to expand...

That was my advice exactly. The owner sending the realty company pictures.. sounds like the only complaints are coming from him. If he got a fine or letter of warning from the HOA in the mail, why would he have to take pictures to prove to the rental company that they were doing a poor job of keeping the yard?

The lease is up.. probably around christmas next year?
 
cavmedic said:
Just remind him that the young females WILL call the police about his indecent gestures and look forward to seeing him on Megans list.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify there have been no indecent gestures other than him stopping in the street and snapping pics from his car.

IIRC there has been no direct contact with them and the owner. Just calls from the rental agency about the complaints, and the accidental message left by the realty company about recieving the owner's pictures. Otherwise the girls would have no idea who their photographer was.
 
dell30rb said:
Just to clarify there have been no indecent gestures other than him stopping in the street and snapping pics from his car.
.
Click to expand...





Hello 911, yes there is some pervert taking pictures of my daughters from the street ... He is driving a xxx , license plate xxx and was last seen driving in the direction of xxx.

The hint will be had right quick.
 
Last edited:
cavmedic said:
Hello 911, yes there is some pervert taking pictures of my daughters from the street ... He is driving a xxx , license plate xxx and was last seen driving in the direction of xxx.

The hint will be had right quick.
Click to expand...

Then the police contact the caller to get info for the criminal complaint, find out it was a bogus call, and the caller gets charged with a filing a false 911 report. Creepy, maybe; annoying, yes. But he is the property owner, and has certain rights.
 
JB1842 said:
Then the police contact the caller to get info for the criminal complaint, find out it was a bogus call, and the caller gets charged with a filing a false 911 report. Creepy, maybe; annoying, yes. But he is the property owner, and has certain rights.
Click to expand...


I didn't mean to call them , but that is what gets said to the amateur photographer.

Property owner or not, it borders harassment and in most states , tennants do have a right of privacy in or on the property they rent. If those girls are in ANY of those shots without permission of being photographed.............
 
Right to be, right to see. That's what we are taught at the academy when dealing with 4th Amendment issues. If it is outside shots of the house, and the girls are in the pics, there isn't much the police can get involved in. You would have to show evidence the pics are voomed into windows and targeting them specifically. Most tenants privacy rights involve when the propery owner can enter the residence (usually 24 hour notice or emergency maintenance.)
 
JB1842 said:
Right to be, right to see. That's what we are taught at the academy when dealing with 4th Amendment issues. If it is outside shots of the house, and the girls are in the pics, there isn't much the police can get involved in. You would have to show evidence the pics are voomed into windows and targeting them specifically. Most tenants privacy rights involve when the propery owner can enter the residence (usually 24 hour notice or emergency maintenance.)
Click to expand...

Now I understand most of this would be civil and not criminal , but If I didn't consent to my picture being taken on a property that I rent , own or that is not "public" ( park , sidewalk, fair , mall etc) ...

Every State has differing laws and depending on how NC or the municipality the residence is in , could have something on the books prohibiting that.

But this landlord is , in an around about way, harassing the tenants and they also have rights too...
 
Last edited:
It sounds like he is measuring you against a standard that he has not communicated with you. I would ask for clarification (such as mow once a week, trim hedges twice a year, etc.). What type of maintenance requirements are spelled out in the lease? Another good option would be to have him hire and a gardner and agree to a comensurate rent increase (that way it is his responsibility). In my area, it is common for the landlords to include water and a gardner (for their own protection).
 
JB1842 said:
Then the police contact the caller to get info for the criminal complaint, find out it was a bogus call, and the caller gets charged with a filing a false 911 report. Creepy, maybe; annoying, yes. But he is the property owner, and has certain rights.
Click to expand...

"911"

"Yes, i'd like to report a suspicious person. This man keeps stopping his car in front of our house and taking pictures. His license plate is xxx-xxxx"

Its only a false call if you accuse him of doing something he is not. They have never met the owner, and have had no correspondence with him, so how do they know the guy who stops by 2-3 times a week and snaps pictures is the owner? Also, how do we know he is interested only in the yard? One of the girl's room window, faces the street.



JB1842 said:
Then the police contact the caller to get info for the criminal complaint, find out it was a bogus call, and the caller gets charged with a filing a false 911 report. Creepy, maybe; annoying, yes. But he is the property owner, and has certain rights.
Click to expand...

Yes I would agree with this somewhat, especially using the word pervert. But simply stating that this person (who you have never met) has been stopping by regularly and snapping photos of your house is enough to earn him a knock on the door and is in no way bogus.
 
Last edited:
cavmedic said:
If those girls are in ANY of those shots without permission of being photographed.............
Click to expand...

....then what? It's perfectly legal to take photos of people in places where there is no expectation of privacy. It could get more complicated if you subsequently plan to use a photo of someone for commercial purposes, but that's clearly not the case here.

As long as he's shooting from the public street and the people are standing in the yard, he can shoot all day, and legally doesn't need anyone's permission.
 
Jim_R said:
As long as he's shooting from the public street and the people are standing in the yard, he can shoot all day, and legally doesn't need anyone's permission.
Click to expand...

Right, like I said in the OP I don't think he is doing anything illegal. Simply bothering them in a manner that is not appropriate for a landlord / tenant relationship.

The paparrazi (sp) do this sort of thing and its 100% legal.
 
Last edited:
I'd be leaving one or two one inch missed slivers every time I mowed. Try mowing in an S pattern across the yard. The guy is an OCD jerkoff, karma demands you tweak his tiny mind.
 
ClimbnSink said:
I'd be leaving one or two one inch missed slivers every time I mowed. Try mowing in an S pattern across the yard. The guy is an OCD jerkoff, karma demands you tweak his tiny mind.
Click to expand...

S pattern, great idea.
 
dell30rb said:
S pattern, great idea.
Click to expand...


See that type of landlord was always my favorite. I operate a lot on principle.

If this clown is going to drive around and take pictures , do the same to him at his home. I'd do thing just to stroke him out , but I'm devious that way. I mind my own business, but when you start throwing rocks at the hornets nest , I will go out of my way to be an ass right back. Sometimes it is the only way people get the hint.

If the property is to the standards of what the HOA sets , and conforms to the lease agreement, then tell him to pound sand.
 
If it meets the HOA and lease standards smile and wave when you see him taking pictures.

Let him be the ass
 
This makes me glad to live as a owner where this is no HOA.
 
I believe it's time the girls borrowed a DSLR with a really long lens... point your camera at me... I'll point this one at you... see if he doesn't find something better to do.
 
jesse said:
This makes me glad to live as a owner where this is no HOA.
Click to expand...

Around here, no one cares much if I tap dance naked while playing the ukelele outside my house, much less whether I mow the grass. The back yard's kind of overdue, actually.

-Rich
 

Attachments

  • backyard.jpg
    backyard.jpg
    65.8 KB · Views: 27
RJM62 said:
Around here, no one cares much if I tap dance naked while playing the ukelele outside my house, much less whether I mow the grass. The back yard's kind of overdue, actually.
Click to expand...

Jealous. Dad moved out of the city a while back, and when I was talking to him this weekend he just laughed at my lawn problems and said, "City issue."

:)
 
dell30rb said:
....The girls were doing a poor job but I started mowing it in late may and its been in good shape ever since. But he keeps up with the picture snapping.
Click to expand...

The girls started the issue with the landlord by neglecting their part of the deal... You came along and saved their a$$es. Hopefully there is some "perks" for you in the deal....;);)
 
Last edited:
My next home will be surrounded with trees and no grass to mow, I used to pay the neighborhood kids to mow the yard but my SO won't have it now (Wasting money). For an entire summer they charged me $150.00 I chipped in some extra as gratitude. Beats the crap out of spending my Saturday working on lawn mowers, edgers, trimmers, pulling weeds etc.. etc.. etc..

I had a crazy ass land lady, I got the home on the CHEAP about half going rate for similar homes in the area. She came by weekly and wanted to walk through the house and check for mold. (mold is virtually non-existent here) I figured out why i got it so cheap. She drove by the house EVERYDAY on her way home from work and it was out of her way to do so. She counted the cars and would call or come over if I had friends or family over and tell me "I rented the house to a single person, it's not for multiple people to be spending the night in". I just moved.
 
cavmedic said:
I didn't mean to call them , but that is what gets said to the amateur photographer.

Property owner or not, it borders harassment and in most states , tennants do have a right of privacy in or on the property they rent. If those girls are in ANY of those shots without permission of being photographed.............
Click to expand...

Bull.

You have NO right to privacy if you are visible from a public street like that. If they are out in the open in an unfenced front yard its fair game. If the guy across the street put a webcam up pointed at the house and streamed it, it still would be fair game. He's not peeping in windows.

It's the owners house. Yes he's being a DB. But he can photograph the exterior of his house from a public street until the cows come home. The renters choice is to take it or leave it.
 
How about just calling the rental agency, ask for a meeting with all parties, and work it out? The agency screwed up the phone call so its no secret now.

If the "girls" really are good renters, pay on time, keep the house right, etc. Then the last thing he should want is for them to move out. If he is some hyper-critical maniac, pervert, etc. then they might as well start planning to move.

No biggie.
 
So, this issue of the photo snapper was communicated to the rental agency, the lady played dumb and said she did not know about any photographs, but she would ask the owner if it was him :/

Remember, we only think it is the owner, because of a message accidentally left by the rental agency lady...
 
Really, really stupid owner. Sorry, unless the tenants are boring holes in the walls or throwing loud parties and ticking off the neighbors, leave them alone. Heck, if the guy is that worried he should just do that damn lawn. He has a significant investment at risk. If he angers the tenants sufficiently, they can retaliate, and all he has is his security deposit. I've seen tenants do horrible things to houses.

Renting out a property within an HOA is stupid to begin with. You just can't count on tenants to maintain a property to that level. Why should they, it isn't their property.
 
RJM62 said:
Around here, no one cares much if I tap dance naked while playing the ukelele outside my house, much less whether I mow the grass. The back yard's kind of overdue, actually.

-Rich
Click to expand...
Well, at least it's not a banjo. That would really be scary!!! :rofl:
 
Is it in the lease that the girls must maintain the landscaping? I've never seen that in the two houses I rented a long time ago.

If not, then report the owner to the HOA for not maintaining the landscaping.
 
The HOA in this case is not so bad. At least, no fines or warnings have been imposed by the HOA.

I worked several summers for my uncle who has about 12-15 rental properties, ranging from homes to a trendy bar/restaurant. After doing handyman/legwork (and $ collection) and also cleaning up trashed out - vacated homes, I can say for sure the girls are excellent renters...

I think its perfectly reasonable to expect a renter to maintain a yard well enough to not **** off the HOA. If you move into a nice neighborhood, and pay the extra $ for that, you already have some incentive to keep your place looking nice - at least as good as the other homes in your neighborhood. The issue here is the owner apparently has higher standards than the HOA.

Attached is a shot of the yard before I mowed it yesterday. (the taller grass is neighbor's house) The dude was taking pics of it the day before. The grass height averages about 4" with a max of 5.5"

And yes, I put in a few S turns as I was mowing it.
 

Attachments

  • photo (3).JPG
    photo (3).JPG
    140.4 KB · Views: 36
Last edited:
Landlord here:

The guy is invested in his property. That's not a crime. He's a cook. Also not a crime.

Question is - has the Property Manager been calling you about the lawn complaining? Or have you just noticed him driving by every few days keeping an eye on his property?

If the complaints aren't coming back to you, and stop with the property manager when they're not really valid complaints, then whats YOUR complaint? He's allowed to keep tabs on HIS property after all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top