Locks fitted by ex tenant.

[monabri]

A former tenant of our flat (who left in bad grace) has decided to bugger us about! We know it's him because he was seen by a neighbour.

We arrived at the currently empty flat to find he had fitted a padlock to an external door to prevent access. We cut the padlock off with an angle grinder. On returning a few days later yet another padlock had been fitted!

Next door to the flat is a house where my mother in law lived ( she passed away in December). The entry to the property is via iron gates. He had secured the gates to the property with chain and no less than 10 padlocks. The neighbour saw him at the gates fitting the padlocks. Police are not interested to interview the neighbour as no damage had been done.

Outside the flat is a locked mailbox. This had been broken into by a 3rd party ( we have no CCTV so no proof it was him so ..no police action possible). We reported to the police and got an incident number. The police are not interested unless there's damage and it is witnessed or caught on cctv.

I should add, the ex tenant has mental issues and has previously been sectioned. He is likely to get aggressive and is known to the police because of his previous behaviour. He contends we have been "bad landlords" because we asked him to hand the flat keys back when he left....he kept them nearly a month after he officially left. He fly tipped a lot of wood onto the private car parking area which has now been there for 2 months. He said he would hand the keys back when "he was good and ready". We've even used a Torts notice to legally be able to dispose of crap he's left behind. He has been asking for items he claims he left behind ( valuable tools and a bicycle saddlebag)...these items were not left behind. He didn't respond to the torts notice sent to his new address.

There seems to be very little we can do unless we go to the expense of fitting cctv. Dialogue with him is not possible as he becomes aggressive quickly when we disagree with his point of view. We have documented and sent him many letters in the past ranging from asking him to dispose of the 20 sacks of cat litter ( used) in the flat, prison locks fitted to doors, window bars fitted and many other issues.

The only good thing I'll say for him, he always paid the rent, mostly on time!

[Gerry557]

I think I would buy a couple of the battery cctv cameras and sd cards to aid getting some useful evidence as it soulds like this is going to be an on going problem.

Put them up as covertly as possible.

[pochisoldi]

I think I would buy a couple of the battery cctv cameras and sd cards to aid getting some useful evidence as it soulds like this is going to be an on going problem.

Put them up as covertly as possible.

I would put up a couple of dummy cameras up as overtly as possible first, on the basis that the primary objective is to stop the behaviour as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Then put up one or more covert cameras in such a manner so that matey hiding from the overt "cameras" is caught by one of the covert ones.

Also when contacting the police, the criminal act is harassment, a lot easier to prove than criminal damage, and the police should be more willing to act as it is a crime against the person, rather than against property. ("You're a landlord, and can afford the loss" vs "Nobody should have to put up with that")

If you sue, then I guess the civil action would be "trespass to land" as well as harassment, and you would be wanting an injunction, with compensation for undoing what was done.

[monabri]

Another update.

ex-tenant has been around again...removed "his" metal shutter locks and ripped off a gate padlock as it was preventing passage down an alley to the mailbox. . He has forced the mailbox again, leaving the door to the mailbox hanging by a padlock. I decided to remove the padlock and thus remove the door to the mailbox - we don't need a mailbox as all is online.

We have now got cctv installed ...I just hope he comes round again!