What is the name of your state?This is in Washington State. I own a 4 unit apartment building and my wife and I live in one of the units, and we rent the rest out. It's a bit of a questionable neighborhood, but for the most part things are fine.
A few months ago a tenant moved into another quadplex, across the street from us. Our front doors are both visible to eachother and about 75 feet apart.
This tenant has decided to harass my wife and myself, as well as others in the neighborhood, on a number of occasions. We believe we fueled his aggression towards us when we called the police regarding him setting off fireworks in June (we watched out our window as the police paid him a visit, he saw us looking). Ever since he has regularly made obscene gestures, yelled obscenities, and made threatening movements, such as approaching my wife while she’s entering her car.
At one point, his aggression was sufficient for us to dial 911, which prompted a police visit. The police discovered that he had an outstanding warrant and he was taken to jail, where he served a number of days on a Domestic Violence Assault charge. I later spoke with an officer at the police department who knew of this guy well. He said that this man was a convicted felon and guilty of a variety of crimes including domestic violence and arson. He also described (and we also noticed) that this man has some sort of mental disability.
We hoped that following this event this guy would stop his antics. Unfortunately, he has not. We moved out of the unit that we’ve occupied and haven’t been able to find our cat, who this guy knows we own. Last week my wife went to the building to search for the cat and this guy came outside and started to yell obscenities at her. My wife left without speaking to him. One of my tenants, who was observing, came outside and reported that this guy said to him “I killed that cat.” Today, my wife visited the building again, and while in her vehicle, this guy came outside, got into his car, drove into our parking lot, and motioned for her to roll her window down. She left right away as he was “flicking” her off.
Here's the problem: When we call the police to report his antics, they take about 2 hours to show up and then just have a chat with him. His prior criminal behavoir makes both of us, and our tentants, feel very unsafe in the neighborhood. His "threat" (true or not) about killing our cat sounds very uncouth.
Frankly, I would like force an eviction, sue him for emotional damages and potentially financial damages if we can't keep tenants in our building. Not that we'd win anything, but at least it might make him think twice.
Being a landlord myself, I'm familiar with that part of the law and his landlord could certainly get him out if he lied about his criminal behavior. I certainly wonder, however, if the landlord even did a background check. The police also believe he is a Section 8 tenant, and it's my understanding that people with with prior arson convictions can't have Section 8. There may be a way for us to reveal this and cause him some problems.
Either way, I'm wondering what kind of attorney I need to look for and what I can do to put pressure on him and the owner of his building.
Here's what we've done:
1) I wrote the owner of the building a letter describing the situation.
2) We have not said a word to the harassing neighbor nor looked at him or done anything that might provoke him (other than completely ignoring him while he makes his comments and gestures)
3) Spoken to the police a number of times. They frankly said that they have other problems to deal with and that unless he's wielding a weapon of some sort or immediately attacking someone, it won't be their first priority.
Here's what I've considered:
1) I've thought about sending all of the neighboring tenants a letter describing the situation and letting them know that they are living next to someone who is a convicted violent domestic abuser, arsonist and felon. Haven't done this, however - worried about potential slander. But it might cause them to put pressure on their landlord.
2) We've thought about recording him as he either flicks us off (class 4 misdemeanor, right?) or yells his obsceneties. Often he just flicks us off or yells as we walk or drive by.
3) We've looked at getting restraining orders or similar. The downside of this is that we would be forced to reveal our names, dates of birth, and address to the man as part of the filing. The less he knows about us the better.
In short, it seems to me that there ought to be some built in legal protection when bullies like this move into your neighborhood and start causing trouble.
Any advice is very appreciated!
Thanks.
A few months ago a tenant moved into another quadplex, across the street from us. Our front doors are both visible to eachother and about 75 feet apart.
This tenant has decided to harass my wife and myself, as well as others in the neighborhood, on a number of occasions. We believe we fueled his aggression towards us when we called the police regarding him setting off fireworks in June (we watched out our window as the police paid him a visit, he saw us looking). Ever since he has regularly made obscene gestures, yelled obscenities, and made threatening movements, such as approaching my wife while she’s entering her car.
At one point, his aggression was sufficient for us to dial 911, which prompted a police visit. The police discovered that he had an outstanding warrant and he was taken to jail, where he served a number of days on a Domestic Violence Assault charge. I later spoke with an officer at the police department who knew of this guy well. He said that this man was a convicted felon and guilty of a variety of crimes including domestic violence and arson. He also described (and we also noticed) that this man has some sort of mental disability.
We hoped that following this event this guy would stop his antics. Unfortunately, he has not. We moved out of the unit that we’ve occupied and haven’t been able to find our cat, who this guy knows we own. Last week my wife went to the building to search for the cat and this guy came outside and started to yell obscenities at her. My wife left without speaking to him. One of my tenants, who was observing, came outside and reported that this guy said to him “I killed that cat.” Today, my wife visited the building again, and while in her vehicle, this guy came outside, got into his car, drove into our parking lot, and motioned for her to roll her window down. She left right away as he was “flicking” her off.
Here's the problem: When we call the police to report his antics, they take about 2 hours to show up and then just have a chat with him. His prior criminal behavoir makes both of us, and our tentants, feel very unsafe in the neighborhood. His "threat" (true or not) about killing our cat sounds very uncouth.
Frankly, I would like force an eviction, sue him for emotional damages and potentially financial damages if we can't keep tenants in our building. Not that we'd win anything, but at least it might make him think twice.
Being a landlord myself, I'm familiar with that part of the law and his landlord could certainly get him out if he lied about his criminal behavior. I certainly wonder, however, if the landlord even did a background check. The police also believe he is a Section 8 tenant, and it's my understanding that people with with prior arson convictions can't have Section 8. There may be a way for us to reveal this and cause him some problems.
Either way, I'm wondering what kind of attorney I need to look for and what I can do to put pressure on him and the owner of his building.
Here's what we've done:
1) I wrote the owner of the building a letter describing the situation.
2) We have not said a word to the harassing neighbor nor looked at him or done anything that might provoke him (other than completely ignoring him while he makes his comments and gestures)
3) Spoken to the police a number of times. They frankly said that they have other problems to deal with and that unless he's wielding a weapon of some sort or immediately attacking someone, it won't be their first priority.
Here's what I've considered:
1) I've thought about sending all of the neighboring tenants a letter describing the situation and letting them know that they are living next to someone who is a convicted violent domestic abuser, arsonist and felon. Haven't done this, however - worried about potential slander. But it might cause them to put pressure on their landlord.
2) We've thought about recording him as he either flicks us off (class 4 misdemeanor, right?) or yells his obsceneties. Often he just flicks us off or yells as we walk or drive by.
3) We've looked at getting restraining orders or similar. The downside of this is that we would be forced to reveal our names, dates of birth, and address to the man as part of the filing. The less he knows about us the better.
In short, it seems to me that there ought to be some built in legal protection when bullies like this move into your neighborhood and start causing trouble.
Any advice is very appreciated!
Thanks.