What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? N.J.
NOTE: I also posted this in the Real Estate>Tenant-Landlord Section
I am the owner of a building with 3 tenant-occpied apartments. There was recently a burglary in which <u>one</u> unit reported items missing. The other two apartments reported no sign of entry or missing items.
A police report has been filed with a list of missing items totalling approx. $5,000 including about $400 in cash.
The property has been for sale for several months. I, the landlord, am also a licensed Realtor and am the listing agent for this property. There was a lockbox on the front door of the building which contained keys for the front door as well as the three apartments. When a Realtor wanted to show the building to a prospective buyer, they would call me for the combination and I would call tenants to get approval for that particular time. There were several dozen showings of the property.
The problem is that I was using a combination lockbox instead of a Board of Realtors approved electronic lockbox. The tenant claims that I was negligent in using such a lockbox, thereby giving the opportunity to a rogue real estate agent to gain entry to the building (since they knew the combination) and burglarize the apartment. There was no sign of forced entry so it is assumed that a key was used.
The keys were still in the lockbox after the burglary.
The tenants <u>did not</u> have renter's insurance at the time of the burglary.
I am in talks with the tenants to come to an agreement but we are still not very close in a settlement amount.
Is Small claims court the way to go in this case?
Thanks.
Gary
NOTE: I also posted this in the Real Estate>Tenant-Landlord Section
I am the owner of a building with 3 tenant-occpied apartments. There was recently a burglary in which <u>one</u> unit reported items missing. The other two apartments reported no sign of entry or missing items.
A police report has been filed with a list of missing items totalling approx. $5,000 including about $400 in cash.
The property has been for sale for several months. I, the landlord, am also a licensed Realtor and am the listing agent for this property. There was a lockbox on the front door of the building which contained keys for the front door as well as the three apartments. When a Realtor wanted to show the building to a prospective buyer, they would call me for the combination and I would call tenants to get approval for that particular time. There were several dozen showings of the property.
The problem is that I was using a combination lockbox instead of a Board of Realtors approved electronic lockbox. The tenant claims that I was negligent in using such a lockbox, thereby giving the opportunity to a rogue real estate agent to gain entry to the building (since they knew the combination) and burglarize the apartment. There was no sign of forced entry so it is assumed that a key was used.
The keys were still in the lockbox after the burglary.
The tenants <u>did not</u> have renter's insurance at the time of the burglary.
I am in talks with the tenants to come to an agreement but we are still not very close in a settlement amount.
Is Small claims court the way to go in this case?
Thanks.
Gary