One of the couples in my rooming house broke up and the female moved into a vacant room on the same floor while the boyfriend stayed in the original room. I was wonder how this was going to work out and got an indication today. A tenant that stays in another room in the same suite texted me to inform me that the boyfriend broke into the girlfriend's room and thew her stuff around and now this tenant is uncomfortable with the entire situation. This tenant advised the girlfriend to let me know what happened, but she didn't, so the first I'm hearing it is from the other tenant. I'm really not trying to get drawn into this foolishness, but I'm going to terminate the boyfriend's tenancy tomorrow. The girlfriend tells me he's unemployed and that she's been paying the rent, so I had an open question if he was going to cover the rent on his own anyway, so it's best to just clear him out and rent to someone else.

GKARL,

Good call. He's "going out for going in".

And thank you again for reminding me why I don't do this.

Curious, how did he get in? Are you using deadbolts? Knobs are easy to open.

I don't know how he got in---probably with a credit card as I don't have those metal barriers around the locks or deadbolts on these particular doors to prevent that---this was originally going to be rented as an apartment, but I switched it to rooms. Regardless, that's a huge no no in my book and that's why he's gone tomorrow. He apparently did this while she was at work and that's why the other tenant is uncomfortable. Once I throw him out, he'll no longer be allowed on the premises. If they reconcile and attempt to get back together, she's gone as well.

Thinking about this further. The problem is that if I can him, she's still there and he might still come around. I'm having real problems with the girlfriend not telling me he broke in and my having to find out from the other tenant. Perhaps it's best that I excise the cancer completely and can them both. That would be impartial and I'm not in a situation of taking sides one way or the other.

The tenant doesn't know how he got in and for all I know, when she moved out, she may have taken something of his which he retrieved--which he still shouldn't have done. Also, for all I know, she could have left her door open or whatever. Regardless, I have to do some brief fact finding before I administer justice. My concern about the guy is his ability to pay and that was a concern that I was going to speak with him about before this went down. So, another alternative is to "re-qualify" both of them and use that as a mechanism to resolve this. If he's not employed, he has a prepaid week he can live out and then he can go. I have another room that's vacant on another floor which will separate them. I can require that he live out his week in that room and then go. I'll know how I'm going to handle once I get there.

As the rooming house turns !

Ok, here was what occurred from what I was able to determine---nothing. I suspect the girlfriend messed up her own room and texted a picture to the other tenant. The other tenant is fearful of men generally and relayed the information to me. The girlfriend has never informed me of him breaking into her room at all, but told the other tenant that he did. When I asked him about it, he said he wasn't even at home yesterday and he had no way to access the room to begin with. The girlfriend had been wanting to have him put out at the outset which I refused, so this may be her roundabout way to accomplish that objective. This is the main reason why you can't get caught up in this foolishness as you can be caught between a lot of "he said she said" where folks are in dispute over basically nothing or at least nothing that I need to be concerned about.

The suite the girlfriend and the other tenant are in is separate from the room the boyfriend is in. When they were together, I allowed them to use the kitchen and full bath in the suite, by leaving the door unlocked between their room and the suite. In light of this situation, I took the keys to the suite back from the boyfriend and instructed him to use the kitchen and the bathroom upstairs. There's a set of stairs right outside of his room where he can access the second floor kitchen and bath and his room also has a separate entrance. By just locking the door to the suite, he's separated from the girlfriend and the other tenant. He was getting heated about being lied on and I told him that this separation was more for his protection because without access to the suite, no one can manufacture anything. The girlfriend might very well be positioning him for some BS accusation while the other tenant is just fearful.

In the meantime, I have three people vying for one open vacancy. Once I select one, I'm fully occupied again.

GKARL,

Craziness!

Good to know this was not a lock failure. I DO suggest deadbolts on every door rather than knoblocks. Safer AND...it would have kept this drama from happening.

I sure hope you are making a TON of money for all the energy expended.

There are little spy cams that are disguised as air fresheners, clocks, or other things. They can be motion-activated, and will take a picture. You can get different kinds-- the kind you download the SD card to a computer, or the kind that uses wireless to send that information to an app. Depending on Pennsylvania's video surveillance laws, you might consider putting in some discreet video surveillance of common areas-- hallways, kitchens, or whatever.

After taking five seconds to peek at Pennsylvania's video surveillance laws, it looks like PA has an all-party consent. So you'd just have to write it into your agreement-- "For your safety, there are security cameras on each floor, monitoring the common areas, and by living here, you agree to be videotaped," etc.

You quickly forget the cameras are there. I think putting it in the lease is a great idea.