I definitely would ignore the facebook post but that could be evidence of vandalism. I'm not a lawyer, but I have had something like this happen and an attorney handled it for us.

If I had a tenant do this, I'd tell him I was going to file suit for slander and libel against him if the Facebook posts and my good name are not removed within a few hours. Then I'd see an attorney and sue him; I think you likely have a cause of actioin.

I have something like this going on with basement mold spot. Tenant went to town inspectors instead of notifying me of a patch of mold. The downspout extension came off right before or during a multiple inch rainstorm and it must have run right to that spot.

This is because I would not let her adult son's cat be locked in my clean ready empty unit over Easter.

Because I would not put extra lighting in the garage so the tenant could use it as a gym.

Because I could not find someone to fix a small patch of bad plaster in the bathroom and

Because I found that she plugged a dehumidier into a small extension cord right before a town fire inspection and gave her a regular appliance cord and told her to use it.

Guess what, nobody cares. You will see hundreds of happy tenants come your way. After they meet you they will know in an instance if you deserved any bad 'press".

I think the advice to record what you can is great and I would act on that.

I would not bother with an attorney, what is the point of paying money and getting no results? No tenant like the one you describe has any money with which to make you whole.

The attorney will inform you of this after exhausting some of your savings account.

I'm with Smoke. Petty people post stuff on their FB page all the time, and the only folks who believe/care about that kind of stuff are their equally petty friends and family.

I got off FB because I was tired of the people jabbering on about politics all the time and venting their angst at the world. This is the same thing. Evict if they don't leave as instructed and move on. Nothing to see here. Go put metal panels with hexagonal screw heads over the basement windows so they can't open them any more.

I always remind posters not to use their whole name on the Board. Anyone an find you for any reason and get info on your address,family member, and finances.

The only people looking at that person's facebook page are probably people you wouldn't want to rent to anyway, especially if they are of like mind.

Consider that post a favor and move on. Next week they'll forget about you and go back to cat pictures anyway. People have short attention spans.

Tom,

Been there. I tried to defend our workers and business. I only made it worse.

Do NOT write any kind of response.

YOU CANNOT WIN THE INTERNET!!!

The trolls will feed on and twist ANYTHING you write so let it go. It is the way of the world in our modern age.

And yes evictees can retaliate online. The good news: This will fade into oblivion with a little time. And readers are getting more discerning, realizing some posters are just being hateful.

And Sid is right on. Their freinds are like them so you don't want them to apply anyway.

And if I remember Sid talks about checking their FB page when screening. If I saw this on their page I would deny them based on attitude.

No, you cannot sue. Facebook has spent gazillions proving they are not the party who made the post. Like suing the phone company because someone cursed at you over the phone. The videos are fact so nothing to sue there.

Get this stuff fixed immediately so they cannot complain in court.

Don't argue. If anyone asks simply reply "We had it fixed within 24 hours." Be blameless.

Take a deep breath, know that as LLs we are easy targets for criticiism, and move on.

BRAD