Another Louisville Landlord KILLED by Tenant when knocking on door for rent! ATTN: Landlords - STOP Knocking on Doors to Collect Rent - Are You Knocking on Doors to Collect Rent?

Wow.

This LL carries no cash, and accepts no cash. I have accepted cash payment for the first month's and deposit WHILE IN THE BANK LOBBY.

Other than that, it gets deposited directly into the account, no exceptions.

Kind of an odd post - you "have" to knock on the doors for some things but I would not and do not collect rent. It is THEIR responsibility to get it to me - not the other way around.

Was this landlord shot because of the cash he had or was he shot because the tenant was late with payment and knocked on the door to collect/find out what was going on?

OK ... guilty as charged.

Still have a 19 year S8 tenant who pays her portion in cash. I go and checkup on the place and pickup her portion (less than $100 typically).

So what's next ... NO property inspects. You own the place. Someone has to be able to enter/service the place without fear.

That said, I bought a bankowned house and inherited a convicted robber. He violated his parole with an attempted MURDER. Used that opportunity - his absence - to evict the gf.

Thinking more about this, I view picking up rent at the door as too much of a "personal relationship" with the tenant.

PO box or autodraft. I don't want them contacting me for anything other than emergencies or repairs.

I don't want to contact them for anything, other than late payments.

Hey John, I'll be over around 1pm to get the rent.

No thanks.

It opens the door for them to talk about nonsense or complain about nonsense or ask for nonsense. Ugh.

Not to mention the safety.

For a long time I had them coming to my house to pay. We got up to 80 residents, most paying in cash.

Not unusual for cars meeting each other coming and going. 3 showed up at one time, each paying $500. Each waited inside my foyer as I wrote 3 receipts. The third guy commented "Wow You get a lot of money here!"

Then at 10:30 pm 2 guys rang my doorbell. Goth, tatoos, weird hair, no shirt, leather pants, and big Bowie knife strapped to his leg. Being naive I answered the door. (this was 20+ years ago when that kind of appearance was reserved for outlaws or Halloween!)

His Mom was our res, in the car, he was being a good son delivering the cash rent for her. His buddy was tagging along.

The next morning we set up a box at Mailboxes Etc, now called The UPS Store. Sent a letter to every res and changed to money order only. Not a single person complained. It was easier for them than coming to my house.

Now we do autodraft. Never touch the money. Nothing to steal.

Of the times I knocked on doors to collect back rent, I can remember EVER getting any money, just arguments.

No more. We send a text. Then file and let them argue with the judge.

Short video. LL shot over a rent dispute.

Please, NEVER argue with a res over ANYTHING!!

Let your lease and the court do the talking.

BRAD

I don't argue with the tenants. If I feel that the texts are getting out of hand I may just call them or just stop responding (depending on what is being discussed).

Just like the post I had the other day with the tenant basically telling me how things were going to be with her rent payments and being late and advising me to stop bothering her.

We don't knock on doors anymore. We have a dropbox. Even when my husband comes to fix something around the first of the month, he tells them that he is maintenance and that the "accountant" picks up money orders from the box, and that they have to drop it there. Even the people who live one block from the box have asked to give it to him.

It is a waste of our time to deal with rent money in sporadic bursts. We check the box on the 6th. After the 6th, we text the tenants every Friday. Usually they say they "dropped it off________"(so and so day) The money orders have the dates on them.

it's a form of discipline and respect to do it this way.

In the case of an increasingly hostile tenant, I go to text, email or snailmail only for communication. It does nothing to help the situation really, but it doesn't escalate, and they are aware its being documented and are usually civil.

Mike,

I can't shake your post! It has me wound UP!

Did you know the LL?

I would love to hear your take on this as an ex-cop. Perhaps you'll get more info locally.

We've been ZERO TOLERANCE on lates since July 2014. It's a thing of BEAUTY. It eliminates situations like this shooting.

Here's my distant generalized analysis of the shooting based on the 2 minute video:

Judging by the scumbag's appearance and the size/condition of the home I suspect the LL did little screening, or this is a boyfriend that moved in. A slumlord situation- "Do you have the deposit? Here's the key."

LL has probably let this dreg fall behind in the past. Finally the LL is tired of waiting for his money, probably 2-3 months worth, and pounded on the door. Heated words were probably exchanged.

The slob has no money and knew the amount was too big to catch up. He knows he has no argument so he pulls out a gun to "save face".

We would have had a low income res on PayDayPlan with weekly payments of $160 each so he would have only been $160 behind at the most. Then we simply file for eviction and let him argue with the judge.

We NEVER pound on their door. Text, then file. Service by text.

AND... we never tell them where we live!

You can NEVER know what's going on inside someone's head, or if they ares sober, high, distraught...

BRAD

From NE{PA}

Thinking more about this, I view picking up rent at the door as too much of a "personal relationship" with the tenant.

PO box or autodraft. I don't want them contacting me for anything other than emergencies or repairs.

I don't want to contact them for anything, other than late payments.

Hey John, I'll be over around 1pm to get the rent.

No thanks.

It opens the door for them to talk about nonsense or complain about nonsense or ask for nonsense. Ugh.

Not to mention the safety.

Yep once again he says it well and exactly my feeling. I agrees with some others here as well,..

BTW Any tenant that found where I lived and showed up at my house, it would have their last month at any of my units.

This is definitely something to make you rethink things

before you do them. We rarely get cash. Usually money

order or checks.

The only one that I wish I had never gone to the door

was the girl I rented to with the drug dealer boyfriend.

He came to the door too when brother and I knocked

to give her one last chance to pay.

We kept it professional and our voice low tone. Informed her I had no choice but to turn it over to the attorney for

eviction. Everything went fine but after your story about

LL killed I wish I had not gone to the door that day because of what could of happened.

Our bank is across the street. Tenants deposit to account. If not they better be in a body cast. No excuses.

If I do door knock I wear a body cam, and a gun, and I stand out of the shotgun blast area.

Just remembered:

I knocked on a door one time to do a repair, after dinner about dusk.

Res cracked the door open with his left hand on the knob, his right arm visible as if leaning on the wall, checked that it was me, then opened the door. He had a large pistol in his right hand and was holding it flat against the wall ready to shoot the bad person he was expecting that night.

He said "Oh it's you" and lowered the gun.

Naive me - I laughed it off and went inside.

Shoulda walked away! Coulda been a gun to MY head as I bent over to check the $3 toilet flapper.