Three days ago, I got a call from a new tenant who had stored her children's Christmas presents in the detached garage storage shed. She claimed that my previous tenant came one night and opened this storage shed (using his own key that he never returned to me) and stole everything she had put in that storage shed, including her child's Christmas presents. She wanted me to give her the name of my previous tenant so that she could make a police report. I refused to give her my previous tenants name.

I did tell her to go ahead and call the police and have the police call me and I will provide them with the previous tenant's name. That was 3 days ago and I have yet to hear anything from the police.

When this tenant called 3 days ago, she was upset,crying on the phone and pi$$ed at me for not changing the locks on the storage shed. (The lock here is ancient and most key makers do not have blanks for this type lock).

Two questions -

why do you provide the lock for the storage shed?

Razorback,

I always change the locks on a house at turnover. Detached storage sheds are a different story. Most have padlocks and I tell the tenants to provide their own locks for. This particular storage room had a built-in deadbolt lock that was ancient and required a locksmith to make new keys for. I told the tenant they could use this lock or they could install their own hasp and use a padlock if they wanted to.

Roger that.

Back to your original question - if your tenant did not file a police report she is probably lying.

Whether she is lying or not is not relevant. Storage shed is provided for tenant convenience and as a courtesy, but it is not warranted in terms of securing tenant's possessions. They assume all risk for items kept in storage. Period.

Steve,

I have my own set of bolt cutters to remove padlocks left by tenants. This particular lock is very similar to a cylinder type lock used on commercial metal door jambs.

My question is...why did your new tenant know it was the previous tenant who supposedly stole all the Christmas goodies? Because the shed was not broken into?

And yes; if this did take place one would think that the first would be for the tenant to contact the police.

Stop making excuses about not changing the lock system. To leave a lock that cannot be re-keyed is setting yourself up for trouble. You can fix this, or keep making excuses.

Why would someone lie? Because they look for the easiest solution to any problem.

You, of course, would be liable, if her case can be proven, for not changing the locks.

You should NOT give her confidential information, like the ex-tenant's name, but if she makes a Police report, they will investigate the matter, and get the name from you, without your being liable.

CX (WA)

Yes, the former tenant is 'probable' for something like this since he had a police record with for drug possession and DUI type offenses. I did not find out about his past until after I rented to him. His Mother was paying his rent for him most of the time and when she stopped paying it, he just skipped out one night. He was a real loser.

" I suspect she did call the police and they will do nothing because she has no evidence. "

Of course "she" has no evidence. Thats what the Police do. They assign the report to a detective and he investigates, to see what evidence he can turn up. hen, the DA determines if there is enough evidence to take someone to trial. Actually, they have other methods to deal with small matters like this. Often, they will summon the suspect to some kind of informal hearing short of a charge and trial, and use the hearing to threaten the suspect that, if he does not cooperate (change his ways, return the property, repay the money, etc), then they will charge him.

I'd bet there never were any Christmas presents in the shed.

1) If she's telling the truth (and can prove it), I think you'd be liable for not changing the lock.

If you didn't provide her a key for the shed, you would not have been an issue with you not changing that lock.

A mistake occurred. These things happen and the important thing is you learned from it

My question is: what do you do now?

A mistake only becomes an error after you refuse to correct it.

I would think that if she reported this to the police, that you should try and assist her. If she did not report it, then I would question if the truth is being reported to you. So again - now what. There isn't an easy answer Roy. Thanks for sharing