I was over at the property yesterday, where I evicted a tenant on Feb 9 when she finally moved out. I told her at that time, that I did not want her on my property after that date. It is in the lease that any belongings left after final move-out date, is mine to do with, what I want (legally), and she had 2 months to get it all out since the 30 day notice was given Dec 7th. I suspect that she was living elsewhere for a least a couple weeks prior to move out,and that she was just using my apt for storage. Her beds were torn down, etc

I have been suspicious that she has been back. The locks were changed but due to the damage to the door jamb, etc, the lock could probably be jimmied open.

Still waiting on someone to fix the damage and/or replace the door. It is really hard to find someone here and then if you do, they have to finish other jobs first.

Why am I suspicious? After I was done showing the carpenter what I needed done to remove the back deck enclosure the tenant put up, I went inside.

I heard running water. The good news is that it was not a broken pipe. The bad news is that the kitchen faucet was on, running hot water. When working over there, I did not run the kitchen faucet at all, as it is on an outside wall and I did not want water in the water lines to freeze during that long deep freeze weather. It is possible the line had frozen in the kitchen previously and the tenant had turned on the hot water to know when it thawed before she actually moved out her things and never shut it off. NOT smart. The other reasoning may be that she was back in there and turned on the faucet intentionally to get back at me for eviction.

I could have sworn that she left either 2 or 3 curtain panels behind when she moved, folded up on the kitchen counter but not taken. That did not concern me when I found them after she moved out, but when I was there on Saturday, there was only one curtain panel in the apartment so she would have been in the apartment, past the day she had moved out. There was really nothing there of any value left at all, unless she had something in a cabinet or something and came back to get it. She had left her phone charger there but if she came back for it, I had picked it up already and moved it to another spot there, to use if I needed to charge my phone while over there. It was still there but not easily seen.

All of that was not really proof, if I had been incorrect on what was there or gone, etc

Even when the older tenant downstairs told me that she had seen their outside apartment motion light come on and back off, I thought, since she is hard of hearing with a bad memory, maybe she was mistaken or it was during the time they were still living there. She had no idea how long ago so I let it ride.

There is also a dog and a cat that wonders on the property at times, belonging to a neighbor. They could have set it off.

However, when I asked the upstairs tenant, who works second shift, she told me that she had seen what she thought was a gold vehicle over at the other apartment approximately 9:30 pm to 10:00 pm when she got home from work a few days before. She did say it could be any color as it was dark over there and she did not really get a good look at it. That report concerned me greatly as no one should be over there at all, much less at night.

She has promised to call me if she sees anyone over there again.

I did report the suspicions to the county sheriff and they will have someone be more of a presence around there and keep an eye on it, especially at night, as requested.

I did have a smoker/grill disappear from the garage there a few weeks ago and suspected the tenant that got evicted later, took it, but no proof. A tenant had left it a year ago and I was going to haul it home to use it myself. Then it disappeared. It was not a big deal. It didn't cost me anything and I probably would have just sold it, but still stealing it ticks me off. She did get nailed for theft after her first year with me. I have no idea who she stole from or what she took. It was just in the court records.

We had actually talked about the grille/smoker a few weeks before. Ironic that she also left behind one of those heavy looking cast iron smokers. Filthy inside of course and probably didn't work or too heavy to move. Mine disappeared only a few weeks before she moved out. It was nearly new, I believe.

The door to the upper floor in the garage had also been pryed open but there is nothing but junk on the upper floor, so they would have been disappointed. It had been nailed shut by my late fiance decades ago, so no kids went up there. An adult would have needed to pry it open.

So all this smells to high heaven of the tenant I evicted. I hope the sheriff just happens to drive by and nail whoever it is. I am also going to ask my rental property neighbors to let me know or call the sheriff, if they see someone over there, especially at night.

Still learning (NH). Unfortunately I don't know anyone with a game camera and I know absolutely nothing about setting up a security system or game camera or anything like that. I am technologically challenged.

Dee Ann. I hope they can catch someone there. Somewhat unnerving.

Jerry. That is the only door that would lock with a key to get in.

All the extra back doors had locked changed back in 1992 when we bought the place and the keys are probably at the bottom of the pile of keys in the shed, with no way to identify them, when we had to change door knobs instead of just the cylinder. We did not want to have to change more than one lock per apartment, every time we had a new tenant so that one is the only one I can get in, when locked.

I evicted a family for their terrible conduct. The Sheriff put them out leaving 70% of their stuff inside. I tired to make an appointment for them to return with a truck and friends to remove their stuff. But they weren't civil and threatened to break-in if the door wasn't left unlocked!

So I contracted with a neighbor, a former military man. He put a sign on the front and rear doors of the apartment saying, "Any unauthorized activity will be reported to the police immediately -- trespassers will be prosecuted." AND if the prior tenants wish to reclaim their "stuff", go to unit 3 next door and speak with Jose. For a fee, $35 an hour, Jose will open the door and supervise the removal of junk".

Cat, unfortunately you're now finding out just how short sighted your old method of not having all of the exterior doors at each rental keyed alike is. This would allow either your self or the tenant to need only a single key to enter either their main front door or their secondary entrance is. Having all of each unit's entry / exit doors keyed alike couple with a master key system would make your life much less stressful.

I would think that at this point the simplest thing would be to install a padlock & a hasp on the door with the broken jamb. Then once you find someone capable of fixing the broken door / jamb have them install keyed alike locks in both this door & the other entry door. I personally prefer to use single cylinder deadbolts coupled with a non keyed knob for all of my rental units. I find that doing this results in far fewer tenants locking themselves out.

Is there any sort of council on aging group in your area? If so give them a call & ask if they know of any semi retired handymen in your area. Around my area they as well as off duty firemen are a good source of trustworthy semi skilled handymen.

Next time you go there bring a large container of baby powder with you. Spread some on the floor in the area that you think they might be entering. Then you should be able to see the foot prints of anyone entering. Baby powder is easy to clean up & even if they try to cover their footprints you will be able to tell if the powder has been disturbed.

One last thought, do you know any of the other LLs in your area? If so reach out to them to help you find a reliable handyman to help you with these types of things. Even if you don't know them well, I find that most LLs are willing to help.

Yikes! An unsecured door at a rental that just had an eviction!?

I'd be on the phone 12 hours a day until I found someone to fix that. It's a quick job....1-2 hours at most. Offer someone $200+ materials paid to get it DONE and you will find someone, guaranteed. Pay only after work is 100% complete and tested to your satisfaction.

Years ago a friend of my mothers mentioned to her that her young son wanted to take a bath. He turned on the hot water, but none came out.

Turns out that that pipe had froze enough to stop the flow, but not break the pipe.

They went out and came back later in the day. The pipe thawed, and they came home to an overflowing tub!