So a single lady moves in 2 BR apartment, she has the whole lower floor of a duplex. She's middle aged and white, but has an infant with her, of another color. Its hers.

No questions asked, she has a good rental record, all we care about.

A month into the rental, she texts this: Someone has been fishing around in her car she left unlocked. Kids, I said likely, checking cars for change. Happened to me too over the years. The neighborhood is blue collar, she is blue collar.....but says "This whole thing has unsettled me about the neighborhood. What if someone breaks in the place?"

I go over there and we check all her windows, and make sure they lock securely. We discuss a doorbell cam, and the motion lights. The neighborhood isn't bad.....but I would not, I said, leave the storm windows open as you have been doing. It just makes people walking by, think of an open window. Why put that thought in their mind, since we are discussing security?

Next week, I'm over there mowing the property. Every single one of her windows, the storms are wide open, and she's off to work for the day. So much for the advice.

But that's not all.

As I'm mowing and trimming the front yard, the front door opens, and out walks a young gentleman of color, dressed in neighborhood grunge. From her apartment, while she's 100% gone. He closes the door, and then--- extremely oddly imo--- sort of marches off down the street, never looking anywhere but ahead, and then gets to end of block, turns left and walks off stage. Every ounce of his body language looks as if he had been caught.

Was it the father?

Was it a burglar?

Was it just some very young friend of hers given a key to her house, never once mentioned?

Forget babysitting, because the infant wasn't there. At any rate, I knock and no answer, her car is gone, and the door is LOCKED. He locked it behind him.

Weird.

I go around to the side of the house, a sort of sheltered alley between apartments out of view from the street. One of the windows, strangely, has the screen completely up. But the window, is also locked.

It looks.... just saying it looks.... as if he pulled up the screen, slipped something in and opened the window, climbed through, locked it behind him, then moped about the house. Then came out to avoid being trapped "when she came home", and locked it behind him.

A kid up to no good? Potential burglar later? Who knows.

What to say to the renter.....

She just moved in and has concerns about the neighborhood. If the kid was caught, he may never come back. I can mention someone was in her house- but that may spook her into bailing on the apartment if it WAS a burglar, or start the whole lease spiraling downhill.

After talking to another landlord, we agreed the best approach would be to say nothing and address it only if she brings it up. "Don't create a problem".

OK.

But what if he comes back, and burgles the house?

So, leaving the window-entering guest out for now, I offer to screw her side windows shut, since they are in an alley, saying it would be a good security measure to keep them permanently closed, and they don't need to be opened anyway.

No, she says, she feels perfectly safe in the neighborhood now. No need for any more security, thank you.

So safe, she won't even shut her storm windows.

uchhh.....

Do NOT EVER screw windows permanently shut!! NEVER.

What if there is a fire - or other emergency - and they can't get out because of it?

The young man - who knows? But if he was there when she wasn't, he was not visiting her. Could very well (likely) be living there. If i saw him again, in a similar situation, I would have reasonable suspicion to think he may be living there. You could then ask for proof that he does not - such as his last, current utility bill at another address.

That is, if your lease forbids moving in an un-screened resident.

The complexion of anyone in this tale isn’t of any consequence. No good comes of bringing it up. Learn to think about people, not how much melanin is in their skin.

As DJ said, do NOT screw windows shut. No good will come of that either.

Baby-daddy. And maybe a sex offender or felon...that would explain why he's not on the lease.

Never screw windows shut.

@JB

Duplexer WOW.

myob: don't you mean LACK of training?

Agree the color of the guy and the color of or even the existence of a baby do not matter one tiny bit in this situation.

He didn't climb in the window. He walked in the front door, the same way he walked out.

I also would have never gone over after she said someone went through her car. That has nothing to do with the apartment itself and it happens every night, in every type municipality and neighborhood in America.

While I don't care if my tenants are green with purple spots as long as they pay and don't damage, I can see where the color of the baby and the color of the man might possibly indicate that he is the baby daddy and not a burglar. My reading is that this is what the OP was saying was part of his confusion about what to do.

Just a couple recommendations:

1) Look at your tasks and look for ways to incorporate process improvement

Duplexer,

When your TO DO list is totally complete, you own every property in the city, and you have accumulated $30 million in wealth, THEN and only then may you go back and TRY fix her.

I agree, the guy probably lives there.

BRAD