I've got a tenant that is accusing my maintenance man of stealing food from his fridge...

SO... I've got a tenant that is accusing my maintenance man of stealing food from his fridge... no, before you ask, there is absolutely no when in H. E. double hockey sticks this has happened, and now the tenant is being belligerent in his text messages. How does one deal with this with out letting the old Marine NCO in me out?

Had this happen once. Tell them to file a police report.

Well anyone I deal with professionally or otherwise who gets belligerent with me gets told “I will be more than happy to have a calm and civil discussion with you when we can sit down and speak in civilized tones like adults”. For starters.

I would then go on to say “Joe Blow, our employee, has a stellar service record with our company and unfortunately there is just no evidence or history to support a claim of this nature. In the future you are more than welcome to be present when someone enters your unit except in the case of an emergency - you will just need to arrange that around our schedule.”

Show me the evidence

Suggest that he file a police report if he feels that theft has occurred. He probably won’t.

I had a tenant that accuse one of our managers of drinking her orange juice and then rearranging the items in her fridge, and also using her mouthwash. She put video cameras in her unit and so far they have showed nothing. And there is no chance an HE double hockey sticks that my manager was doing that either. I said when you have some valid proof feel free to call me back and I will look into it

They need to call the police if they feel a crime was committed in their home. 9 times out of 10 they won't. But I am not the police and cannot investigate such matters is how I explain it to them.

Had a resident claim Maintenance was going in to her unit and wearing her clothes. She literally would put her clothes from her closet daily into a shopping basket, down the elevator and into her car when she left for work and would bring them back in the evening. Every day!! Can you say CRAZY!

And I thought my tenant taking her mouthwash and toothpaste to work was strange!!! Wow!!!

A resident accused us of this once

Recommend a psych evaluation

We had a resident accuse maintenance of stealing his weed one time. Told him to call the police and file a report and we’ll make our staff available for questioning.

I had an accusation once that led to the arrest of my maintenance supervisor's grandson. The resident caught him in the act with a video camera and reported it to the police as per my suggestion. I cooperated with the resident and then with the police in the maintenance techs arrest. He had no prior record and was a stellar employee. Except... He had become addicted to drugs. It was a shock to all of us. Best scenario is to do something similar and ensure the resident has first and foremost reported it to the police. If the resident is making up a story to manipulate something about their lease or apartment they generally don't pursue it. If it's true then the person gets caught and you maintain a good relationship with the resident. Good luck

How old is the resident? Paranoia and theft is a sign of severe dementia/Alzheimer’s

Nah. Late 30’s

I’ve had this happen before. Could the resident be suffering from some form of schizophrenia possibly?

Happen before. We found out that lady was having relations with neighbor from across the hall. She forgot to get key back after they stopped the relationship!

Everytime this has happened to me it was a case of mental health issues. It was all stuff that no one would actually strel....socks, pop, can food, "ART", & one time my maintenance man was accused of climbing up a tree & coming in through the 2nd story window to steal!

This happened to me but regarding money and my maintenance spilling juice on the coffee table. Defend your team. I defended him and offered to have a 2 person team anytime we had to go in. 2nd person had to document moment by moment.

I had a tenant come to my office to let me know he was not paying his rent because we were poisoning him .

Resident accused neighbor of climbing a tree and peeping into her window. Turned out to be true!

You should never poison your tenants... it's bad for business...

Had a tech years ago run a SR. Residents called and said he had come in and cooked the pork chops laid out! He did,and needless to say was let go. C'mon man

Like... for himself? Or just being helpful? You could have told them that was the new "Personal Chef"" amenity, and bill them! LOL

he ate them. At least could have cleaned up!

I would go to the LL tenant attorney. There should be language in the lease that protects staff from being harassed.

I had this happen. I changed the locks, took the key and put it in an envelope. I then had the resident sign the back of the envelope and I put it in my petty cash box.
When she once more stated the food was missing, I pulled the envelope out and showed her the signature. She then told me how the maintenance man could morph into Jello and slide under the door.....

Reading these stories reinforces why I am on the it side of multi family bless y’all

On my property maintenance is required to put time in and out on the work order, if you have that procedure in place, ask when when was the last time they saw said food. I know in the TAA lease paragraph 19 or 20 provides language of harassment towards employees and staff.

Try incorporating a good key management system into your operations. The data generated by the system can absolve any maintenance employee since the key must be checked out and returned electronically. History can be verified and documented to show that no employee accessed their key and, correspondingly, no employee accessed their unit. Problem solved!

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