What to do about a neighbor who has multiple families..

amother

Coral

Sat, Jan 06 2024, 9:16 pm

Welcome to Lakewood, and more recently the surrounding areas as well.

I know people that have gotten a psak that they can call the authorities because it was found that one of the illegal tenants was a registered s@x offender who registered under a different address while living in that house.

If you care about your kids, call the cops. Even though they will ask you your name, you're legally allowed to withhold it. They always promise to keep it a secret but then the cops that show up tell the offenders which neighbor called so stand your ground and don't give your name.

amother

Tiffanyblue

Sat, Jan 06 2024, 9:17 pm

Are you sure the landlord knows? I know someone who inadvertantly ended up with a tenant like this. It ended up being a huge loss for them because the tenant stopped paying and also did a lot of damage to the house. It was difficult to evict them and to top it all off, their neighbors were upset at this landlord.

amother

Oleander

Sat, Jan 06 2024, 10:01 pm

I’m not sure how you know that there are drug deals happening or that they’re drug dealers, but if you know of any illegal activity in that regard you should call the cops on the tenants. Or if there is trespassing on your private property.

Otherwise reporting illegal occupancy falls on the landlord, not the tenant. I would speak to him directly to allow him to correct the situation first, though it will be tough depending on the circumstances-

1. Does the lease forbid subletting, and the tenant is in breach of the lease?
2. Is there proof that the tenant got permission from the landlord to sublet?

If it’s against the lease and the tenant does not have any written communication with the landlord regarding approval, then he can start an eviction process for the tenant and sublet tenants. You can tell him if he does not do this you will report it to the city.

It gets trickier if he did approve of it, because then he would be responsible for a valid lease of an illegal occupancy and the sublet tenants would likely be rewarded an amount equal to 6 months of rent as a relocation payment, during the eviction process.

It’s also entirely likely that the home was converted to handle the occupants legally and that the amount of people living there is totally legal. It would depend on how many bedrooms/what size they are and also where they are located (a basement that is not legally allowed to be slept in is an issue if it’s rented out to tenants)

Subletting in general is not illegal, just usually not allowed in leases. All people in one rental do not need to be related or a part of one family, you can have multiple people sharing one rental unit as long as it is legally allowed to accommodate that amount of people.