Many small businesses are located in shared buildings. Here
is a story of a neighbor you hopefully never have to experience.
This neighbor is a tenant with a lease for use of the
property. You may be either another
tenant or an owner if the property is a condominium-type. The property has a
number of shared utility facilities (water, drain pipes, power, cable, phone,
etc. ) that pass through the units. On the infrequent occasion when a utility
provider or the property management may need access to the utility facilities
in this neighbor’s unit, the neighbor refuses to provide access accept at his
convenience and only for a limited time. Now put this in the context of a water
leak that needs repair, or a utility company that is hard to schedule it’s
technicians. The only remedy here is to have the owner of the leased unit
intervene and provide the needed access. Most likely there is a prior agreement
with the property manager to have this access.
Now what should be done when this neighbor arrives to find
the service personnel in the rented unit and screams and yells at them to: “Get
out of here, I did not give you permission to enter my unit and I want you out
of here now!”? The most likely result is that the service people leave, with
the work not completed. Also the owner may ask the tenant to check the lease
which provides for such access. The irate tenant ignores this advice. The
police are engaged and they advise the tenant about the landlord-tenant laws
that also provides this access. While all this is going on the service
personnel leave for another assignment. And the water continues to do damage in
the building or the service is not provided to the adjacent units, possibly
shutting one or more businesses down.
Eventually the problem gets repaired. What about the
potential or actual losses?
How would you handle this?
Steve Koenig, SCORE Counselor
Visit us at: www.scoresouthflorida.net
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