After reading this week about a bizarre hazardous waste discovery in an Idaho apartment complex, I got to thinking about the various dangerous activities that can get overlooked in Property Management, leaving tenants, neighbors and homeowners at risk. While most illegal and dangerous behaviors by tenants are purposely done discretely, being observant and inquisitive is a property manager's best defense.
The article in the Idaho Press Tribune reported " Low-level radioactive material is being cleaned from a Boise apartment, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating why the two people who lived there had it...two occupants for unknown reasons were trying to separate and isolate radioactive material from store-bought goods such as smoke detectors and radium dials on instruments. The apartment also contained uranium ore."
Freaky. What were they doing to leak this radioactive material into their home and the stairwells and sidewalks? And what did/could the property manager look for to tip off these dangerous activity?
Before working as an Account Mangaer at Rentec Direct, I once managed a high-end apartment complex in Portland, Oregon, and for the most part, the tenant issues I dealt with were pretty vanilla - noise complaints, parking disputes, a barking dog. Except for the employee I had on staff that was most likely manufacturing meth in his apartment. I had no idea at the time - it's just speculation now - and in this case hindsight doesn't offer much but conversation and maybe a useful lesson for you. I regret that I was unaware of obvious signs.
The story goes something like this...
My employee admitted to a past of addiction to meth and recovery when we hired him. He had been clean for years, came with excellent recommendations and skill set. He worked for me for two years and up until the time I fired him, he had been a hard worker and a very likable, kind person. He was fired due to his sudden decline in his performance and ability to get along with other staff members. He blamed it on his concern for his ailing mother he cared for and it made sense to me at the time. I now look back and see what was probably a relapse in sobriety for him. He had become paranoid about other staff and residents. He looked "bad" - his skin was broken out in what I thought at the time was just acne. He was irradic and argumentative.
What I didn't link into the equation was the neighbor who kept complaining about a terrible chemical smell coming from a nearby unit... a smell like fingernail polish remover. These same tenants swore a cat was peeing on their front porch due to the bad smell. I overlooked those reports as someone being hypersensitive to smells as anyone in property management knows people can be sensitive about the darnedest things, and these were high-maintenance tenants. I didn't realize at the time that meth manufacturing can create stinky bi-products. Examples of odors from a meth lab might be a sweet ether smell, acrid chemical fume, ammonia or cat urine odor, or rotten egg sulfurous stink.
Since then I have learned to look for other tell-tale signs of meth manufacturing beyond smells:
- Dead grass by rental due to chemicals being dumped
- Sealed up windows with tin foil or the drapes always closed
- Smokers only smoking outside (they dont' want to blow themselves up!)
- Excessive chemicals around or in rental such as paint thinner, antifreeze, acetone,drain cleaner, brake fluid, bleach, acetone, alcohol, mineral spirits
- plastic soda bottles with holes or tubes at the top
- reddish stained coffee filters
- lots of used rags
- broken lithium batteries
- cold tablet packaging
Whatever the beast may be, wearing your detective hat is important in Property Management. Keeping detailed logs of activity in and around your properties can help solve mysteries such as these. What seems random one day may be the missing puzzle piece down the road to protecting the investment you manage.
Janell is a member of Rentec Direct, a web-based property management software program designed to help streamline tenant screening and the day-to-day operations of landlords and property managers.
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