I recently heard about an incident that concerned me and it has to deal with the subject of homeowners and tenants living in the same condominium community.
Recently one of my tenants was coming home from vacation late at night (12:30am). They had 6 pieces of luggage and were in a taxi with their 5 year old daughter. Now understand, it's a gated community - but they had forgotten their gate opener. They had asked the security guard to open the gate, but he told them it was against protocol to do this - even though he knew they lived there. They had seen each other many times before although they understood his position.
So, the husband remembered he had his key to the walk-in gate; he got out of the car and began to walk over to the gate, so he could retrieve the gate opener out of his car - but as he proceeded, another resident had arrived and remotely opened the gate. With that being done, the husband got back in the taxi and the driver proceeded to drive through after the first car.
At the same time, the "neighborhood watch" captain had been walking back to his unit from the swimming pool and had watched what had happened. For some reason, he believed they had entered the complex and did not live there. He in turn, took it upon himself to step in front of their taxi and stop the car, yelling at my tenants - claiming they had entered illegally. At the same time, the meter was running and the "captain" would not step out of the way, even though the tenants just wanted to get home.
They all had a confrontation with security present, but the security guard could not handle the situation. As a result, both parties called "911" to explain their side of the story. Somewhere in the "conversation" after realizing that my tenants did indeed reside there, the neighborhood watch "captain" stated, something to the effect that they must have been renters and he was an "owner". About a half hour later, a police officer determined that the "neighborhood watch captain" was way out of line and told him he was not supposed to take matters into his own hands. He was supposed to just make the call to the right authority. Needless to say, he had been warned - but most likely will think twice next time before flying off the handle...
So, the real issue here did not have so much to do with residents residing in the same complex. The real problem with this situation was the fallacy that
that the homeowner believed he belonged there more than the tenants - just because he happened to own his unit. We all know that is not true. That is not to say that the neighborhood watch is not appreciated, but it seems like it should not be enforced by irrational thought either. After all, the couple had a 5 year old in the back seat witnessing all the adult chaos.
Let there be a lesson here; that most of us have been "tenants" at one time or another. It just means that the living situation is different; it should never mean anything else... especially when it comes to measuring worth. Some tenants actually pay more to live in areas that homebuyers can no longer afford to purchase. Even I know - if I did not purchase my home years ago, I couldn't even rent where I live now.
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that homeowners and tenants living together in a complex should always be striving to be making it a "community".
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