So, I'm just listening to the Today show. On comes a story about a sex offender in Nyc- William Barnison. He is a superintendent of brownstone complexes. More than 50. He was convicted and served prison time for the rape and sodomy of at least 4 young girls. He has the keys to more than 50 units that house single moms and young girls. The landlord apparently has no plans of terminating this guy even though the landlord has knowledge of his past. Apparently , legally he-Barnison - can be employed in this capacity. So tenants are moving out. SEveral of the women said he had approached the for sex.

Okay, yes legally as a landlord you can hire a dude like this. But me, I think this is the stupidiest landlord I've ever heard of. I would never put my tenants in harm's way like this. What if later he rapes one of these tenants?? Then what? Could you be held liable because you knew about his past? ANyway, morally, I would never hire such a man. And businesswise why would you knowingly keep an employee who runs off your tenants?

Your thoughts???

Lori,

I agree with everything you said but I want you to tell me how to deal with my Sex Offender situation.

2 years ago I buy a SFH in a nice quaint rural type neighborhood within city limits. While rehabing this house, my next door neighbor comes over to introduce herself and then she starts telling me about the sex offender that lives in this neighborhood. I did not want to hear this unsolicited information but I did hear it. They say he has been "cured" but am I supposed to believe this?

Now, one month later, I showing the house to rental applicants, this sex offender story starts bouncing around in my head. If I tell my applicants this story, I won't have any more applicants!. If I tell this story to potential home buyers, I will have a house that will not sell,..unless I find a sex offender to buy it.

I saw this story also. This is a really good reason for those tenants to change the locks and challenge the landlord in court. Hopefully some lawyer will call one of them and get them to organize.

But why did they stay so long? I guess apartments are hard to come by in New York?

I would find my way out of there very quickly if that situation arose. I had a landlord who would walk in anytime I was not there and call me up and complain that I had clothes on the floor.

Then he raised my rent by more than ten percent and I was gone in a week down the street to a similar building.

Roy, I think if you get renters with children applying, it would be a moral obligation for you to disclose that. Otherwise, what if a child was murdered and all of this came out and it was discovered that you knew of the problem?

Maybe you should advertise for people with pets and in this case take a couple with a larger dog. You might have some damage but no one will be killed as a result.

Roy,

To Elena in IL,

I agree with everything in your reply. That is how I am dealing with this. I was told this information by the neighborhood busybody who minds everyone's business but her own. Again, I was given no documented evidence and the legal system would call this Sex Offender information "hearsay".

rape and sodomy of 4 young girls........

I'm with ya, Dejay.

Roy, your situation is different. He isn't your employee. What you were told was gossip. And the others are right. They can look it up on Megan's law on the internet. You have no obligation to say a thing. Not even morally. In the church where I attend there is a young man of 25 who was convicted on a sex offense when he was 18. What was it? He had sex with a 15 yr old when he was 18. It was consensual. Was his a crime? The law says it was but personally I think it was just an unfortunate situation. He's a nice guy and I feel bad that "sex offender" is labeled to him in the same breath as the sicko who was told about in this story on Today. There are degrees and levels.

Roy, check with your local police department and get the facts. I know of a very naieve and stupid young man of 18 who had consensual sex with a 15yr old...he is now a registered sex offender. The girl even told the judge she persued this kid until he gave in...but TOO LATE....

First of all, Roy you are not obligated to repeat hearsay and gossip. Furthermore, you can't accuse anyone of a crime because you run the risk of committing slander if the accusations are false or if they were accused but not found guilty. Read an interesting study case in class when I got my real estate license.

The best thing you can legally do to protect them and to protect yourself is to point them to the website.

If you think that you can find a place with no sex offenders or perverts around, dream on. Maybe in Antartica. They are everywhere.

Roy, just keep mum and rent/sell the place. Anybody that is concerned will look up that info.

BTW, you have ever looked up the offenders around say, all the properties you own? The offenders are EVERYWHERE. There is really is no escaping them unless you live in the middle of nowhere and even then, one may end up owning the vacant land next door to you... what you gonna do if they build a house then?

Roy, I wonder if the neighbor might have a defamation suit against you if you relayed information that was untrue?

Here, in apartment communities you must give notice if a crime is committed or if a sex offender or convicted felon lives on property. I don't believe it is the same with sfh's.

Legally I don't believe "YOU" need to reveal that information, even if it were true. (But I am not a lawyer.)

Morally, is another question and if you did you might as well give the property back to the bank...unless... this was a ploy to get the other neighbors to panic and sell - then you buy their properties at a very low price.

Theresa,

I have never repeated the gossip I heard from the next door neighbor and I never will. Based on other replies here, what I heard is probably true.,,the guy 2 doors down is a pervert. The next time a neighbor approaches me on a rehab job, I hope I can have a pair of earplugs handy so I don't have to listen to what other people in the neighborhood do in their spare time.

Lori, I think AllyM almost had it right:

"But why did they stay so long? I guess apartments are hard to come by in New York?"

The LL is taking a big risk, but he is not necessarily stupid. NYC has very tough rent control laws, and maybe this LL is taking a very risky gamble to get tenants to vacate.

Hey Roy, I didn't say you repeated the gossip. My question was "if" the info was wrong and repeated could they sue you? You being anyone who repeated the erroneous information. Sorry I wasn't clearer.

Very sad to put these tenants at risk as this LL did. The reason they stay is rent control - cheap rent, very few low-cost housing options anymore.

RJ - as you said, they are everywhere - we live out in the middle of nowhere, they are a mile down the road.

Roy - We tell all our applicants that we check the national sex offender registry so they'll know that none of our tenants are offenders, but we tell them that they should take steps themselves to check the website for the local community. We tell them we can control who is at our property, but unable to control who is in the local community.

LL might be using situation to his advantage if he wants some tenants out. I remember a story I heard about a LL that rented several units out to Section 8 for 2 reasons.

One reason had to do with an increased rent since it was in rent controlled area and at that time there was no vacancy decontrol but Section 8 tenants were exempt and LL could legally charge more rent to Section 8 tenant.

The other reason was the LL wanted one rent controlled tenant to move very much and tenant actually did move because that tenant didn't like living in building with several Section 8 tenants.