Tenant added Ring Camera and keypad before they left

[Anonymous]

I'm clearing out my parents' house - they let a relative live there for many years, paying rent that was half the current market rate. We were ok with this at the time. However, we now want to renovate the house to either sell or rent it that house. The relative/tenant was unhappy about this. Before they left, they installed a keypad and ring camera which is odd and gives me the creeps that they may be monitoring what's going on.

I assume if we remove the keypad and ring camera, that takes care of the monitoring problem.

Since I live out-of-town and need contractors, carpet installation crew, etc. in and out of the house, I want to replace the keypad and ring camera. Do I need internet service at the house in order for the keypad and ring camera to work?

What type of companies install keypads and ring cameras?

[Anonymous]

You do need internet service to use a ring camera. It won’t work without it. You do not need a company to install or uninstall it. Just unscrew it from the wall and throw it away. If you have a handyman coming to the house, just tell him to do it.

[Anonymous]

Do people usually remove keypads when they move, instead of transferring them to new owner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people usually remove keypads when they move, instead of transferring them to new owner?

If you don't have the code or access to change it, you're not going to be able to use it. So in this case, probably.

[Anonymous]

Why don’t you just change the code on the keypad? They’re also pretty easy to replace.

[Anonymous]

You need an electrician if you want to remove them, but why not reprogram them? Do you have access to the codes?

Lots of houses and rentals have smart doorbells and deadbolts for this reason. You will need to get the access from your relative. If you are still on speaking terms, that should be easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You do need internet service to use a ring camera. It won’t work without it. You do not need a company to install or uninstall it. Just unscrew it from the wall and throw it away. If you have a handyman coming to the house, just tell him to do it.

If they are hardwired, a handyman man won’t do it. Most aren’t. The owner has to check.

[Anonymous]

Did your parents have a lease agreement with the former tenants/relatives? If so, installing a lock system is a lease violation and you ought to be able to charge them for the removal or substitution of the key pad. Might not be worth the hassle but yes it sure is creepy and very entitled given the rent rebate they had been getting.

[Anonymous]

You can call Ring and ask them to transfer the account to you. Then you do a hard reset on the device itself.

We did this when we moved in—nice to be able to use pre-existing equipment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can call Ring and ask them to transfer the account to you. Then you do a hard reset on the device itself.

We did this when we moved in—nice to be able to use pre-existing equipment

This would have worked except that the contractor needs a couple of months to renovate the house, then the house will be turned over to a property manager who will rent out the house. I don't want to pay for internet service during those months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did your parents have a lease agreement with the former tenants/relatives? If so, installing a lock system is a lease violation and you ought to be able to charge them for the removal or substitution of the key pad. Might not be worth the hassle but yes it sure is creepy and very entitled given the rent rebate they had been getting.

There was a lease at some point and then it was month to month. I'd rather pay for the removal of the ring camera and replace the keypad than hassle with the former tenant regarding reimbursement. The last time, I was at the house, there was no keypad or ring camera. We are pretty sure they added this when we told them we needed the house back. We gave a couple of months' notice which in hindsight may not have been the best idea. They lived at the house for over 10 years, paying half of what the fair market value was for rent. At the time, we didn't mind because they took care of the house, and it helped their situation. Now we are sorting all the financial stuff out and it was time to get the house back and move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Did your parents have a lease agreement with the former tenants/relatives? If so, installing a lock system is a lease violation and you ought to be able to charge them for the removal or substitution of the key pad. Might not be worth the hassle but yes it sure is creepy and very entitled given the rent rebate they had been getting.

If the tenant is a relative, good luck getting a judge to care about your rental agreement. It’s difficult enough to get valid leases enforced to any degree with tenants that are not related.

[Anonymous]

We had a tenant install their own lock on one of the internal doors and charged us crazy money for it by taking from the rent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a tenant install their own lock on one of the internal doors and charged us crazy money for it by taking from the rent.

What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can call Ring and ask them to transfer the account to you. Then you do a hard reset on the device itself.

We did this when we moved in—nice to be able to use pre-existing equipment

This would have worked except that the contractor needs a couple of months to renovate the house, then the house will be turned over to a property manager who will rent out the house. I don't want to pay for internet service during those months.

You still can take over the account, even without Internet service at the house.