Guerilla Tactics of a Building Management

Sidenote: While some people might whine on having too much work, for this month it's totally different for me. I am actually unhappy at my performance this month due to not having enough time to complete all do-able work. I wish there's two of me. :-)

Scenario: A tenant has stopped paying rental because of bad business. After two months of not paying the rental, they have decided to write to the management that they want to leave the building. The management has agreed to that and have asked them to leave at the end of the third month (of not paying) and then we will contra with their rental deposit given at the start of the tenancy. But, they say they will require an additional month (fourth month) to get everything in order to leave the building.

In summary, this means that they will still need to pay one month. March 2006 is their fourth month in debt and I have been sending reminder letters to tell them to pay up or we don't allow them to leave. What's a marketing dude writing reminder letters for rental?!? That's another story. Back to this, I guess they think we're stupid to say "No, you can't leave if you don't pay!" which translate to mean "You can still stay there and run your business as long as you're in debt!" Duh!

Today is their last day, and they are removing cabinets, tables, chairs, machines and what-have-yous.... only to be stopped by security saying they cannot use the service lifts to bring out their items. Thus, they contacted the management (which means me lah since I am a marketing who has to do PR as well). Went to meet them, and the following was discussed.

As long as I have not received the final month's payment, they are not allowed to take ANY large items out of their premise (using the service lift). They are unhappy! They say "This is our final day as tenant, why can't we take them out?!" to which I replied "Until payment is received, your items will be kept to minimise losses should you suddenly wind down your company tomorrow and lawyers cannot chase after you if you don't pay." Also, because today is the last day of their tenancy, they cannot run their business in that premise (or else we'll charge another month's rental), and to ensure that, the management will place chain locks around their doors until payment is received and we allow them to take down items.

What happened next?! They defy orders. Their MD instructed the staff to lug tables and chairs into NORMAL lifts. Security did not allow them to, but due to overwhelming number of their staff, they managed to sneak two-three chairs into the lift to bring them down.

So what happened next?!? Security informed me of the case, and I, as Marketing Executive who has no power or authority at all logically, switched to guerilla tactics (which I have seen my previous Property Manager done to other tenants in the past). This company is the ONLY company on that floor. As at current time, which is half an hour since that lugging of chairs into the lift, the entire floor's electricity and aircond has been shut off, and none of the lifts stop at that level and that level's lift buttons (to call the lift) is also disabled.

Newsflash. Just In! Security came again stating that they're lugging the chairs and tables down the fire escape!! I've instructed the security to lock the doors leading out to the Ground Floor (ya lah, look ugly if people see chairs being carried in the ground floor lobby).

Please be aware that as evil as these tactics may sound, they have been in effect twice before and I'm just repeating instructions. As bad as this may seem to the tenant, it is very logical if you sit down and really think about it. Yes, RM30,000 of rental is not little. If we allow them to leave everything except their tahi hidung in their premise, they can just close the company tomorrow and we'll have a big problem explaning the loss of RM30k rental to the owner of the building. However, these are guerilla tactics which I believe laywers will never advice to doing.