Real Estate Broker Steals Dog from Tenant

Very unfortunate. I'm sure there are two sides to every story, but all of this could have been avoided if the Broker performed a proper back ground and credit check, (to see if she really had landlord issues or eviction history as he aparently claimed in this article) as well as collected the first month’s rent and security in a certified or cashier’s check form from her bank. Perhaps the guy was not accustomed to proper protocol.

Regardless of who's right, the broker had no right to go into the apartment and take personal belongings as well the dog. That's breaking and entering. She should have gone directly to court. You don't enter someone's apartment and take their things.

i wonder why brokers have a bad rep

All around this is pretty crappy. What you see is that the bank wasn't willing to help out either, short of writing a letter, which may be informative but not helpful to the landlord (and broker?).
No one should harm an animal though.
But if the first month's rent wasn't paid and the security, both of which were to be paid at the lease signing, is there actually a valid lease in effect? Maybe not, in which case, I'm no lawyer but maybe the actions taken are NOT an eviction and NOT illegal B&E.
And maybe the 30 day point in the Post article is actually legit - if this person is a squatter because she lives there without a valid lease, is there a law that gives someone rights if they are there for 30 days without the proper owner doing anything about it.
Would be interesting to get some actual legal point of view on this.

By the way, some more facts seem to be in order. This all took place within 30 days of the lease starting ... why didn't the tenant give certified checks? Isn't that normal? Did the tenant know upfront that her checks wouldn't clear - when did the identify theft freeze take place?

Update?

Why the fuck do you care? Shall I pull up some posts on thieving investment bankers? How about drunk airline pilots?

I don't care, but I am interested. If you have good investment banker or pilot stories, feel free to post.

That's a contradiction "I don't care, but I'm interested"

It's a dog eat dog work out there unless your a broker.
Then it a broker eat dog world.
Times are tough...I wonder about dog...

it's a broker eat dog world.

It's also a falco eat ('s) world

The outcome makes no difference, hence I don't Care. But the story is good nonsense gossip.
Why don't you read what I wrote above if you think I'm so unfair to your fellow fraternity of brokers.

Jim_hones: 'Why do you care? Shall I pull up some posts on thieving investment bankers? How about drunk airline pilots?'

Sure, go ahead and pulll the posts of investment bankers and place them on an investment banking site. As this is a real estate site the apalling behavior of real estate brokers is an appropriate post. If you would like to give i-bankers some grief, feel free to visit www.dealbreaker.com.