My parents own a rental house, and the couple next door, who are in their 80's are the stereotypical "get off my grass" old neighbors. The lady especially. They came and cussed my dad out because their grass died, claiming the bugs from my parents place migrated to their yard.
Anyway, for some reason that nobody can figure out they've suddenly gotten on a big tear against my parents. Long story short, the tenant the just moved out forewarned my parents that these people told her they would do what they could to keep the place from being rented, particularly if a potential renter stops to asks questions, they plan to bad mouth my parents, and say what horrible landlords they are.
So, here's the question. We'd like to have a friend pose as a potential renter, and just go knock on the door, and ask some general questions (such as how is the neighborhood, etc) and see what they say. The catch is I'd like to have my friend have a tape recorder in his/her pocket to record the conversation.
My next question would be, if they do make false statements, and we record it, would we be able to sue them for slander? The problem with that is that we can't prove that they told someone who believed what was said. But we would be able to prove that they did in fact say these things.
On the other hand, my parents are not really interested in collecting a judgment. If they were to loose the case, so be it. The point being that the filing fees would be a good investment to shut these people up.
Anyway, for some reason that nobody can figure out they've suddenly gotten on a big tear against my parents. Long story short, the tenant the just moved out forewarned my parents that these people told her they would do what they could to keep the place from being rented, particularly if a potential renter stops to asks questions, they plan to bad mouth my parents, and say what horrible landlords they are.
So, here's the question. We'd like to have a friend pose as a potential renter, and just go knock on the door, and ask some general questions (such as how is the neighborhood, etc) and see what they say. The catch is I'd like to have my friend have a tape recorder in his/her pocket to record the conversation.
My next question would be, if they do make false statements, and we record it, would we be able to sue them for slander? The problem with that is that we can't prove that they told someone who believed what was said. But we would be able to prove that they did in fact say these things.
On the other hand, my parents are not really interested in collecting a judgment. If they were to loose the case, so be it. The point being that the filing fees would be a good investment to shut these people up.
