Bought Apt Building with hostile tenants in Los Angeles

[Jonathan A.]

Hi I just bought a 4 unit apt building near USC and all the tenants are giving me issues. They currently have no lease with old landlord and were paying $800 rent a month for a 1 bedroom. Each unit has over 5 people living in them and one unit there are 10 people living. I gave them notice that rent will increase to $1300 or they have an option to take $4000 for keys. All the tenants say they will take me to court. Any advise for Los Angeles?

Thank you 

[Lee Ripma]

Make sure you talk to an attorney before you do anything else! They are right, you can't raise their rent more than 3% if the building is rent controlled and it probably is. Tenant relocations usually run 45-75k per unit in LA. Did you get estoppel certificates before you bought? Did you check to see what year the building was built? Do you plan to renovate the entire thing? If so you may be able to do an Ellis Act eviction. But you need a lawyer fast!