Tenant broke into apt, disturbed neighbor - what to do next?

Question

Hello all, I am new to land-lording (~2 years) and in San Diego, CA. We don't have a property management company. Last night a tenant got drunk and locked herself out. She scaled the building and broke a glass sliding door to access the property. The whole time making a lot of noise, disturbing a neighbor and being rude to the neighbor when confronted. Her roommate was very apologetic and says the offending roommate says she will pay for it. I went out there and called the police to file an incident report.

Neighbor also mentions this erratic behavior has been going on for one of the four months the tenant has been renting with us.

I think I know the next steps to get the door fixed, assuming the tenant does pay for damages without an issue.

My question: When a tenant causes trouble and seems like there is more trouble on the way is there something that can be done to mitigate that future trouble? Is there some kind of legal document we can have them sign as a means of intervention that makes them acknowledge the issues they have caused to date and sets a clear path for how future occurrences will be dealt with? Any feedback is very appreciated. TIA for your responses!

Scott Mac · Answer

Drunken Spider Woman Climbs Building.

If it were mine, here's what I would do.

In person: Hi Ms. X what's this I hear about you were climbing on the building and broke a window (???)

Well you know that kind of behavior isn't allowed here. We run a nice quiet building here. No wild stuff.

Unless you can tone it down while you live here, we're going to either non-renew your lease or evict you.

Now I'd like to keep you here but it's up to you.

Do you think you can refrain from doing things like this in the future?

Dan H. · Answer

The OP does not state a lot of information that could dictate if this is almost as easy as in Nathan's market or virtually impossible.

Questions/comments:

• Is the unit a multiplex over 15 years old?  If it is, the unit is rent controlled and the tenant must be given the opportunity to address any lease violations.  This means that there likely has to be a few/many of these type of incidents before you would have a legit chance at an eviction.
• If not rent controlled, what does the lease say?  Is it month to month lease?  If it is not month to month, you are likely going to have to have multiple of these instances to get an eviction.  If it is month to month lease, you can terminate their lease by giving 60 day notice if they have been in unit over 1 year and 30 day notice if they have been in the unit one year or less.
• If they are not month to month, you can terminate the lease by providing notice before the end of the lease (60 days if over one year, 30 days if 1 year or less).

BTW if you are not rent controlled, rent month to month.  The tenant gets much more benefit than the LL in CA for a non month to month lease.  The tenant can terminate the lease early for any reason.  If the tenant terminates the lease early, there are rules about the impact to the tenant.  If LL wants to terminate the lease early there are few legal means to do so.

For a rent controlled unit you will need multiple documented offenses as the rent control regulation indicates tenant must be given opportunity to address any lease violations.  This likely means you need at least 3 similar offenses before you would have any chance at an eviction (maybe 3 would not suffice).  What if you just want to get rid of an undesired tenant?  There are some cases for no fault lease termination.  I am unsure that this is complete list, but it is the complete list as I recall from memory.  No fault lease termination has a cost that in effect is one month rent from LL to the tenant (they allow multiple ways to "pay" this, but regardless of the method it will cost the LL one month's rent).

• If the tenancy started before the rent control regulation or the lease states that lease is able to be terminated to move family into the unit, the lease can be terminated to move family into the unit.  The rent control regulation states what constitutes family.  Your second cousin Vinny does not qualify.
• To perform a rehab, maintenance, etc. that is extensive enough that the tenant cannot occupy the property.  Note abatement items is likely the smallest work effort that likely qualifies.

As Nathan implied, there are a lot of LL/tenant regulations in San Diego.  The tenants have a lot of protections in San Diego.  Prior to Covid, I would have stated most of these regulations were state level and that San Diego was not too bad.  However, San Diego had the toughest covid eviction moratorium in the country.  The eviction moratorium explicitly stated that lease violations nor lack of rent payment were grounds for eviction.  The ONLY legal evictions were for health and safety violations.  Tenant could have placed 10 people and ten dogs into a studio unit against the lease and they could not be evicted.  This was San Diego county wide (not just the city of San Diego); passed by the San Diego board of Supervisors.

Good luck

Nathan Gesner · Answer

Well, you're in San Diego where people can poop on sidewalks, but if a dog does it you get hit with a $500 fine. That makes it tough.In my world, I would do two things immediately;

1. Schedule repair of the sliding glass door2. Notify tenant in writing that I am terminating their lease, they have 30 days to vacate, and they will pay for the repair.It's that simple in my world. Your mileage will most certainly vary.

Scott Mac · Answer

San Diego is "Laid Back", sunny warm and nice.

it's about 500 miles from San Francisco (I think you are referring to).

About the same distance as Denver is from Albuquerque.

They have a nice zoo and a Sea World.

David Siegel · Answer

@Scott Mac we have it on video and there is entertainment value.. thanks downstairs neighbor! I agree with your approach and I think all we are looking for as an outcome at this time is for the tenant to understand that we know she had a lapse in judgement and it serves as a strike and we hope she is more careful going forward. Not trying to evict her today.

But we are wondering if there is a legal document equivalent of "sign here to acknowledge that you acted foolish" so if we do try to evict her on foolish act #2 we just have a stronger position and more ammunition for our stance.

David Siegel · Answer

Thanks everyone for your answers and sorry I could not keep up with replies. The outcome is the tenant who broke with glass door promptly fixed it. The two tenants living there were friends, not so much anymore. We are letting them break the lease to move out early and looking for new tenants.

All in all not too bad of an outcome assuming they both leave peacefully and we are able to get new tenants in a timely manner.

JJ P. · Answer

Disclaimer, firstly, I'm in San Diego County, and it's an amazing place to live.  There's neither dog poop or people poop problems in 95% of the County.  The La Jolla people are really complaining about the seals and sea lion poop, but that's a whole other story....

Problem tenants come in all shapes and sizes, but I'd immediately repair the door, send her the bill, and send her a written notice that she is violating the terms of the lease by disturbing the neighborhood and damaging property.   You could either terminate the lease based on that, or give her warning that if she doesn't Cease and Desist such behavior, another violation will result in the lease termination.

Personally, I'm with @Nathan G.,  I'd terminate the lease.   I suspect this behavior is just the tip of the iceberg and it's not going to improve based on one more chance.  A crazy tenant can really rack up a tremendous amount of damage to a house.  A mad, crazy drunk tenant could do just about anything.  Ditch the kooks and get somebody else in.    If you wrote 2 lease contracts (hers and the roommates), perhaps you could just terminate hers.   The roommate might be eager for a change, also.   If you wrote them both on the same contract, that wouldn't be an option.  A lease termination only turns to an eviction if/when they refuse to vacate.

Sometimes a small cash for keys arrangement could be made, just to facilitate a peaceful and timely exit and will cost less in in the long run... less  lost income and eviction expenses, than a court case would.

Scott Mac · Answer

I don't know of any document, and that seems like a tactic some parents use on 12 year olds.

But in reality, she's an adult and it will come down to her having to take responsibility for her behavior--written document or not.

If she falls off that building and breaks her back the Slip and Fall Ambulance Chasers will have a field day.

Tenant broke into apt, disturbed neighbor - what to do next?

Most Popular Reply