Nuisance Tenant in Duplex

[Brenda Garcia]

Need advice from more experienced self-managed landlords. I inherited a tenant in a duplex who I am unable to evict because of CA laws. They feel the need to tell me they’ve been there 9 years and that they know their tenant rights in every interaction I have.

They dislike the new tenants in front and have complained about smoking (not allowed) and loud fights. I have spoken to the front Tenant and they said they are not even home from work yet at the time mentioned in the complaint. As for the smoking my maintenance guy was there a few days ago and said there was no signs of it and the tenant also denies it. I believe them but what do I do with the complaining tenant? Do I tell them I’ve addressed their complaint and leave it at that? I don’t want to give them more info/ammo than necessary.

[Melanie P.]

Stop having "interactions" with them. When they send a text or email reply in a couple of days. It's none of their business what is going on with the other tenants in the building. Just tell them, appropriate follow up will take place. Do not have telephone conversations. Let them leave a message and then reply by text or email. When someone tells me they "know their rights" I quip back, "good for you, we certainly know ours."