Nightmare Tenants that is always pushing the boundries

[Beverly Lafia]

I have a nightmare tenant who is always pushing the boundaries of what is legal.  She lives in a triplex of mine and has taken over the whole front of the triplex. She has so much junk..which isn't that a fire hazard?  She has blocked it off and says this is her private space because it is in front of her porch.  I inherited her. She hasn't had her rent raised for the whole10 years that she has lived there, due to the last landlord being scared of her.  She is always writing lengthy letters quoting the housing laws and having mysterious health issues. After the pandemic, I started to raise her rent the allowable rent every year, but at this rate...

So the issue now is she has two cats already and then one day i go by, and there is a loose dog running around the property. She said this dog is her emotional support dog and then gave me a letter from her mental health provider.  Do I have the right to ask her to sign a addendum to a lease?  She is still on her current lease from longer than 10 years ago.  She is a nightmare and asks for the world.  Now the real issue is the other tenant has now written me a lengthy letter saying she is scared to address the issue because of repercussions from this woman. There is dog poop and the property is starting to smell.  The other tenant is not able to walk onto the property without the dog jumping on her and scratching her all up.  I am at my wits end with this. 

Do I have any rights as the landlord?  I called the health dept and they said ultimately it is my problem. Besides hiring a gardener, can i issue rules for the common area and fines for breaking the rules?

[Jonathan Greene]

You are in quite the predicament. How long have you owned it? I know this is hindsight, but when you took over the property, you should have given her a new rent and lease or moved her out when you had the chance. You still can if she does not have a lease, you just need 60 days notice.

Emotional support animals are not protected, only service animals, so she does not have a claim there. What is your pet policy? You should not do anything to keep her, she is a bad tenant and a professional tenant. You want to get her out as soon as you can with whatever legal means necessary or it will never end and everyone else will move out.

[Matt Devincenzo]

Do you owner occupy this same tri-plex, and are you in a rent controlled area of LA? 

There are several avenues to consider here, and I'm sure you can get her out but depending on the above answers it may be easier or harder, cheaper or more expensive. Which leads to another question, what is your specific ability to finance a solution? Could you invest $10K, $100K, $500K if needed? 

There are going to be three levels of addressing this 1) things you can simply go there and do anytime (pick up pet waste and throw it away) 2) things you can do given proper notice (enter the unit and inspect, repair damage etc) and 3) things you can only do given proper process/procedure (notice to vacate, increase rent etc.) You need to answer all the above questions, then identify a course of action based on those answers, and then place those actions into the three categories above. Start doing category 1 items right away, provide notice and do category 2 as soon as you can and finally prepare and get ready to initiate category 3 items based on your ability to handle them. 

[Rick Albert]

First off, consult an attorney.

I think Jonathan may be incorrect as ESA are protected in Los Angeles (maybe not in NJ). I've called the Housing Authority about it before.

With that said, she is posing a safety and health risk to your property and to other tenants. I would think that is grounds for an eviction. Don't be scared of them just because they write lengthy emails and site housing laws. Check the lease to see if there is a clause about the tenant creating a safe environment. When speaking with the attorney, show him the letter of the other unit as proof and start the eviction. 

Don't let her bully you. It's unfortunate but we are seeing a lot of entitlement going around. Stick with the law.

Option 2 when you speak with the attorney, discuss updating the lease. You have the right to update the lease at renewal time. If she refuses to sign it, that could be grounds for an eviction.

Good luck.

[Adam Bartomeo]

You can boot her out due to the fact that you need to make large repairs. On the next renewal just site rehabbing the entire unit and get her out.

[Greg M.]

Spend a few hundred dollars and speak with an attorney. It's difficult and expensive, but you can remove tenants in LA. Depending on how much below market she is, it may be worth it to pay the costs associated with removing her.

In my experience, the people quoting the law are usually the ones that have no grasp on the actual law. 

There are rules on ESA. CA also has some requirements for it to qualify as an ESA.  It sounds like she did not follow the proper procedures and probably didn't follow the law.

You can only issue fines if it is in the lease. 

Unless her lease specifically states what she is entitled to outside her unit, the outside is common area. Require she remove her stuff from the area. Give her X days and if not removed, you will have it trashed and send her a bill for the cost.

Require her to remove the dog poop at the time of pooping. Failure is a health hazard and you can bill her for the removal. 

Require the dog be inside when not controlled on a leash. The fact that it has harmed (scratched) another tenant may allow you to have it removed. 

Raise her rent 100% of the allowable each year. And I mean 100%. It doesn't go to $800, it goes to $801.11.

[Julia Lyrberg]

That sounds like a tough spot to be in! You might want to chat with a landlord-tenant lawyer to get clarity on your rights, especially around the common areas and possibly updating her lease. Even though she’s got an emotional support animal, you could still set some ground rules for cleanliness and respectful use of shared spaces. Adding fines for breaking those rules could help too, as long as it’s within the local guidelines.

[Dan H.]

As you likely know CA has sb1482 so you cannot simply terminate the tenancy (no amount of notice suffices even if on month to month lease).   In addition there are areas in Los Angeles that have stricter rent control than the state wide rent control.  I do not have knowledge of Los Angeles local rent control ordinance but statewide the “no fault eviction” (terrible name) has only a few valid reasons.  The most common is to move in family or a rehab extensive enough that unit cannot be occupied.  Abatement would qualify.  Does the unit have textured ceilings and over 50 years old?  Remove the ceiling texture in that instance is an abatement issue.  State wide this requires one month rent to tenant and at least 60 days notice in your case.   Note local rules could be more extreme.  

You should have provided a new lease when you took over.  By sb1482 there cannot be a substantial change in lease terms but requiring notice to introduce animals, requiring keeping public/common areas free of junk, requiring her animal to be leashed in public/common areas, to require instant pet pick up in public/common areas are all reasonable terms, require the animal to not be a nuisance to other tenants (jumping on definitely is a nuisance, but I usually mean this to mean the dog cannot have excessive barking) and would be difficult for tenant to state are substantial change of terms as all those are reasonable requirements. 

Now to address the ESA…  have an ESA policy.  1) use petscreening.com to screen out bogus ESAs.  They probably flag a small percentage of bogus ESA authorizations but just using them discourages bogus ESAs 2) require all ESA authorizations be AB468 compliant.  I require the medical provider to explicitly state they are aware of AB468 requirements.  The implication is that the provider reads AB468 and understands the punishment associated with bogus ESA authorizations (even if no one has ever been charged) 3) meet the ESA.  If it is not behaved such that you would not accept it as a pet, reject it.  Let them do something about it as the ESA rules are not intended to accommodate misbehaved or vicious animals. 

I also suggest you be leery of following well intended guidance from those unfamiliar with the rules of your jurisdiction/state (and why I address statewide rent control ordinance but state I do not know if your jurisdiction has more extreme rules).  

Address this issue and learn from it.  

Good luck

[Beverly Hong]

Quote from @Dan H.:

As you likely know CA has sb1482 so you cannot simply terminate the tenancy (no amount of notice suffices even if on month to month lease).   In addition there are areas in Los Angeles that have stricter rent control than the state wide rent control.  I do not have knowledge of Los Angeles local rent control ordinance but statewide the “no fault eviction” (terrible name) has only a few valid reasons.  The most common is to move in family or a rehab extensive enough that unit cannot be occupied.  Abatement would qualify.  Does the unit have textured ceilings and over 50 years old?  Remove the ceiling texture in that instance is an abatement issue.  State wide this requires one month rent to tenant and at least 60 days notice in your case.   Note local rules could be more extreme.  

You should have provided a new lease when you took over.  By sb1482 there cannot be a substantial change in lease terms but requiring notice to introduce animals, requiring keeping public/common areas free of junk, requiring her animal to be leashed in public/common areas, to require instant pet pick up in public/common areas are all reasonable terms, require the animal to not be a nuisance to other tenants (jumping on definitely is a nuisance, but I usually mean this to mean the dog cannot have excessive barking) and would be difficult for tenant to state are substantial change of terms as all those are reasonable requirements. 

Now to address the ESA…  have an ESA policy.  1) use petscreening.com to screen out bogus ESAs.  They probably flag a small percentage of bogus ESA authorizations but just using them discourages bogus ESAs 2) require all ESA authorizations be AB468 compliant.  I require the medical provider to explicitly state they are aware of AB468 requirements.  The implication is that the provider reads AB468 and understands the punishment associated with bogus ESA authorizations (even if no one has ever been charged) 3) meet the ESA.  If it is not behaved such that you would not accept it as a pet, reject it.  Let them do something about it as the ESA rules are not intended to accommodate misbehaved or vicious animals. 

I also suggest you be leery of following well intended guidance from those unfamiliar with the rules of your jurisdiction/state (and why I address statewide rent control ordinance but state I do not know if your jurisdiction has more extreme rules).  

Address this issue and learn from it.  

Good luck

[Beverly Hong]

I’m in the city of Los Angeles with the toughest laws. Mostly favoring the tenants. Never favoring landlords. It is an RSO. Thanks you for your response. 

[Theresa Harris]

Work on getting rid of her.  Why do you keep renewing her lease every year?  If she's not on an annual lease, then give her notice.  Tell her if she can't keep control of the dog, then it needs to go. Having ESA paperwork doesn't mean the pet can do whatever it wants.

Start talking to a lawyer about your options.  It will cost you to get her out.  As someone else said ask about options of moving in a family member for a year or major rehab.

[Corby Goade]

I don't want to sound like a jerk, but why have you not evicted her already? 

Most self managers are intimidated by the process and put up with stressful issues like this for years and never take the simple, obvious steps. You have to know that this job requires you to do uncomfortable things and take charge of situations like this. 

Have her served TODAY with a three day notice. If she does not comply, file for eviction. 

[Kevin Sobilo]

@Beverly Lafia, its looks like you are in one of the most tenant friendly places around. So, I would make a firm plan for dealing with this.

1. Lawyer lawyer lawyer. If you don't know the laws well and you are in a place where tenants right are strong, you want a lawyer for something like this.

2. Get control! It sounds like you're working under a very old lease and have only amended it to raise rent a bit. That means you haven't put in place the details for how you want to approach managing tenants/properties.

A lease can spell out rules and expectations and its more than just a contract its a way to COMMUNICATE between parties. If everyone is on board with a good lease then everyone is on the same page going in.

3. Look at that old lease, what does specify? For example, does it cover which areas are common areas versus private ones? Does it cover that issue of outside storage? If so, give them a lease violation warning notice after explaining that to them.

4. Dog poop. They are responsible for picking it up. I would issue them a written warning about it after speaking to them about it. If it persists, I would hire someone to clean it up and bill the tenant back.

A lease usually states somewhere that items charged to the tenant (fees, utility bills, etc) are "payable as rent" or "payable before rent". Either way, if they don't pay it they are delinquent on rent and you proceed to evict for nonpayment of rent.

However, I would make sure to document the issue with pictures, copies of communication with the tenants etc.

6. These were just a few suggestions... Did I mention lawyer lawyer LAWYER! I think you really need one in a situation like this because it has gone so sideways and because of the tenant friendly market you are in.

[Beverly Hong]

Los Angeles is not landlord friendly. It is nearly impossible to evict a tenant. I have spoken to many lawyers. The only way is to document and possibly evict under nuisance. Most lawyers won’t even take the case based on how hard it is to evict. tenants in Los Angeles are wise to this and will ask for  100,000  to vacate and I’ve had friends that have tenants who won’t even accept large amounts because to rerent in LA is impossible. she knows her rights. And is abusing it and making it impossible for the other two tenants to live there. The only way is to prove it by documenting. But everyone is afraid of her. She is nice to your face but will do things to make your life miserable. Like playing loud music in the middle of the night if you upset her which goes through the walls. Purposely letting her dog run around and using others laundry, demanding the other tenants do things for her. Like I said she pushes the boundaries but doesn’t break laws so it’s been hard to get rid of her. 

[Beverly Hong]

Quote from @Theresa Harris:

Work on getting rid of her.  Why do you keep renewing her lease every year?  If she's not on an annual lease, then give her notice.  Tell her if she can't keep control of the dog, then it needs to go. Having ESA paperwork doesn't mean the pet can do whatever it wants.

Start talking to a lawyer about your options.  It will cost you to get her out.  As someone else said ask about options of moving in a family member for a year or major rehab.

[Beverly Hong]

The tenants lease does not have to be renewed even if they are month to month you cannot ask them to leave. These are the rules in LA

[Steve K.]

• Even being in a tenant friendly area, it sounds like you have several valid reasons to not renew this lease. I would pick the easiest one within your local laws and then give proper notice for her to vacate the property. For example FHA guidelines say you can deny an ESA if they cause an undue financial burden, cause a direct threat to the health and safety of others (the letter from the neighbor supports this), or cause substantial physical damage to the property. The fact that she didn't ask in advance and just got the animal without permission, and has 3 animals probably makes this a valid reason to not renew. Or maybe the ESA letter is from a bogus online source that isn't acceptable. Or maybe you need to remodel the unit which requires it to be vacant. Or maybe you need to move into the unit or have a family member move in. Maybe she has violated the terms of her lease. Research your local laws carefully and see which valid reason works the best to not renew her lease.

[Greg M.]

Quote from @Beverly Hong:

Los Angeles is not landlord friendly. It is nearly impossible to evict a tenant. I have spoken to many lawyers. The only way is to document and possibly evict under nuisance. Most lawyers won’t even take the case based on how hard it is to evict. tenants in Los Angeles are wise to this and will ask for  100,000  to vacate and I’ve had friends that have tenants who won’t even accept large amounts because to rerent in LA is impossible. she knows her rights. And is abusing it and making it impossible for the other two tenants to live there. The only way is to prove it by documenting. But everyone is afraid of her. She is nice to your face but will do things to make your life miserable. Like playing loud music in the middle of the night if you upset her which goes through the walls. Purposely letting her dog run around and using others laundry, demanding the other tenants do things for her. Like I said she pushes the boundaries but doesn’t break laws so it’s been hard to get rid of her. 

Beverly, grow some balls. The tenant is a bully and the ONLY way a bully stops is when you stand up to them. Stand up or bend over, your choice. 

Cut the crap about no attorney wanting to take an eviction case. There were ~80,000 evictions filed last year in LA. Did none of them have legal council? Why are attorneys advertising their services for evictions all the time? If you want, you can find an attorney that will take the case. 

Playing music late at night to disturb is against the law. Harassment is against the law. Using others laundry is against the law. Letting her dog roam uncontrolled is against the law. 

Send notice to the tenant about their actions including civil code references to the broken laws and that she must immediately change and comply or you will begin the eviction process. 

If the other tenants don't want to stand up to her, then screw them. Let them live miserably. However, they will need to go to court to testify about the other tenant whether they like it or not. It's either voluntary or with a subpoena. They may be scared of her, but they're probably not going to lie under oath for her. This is especially true when you have notice (texts, voicemail, letters, time/date of conversations) from those tenants about the harassment.