New Landlord-Tenant leaves for vacation without paying rent.

[Michael Choi]

Greetings,

I've recently purchased a multi-unit apartment in Los Angeles County (No Rent Control) with intention of living in one of the units.  The only unit that was soon expire had some delinquent payment history (three months) with the previous landlord.

When the escrow closed, I sent out the transition letters to all the tenants and gotten a response from all but one unit (can you guess?).  So, I've tried reaching out to them and their next door informed me they went on a vacation to Europe for a month.  This was last week of May.

When the first rental was due, I've received all the rents except this unit and the previous landlord didn't receive anything or any explanations of why they were being late, nothing.  So I hired a Lawyer to start an eviction process.

Finally, today they reached out to me asking if we could work something out and that they didn't know there were a new ownership change and have electronically deposited the rent to the previous landlord's bank account on the 15th of June.  The tenant tried to explain how they have been mistreated by the previous landlord and that they are willing to go to court if I continue with the lawsuit and claim they weren't served properly and sue both me and the previous landlord for mistreating them.

Before starting the eviction, I asked my lawyer if I should negotiate their end of lease term (end of July) with 60 days notice to vacate and return their security deposit but my lawyer warned that it could work against me if they decide to squat at the end of 60 days and start the eviction process which seemed risky with their past history.

I'll be consulting with my lawyer later today but just wondering has anyone here experienced something like this?  If so, I would like to hear your story.  I am worried this may become a long and dreadful court case but I hope that's not the case.  Thanks.

[Kim Meredith Hampton]

@Michael Choi first, did you try contacting the previous owner for the rent, or is this past rent that would be owed to him?

How did you or the previous owner notify the tenants that there was a new "sheriff" in town? If everyone else knew that you were the new owner, and coincidentally they were the "only" one that didn't know!? I think a judge would find that hard that to believe, also given their past rental history. 

Once you have your answers on this, I would definitely move forward with eviction. They sound like a problem