1st Time landlord - tenant from hell

[Christy Miller]

I’m a newbie landlord in Cal and have already served the 3 day notice twice with my very first tenant, I’m still in the early stage of this painful eviction process.

Tenant claimed heater broke down the second day after I served the 3 day last month. My attorney suggested to get the heater fixed before filing for UD even she didn’t pay within 3 days... Had the heater “fixed” (I believe she broke it) and received payment 18 days after due date, of course no late fees included. She was quiet and ignored my reminder on rent/ deposit until I served the 2nd 3 day notice on Sunday.

She was fuming and claimed the notice was illegal and demanded a discounted rent because the condition is so bad (not clean upon move in, leakage from fridge, kitchen faucet leakage that he had to fix herself blah blah). Then guess what, the heater broke down again today, day 2 since notice, one week after the repair. 

I have scheduled a call with my attorney tomorrow for suggestions. Although I feel very strong to proceed with UD this time, so will see what attorney says. The other thing I just found out was she’s been evicted before and I can track down who the attorney was, do you think 1). Is it better to work with the attorney who evicted her in the past and 2). Is it common to proceed UD with the nonsense repairs ( outstanding repairs) the tenant’s claiming, surely everyone has common sense sees what’s going on?

I know legal* advise should come from my attorney but eager to hear your thoughts please, also need to vent a little bit...