tenant withholding rent saying landlord hasn't fixed the items

[Jhansi B.]

Here is the story short. Rented single family home in March and the tenant was late in payment in May (which I gave her grace period and first time late fee waiver) and again she was late in June but said that she paid but bank paid to wrong acct etc..

In July she hasn't paid rent yet and when I sent her texts and email which she hasn't replied and suddenly this evening I get an email saying she is withholding rent because I haven't fixed the items in the house. My last communication with her is text message saying AC is not working which we have replaced recently and then she replied saying it's been taken care of the guy who replaced it. We replaced water heater, AC, Furnace, replaced the floors, all the appliances etc..

Unfortunatley roof leaked three four months ago and water came through the drywall in the garage. She has never mentioned to me that the moisture came to her daughters room. Now she says that there is mold and she had to go and purchase mold remediation stuff this weekend etc.. also there is gap in the side garage door we installed so pests are coming in, and AC guy took time to fix the problem which increased her PG&E bill $200 and there is a stump in the front yard which is a sore eye etc..

My gut feeling is she doesn't have money to pay so she is using all these as excuse. I would really love for her to move because I don't want to deal with people like this. These are free loaders, they just don't want to do what is right, pay rent but find excuses not to pay rent.

What should I do now?

Thanks

[Jon Holdman]

1) You need to speak with your lawyer about you exact responsibilities and the eviction process. Unfortunately, CA is a tenant friendly state. This tenant may well be a "professional tenant" who knows the law better than you and will drag you through a long eviction.

2) Forget about all these complaints. They're just red herrings to distract you from the rent. Focus on the rent.

3) Post a pay or quit notice for July TODAY. Talk to a lawyer about the correct forms and get this posted today. Unlikely you are getting July or August rent, so get this tenant out ASAP.

4) Truly forget about things like the stump and the gap around the door. Those were there when she moved in. She accepted the property with them.

5) Sounds like the AC is fixed.

6) Go over or send a handyman over to check out this mold issue. If there is a problem, fix it. Do not let the tenant start doing their own mold remediation.

7) If she says "I have to move out because of this mold", fine. Let her go. That's quicker and easier than an eviction.

8) Write down who said what when. Document any issues. Plan to end up in court, so create accurate records. If you do end up in court don't go into irrelevant details like we replace the water heater. Focus on the rent not being paid and when you were notified of problems and what you did.