Suspect tenants abusing eviction moratorumin in CA. Thoughts?

[Andrew Freesh]

Hi all,

I own two rental properties in Ventura county. One of my tenants has 2 kids, and lives with their S/O in the house. Both are signed on the lease, both had jobs pre-pandemic. They were great tenants until one of them lost their job, but kept up with the rent for a little while. One one of the tenants is still working multiple part time jobs like before, without disruption. They aren't married, so they should be filing taxes separately and the one who lost their job should be able to collect full unemployment, which I calculate to be around $3k/mo with their two kids, give or take. This puts them very close to their pre-pandemic income.

They are now behind $6k+ on their rent, and have been claiming since September that they have been denied proper unemployment benefits. They do have letters from the EDD which corroborate this, however those are from last year and it's been nothing but "we will have it fixed soon" since then. I know the EDD is slow but I'd have to believe they have gotten things fixed by now. The issue stemmed (i believe) from their not providing proper documentation before the EDD froze their account once they began reviewing claims, based on the content of the letters.

They have applied for rental assistance and been denied, and there is nowhere else we are aware of to apply to, so any thoughts on that end would be very helpful.

Of course, Amazon has been hiring this whole time, as have grocery stores, and other businesses of the like. There are signs on the grocery store next door.

I'm a little stuck. They were good to me and I want to return the favor. I believe that makes the sort of long term mutually beneficial relationships that keep everybody happy for 5-10 years. However, they are only paying about 50% of rent due so that balance keeps growing, and I fear they are abusing the system. Even if they are just really bad at paperwork, I can't let their problem become entirely mine while they walk away free and clear after getting half rent while I eat a $6k sandwich.

I have been very patient but they keep extending the moratorium, their lease is up beginning of August, and the 60-day notice required will burn through the deposit as I'm sure they will stop paying entirely if i decline to renew the lease.

General thoughts?

Thanks everyone,

-Andrew