tenant in possession of marijuana

[Carlos Lez]

I do co-living rentals. So different people in different rooms. I was over at the property to show a vacant room to a prospective tenant. He and both could smell the strong unmistakable aroma of weed from a tenant's room. We have a very strong No weed policy that clearly spells no possession or growing of weed in addition to smoking or any other method of consumption in or around the house.

I run across the offending tenant who after first denying confesses to having weed in his possession.Note:  I did not catch him smoking weed. Long story short I tried to talk him into an amicable lease termination at the end of this month. He is a young chap of around 23 and brash, he refused and suggested I can go ahead and do what I want. 

This is in San Jose, CA. With all the rapidly evolving laws what do you think is my best recourse here. I am not looking for obvious replies like, serve him a 3 day notice, go to an attorney etc. In particular I am seeking pragmatic and constrictive help on how to get this guy out. Please note that this is not an apartment - rather he is renting a single room in a house and tenants in other rooms are not going to report him but will complain that they have asthma or other respiratory conditions and want to quit.

Any actionable and constructive  (operational) suggestions are much appreciated.

[Kenton LeVay]

Well given recent moratoriums and law changes, you should seek a lawyer first. Not only will they give you guidance on what the local laws are around eviction but also if your weed clause in the lease is even legally binding. Because it's legal in CA, he may be well within his rights to have possession of it. If there's a clause in your lease agreement that is against the law (e.g. prohibiting tenants to have possession of marijuana, possibly) it could render the entire contract out of good standing. This is why you need to check with a lawyer first.

If the lawyer gives you the green light to evict, ask them about remediation. If he is refusing to leave you may need to hire someone to kick him out and I would imagine a lawyer that specializes in this or a large property manager would have a contact for you.

If the lawyer gives you the red light you really have no choice but to wait until the end of the lease term and then not renew the lease. I wouldn't inform the tenant of this until about a month before (or whatever the minimum length is in your lease) that you won't be re-signing him as to not cause any more tension in the relationship which could result in damaged property or him not paying rent.