Tenant Removal on new purchase in CA

[Phil Reason]

Hey everyone!

Just closed on our first property, super excited about it. It’s a duplex in a great part of San Diego

There is currently a month to month tenant in the side we are going live in. We need to give him his 60 day notice (been there over a year) and since this is CA, we want to make sure we get it right. 

I was going to use the NTT form and use the reason 2A that we intend to remove the unit from the rental market. 

Anything I’m missing here? Willing to use attorney if needed since this is my first time with all this. 

Appreciate any insights!

-Phil

[Phil Reason]

Hey everyone

The whole thing was kind of crazy, definitely learned a few things. Here’s how it all worked out....

So I tried to talk to the tenant about payment instructions for the upcoming month and he was super out of it and he shut the door in my face. ****. Might have a problem...

Same day, someone else came by the property knocking on the door, looking in the windows and trying to get a hold of him. Gut instinct told me to leave a note for that person, so I just left something saying, hey I can work with the guy just need someone coherent to talk to me, here’s my cell

Got a call the next day from one of his family members. He had an addiction problem in the past, had suffered a relapse and was moved into rehab. They moved him out, cleaned the place, and we were done a month early. I returned his last months rent as relocation assistance (CA law) and the full deposit to help with his rehab costs. Here’s what I learned

1. I totally underestimated the inherited tenant thing. got lucky. If he didn’t have responsible family he’d still be in there and probably not paying

2. I came 5k out of pocket on the whole thing. The rent and deposit were transferred to me in escrow, but went against closing costs, so I still had to come up with cash. Fortunately had plenty of buffer, but lucky again.

3. Glad I trusted my gut and left a note. 

I felt pretty terrible that I probably triggered a relapse by removing the guy, but I didn’t know. Did my best to treat him well through the process. It does suck to displace someone and I wasn’t 100% ready for that. 

But on the bright side, we got the STR side of the duplex up and running and our first booking was through a non profit for an Afghan refugee family, with two little girls and they are great. So honored to provide a place for them. So some good and some bad in this story

thanks everyone for the support here! So helpful to us