Bakersfield, CA Landlord Tenant laws, rules and regulations.

[Chase Alison Matthews]

Hello BP!

My fiance and I have owned an owner occupied duplex in Los Angeles for the past two years. It has appreciated about 36% in that short amount of time. We want to buy another 2-4 unit multifamily rental.  We were looking in Los Angeles, but nothing really cash flows enough. We started looking in Bakersfield and we like the cash flow and prices much better. What we don't know is how landlord tenant law/regulations in Bakersfield differ from that in Los Angeles. We are very familiar with the laws and regulations, etc. in Los Angeles, but are a little scared of the unknown when it comes to investing in the new market of Bakersfield. Does anyone know the key differences if any between these two markets? Just looking for broad strokes. We will have to get more specific as we start to close, etc.  We just wanted to get a basic idea of what to expect and see if any of the regulations in the Bakersfield market will effect our calculations we made on the properties.

Specific questions we have are:

1. Does Bakersfield have rent control?

2. Does the tenant usually pay utilities in this market? which ones? which utilities does the landlord generally pay? I know this is different on each property based on how many individual meters they have etc., but again just interested in what is typical for this area.  

3. Any other weird, unusual or unexpected regulations we should know about in the Bakersfield market?

Thank you! Any help is appreciated.

Chase Matthews and Alison Janes

[Brad B.]

No rent control to worry about and tenants pay utilities. Nothing weird or unexpected that I know of. Evicting tenants can take a while but that is more as a result of California law rather then local laws. I would think it would be easier to work in Bakersfield then what you are used to in Los Angeles.