All Forum Posts by: Alyssa Lebetsamer

@Scott M. Verbal agreement with the previous landlord - nothing in writing. I think this is the direction I am headed. Thanks.

@Gail K. I would love to get her out of here, but her lease defaulted to month to month long before I came on the scene and in CA it is very difficult to get a tenant to move along unless it is their idea. She would have to be "at fault" for an eviction. Living in Los Angeles right now during Covid the list of accepted reasons for eviction is even shorter than normal.

@Colleen F. This is a triplex - her unit is the front house and is stand alone so the basement is under her unit only. The other two units get garages and hers doesn't have one, so storing a few items in there seems reasonable, but she has problems with storage. She overfilled the basement, stores things on her porch to the point of overflowing, on the side of the house to point of a fire hazard, that sort of thing. The basement has electrical and heating elements in it, both of which need to be fixed/updated and so I need them to be accessible both now and going forward.

@Gail K. I did have her give me a key to the lock. I need to be able to get in there. My worry is that this situation is going to arise again... and soon... based off of my knowledge of her lifestyle. I need to do major repair work to her unit's electrical and heating.

Hello Everyone! I have an inherited tenant who has a basement under her unit. The former building owner allowed her to store some things in there, though the right to do so was never outlined in her lease. When I bought the building, I didn't think much about it, but I tried to enter the basement to do some repairs a few weeks back only to find that the tenant had changed the padlock to one which I did not have a key for. She opened it for me and I discovered she had gone from storing a few items to taking over the basement completely. I couldn't enter to do my repairs. She and I agreed that she would clean it out - I gave her 6 weeks. The time span is now up and I went to check on the space today. It is much better, and functional again, but she is still storing things in the basement. Before I insist that she empties everything out completely (I want to change the lock and ensure that that whole debacle doesn't happen again) do I have to honor her previous agreement with the prior landlord and let her keep things in there? Or is it my right to insist on an empty basement since her lease doesn't entitle her to it? What would you all do? 

@Andy 

@Andy Brown Holy Crud. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. 

@Jim K. Yes, I think that is probably my best bet. 

@Terrell Garren I inherited both of these tenants, unfortunately - they were here when I bought the building. I agree the behavior is unreal.

Two of my tenants got into a bit of a brawl. It is hard to piece together what happened exactly because the stories don't match up, but it appears that Tenant A threatened/chased Tenant B's guests with a baseball bat after they rang her doorbell repeatedly at 2 AM (they had the wrong apartment), and then when an angry Tenant B confronted her, she yelled and screamed and hit him multiple times with her screen door. So Tenant B (who is male) pushed her and broke her security camera. Tenant A says Tenant B choked her and entered her apartment by force - Tenant B denies this. Police were called and a report filed, but no arrests were made. What is my role in all of this? I know the tenants both have a right the peace and quiet, and to feel safe in their homes. They sort of both crosses the line here. Both are presenting it to me like they are the victims. Any advice???

I agree with @Dick Rosen. I would start out by putting them on a month to month lease, at the same rent. They have absolutely no reason to fight you on that - it should be simple enough. After a period of time where you feel like you know what sort of tenants they are, that will give you a fuller picture, and more information on what you want to do next. Since they are on a lease at that point, it will be easy enough to raise the rent incrementally. It will just take a while longer to get it up to market value.

Thank you everyone! I really do appreciate all the advice and input. I have an appointment with a certified mold testing professional on Monday morning, and have properly informed the tenant that we will be there.