All Forum Posts by: Carlos Lez

I rent rooms in a house. I have been managing this one property where everything has been going well and housemates have been happy and even renewing their lease for the past couple of years with no complaints. Now, I have this one new tenant who has been complaining about small issues here and there that have been resolved within a day of two. Then she brought about an issue saying that the bathroom has black mold. We tested it was not black mold and there were light spots with the lack of using the ventilation. That was cleaned up. Now again I have received the following note;

"Thank you for taking care of the mold in the bathroom. I was having a lot of trouble with my P.O.T.S. Syndrome and my breathing and was concerned it was from the mold. I did a take home mold test and found more mold in the kitchen and the vent in the foyer. My mom is concerned and said she can hire a professional company to do more tests if necessary. Let me know what we can do about it."

There is no mold that I can see. However, I am willing to let this tenant go as this appears to be a nuisance. The girl is 18 years old and has a helicopter mom. I know I'll have a vacant place for quite sometime as it is difficult to find people to rent these rooms during this time of the year. 

I am just seeking your advice on how to handle this and not let them feel that I have buckled. I am not even sure if she wants to leave. I just don't understand where this is heading.

Thank you in advance for any advise in this matter.

Could someone comment on petscreening if it is legal (in California) to ask for a pet screening report for an alleged ESA? I was reading online on some reddit threads and it appears it has a bad rap. May setoff tenants on the the wrong foot. Specifically, what do I tell the applicant to do? Should I just say please provide a petscreening report along with completing the usual application and providing supporting document?

Nathan, Thanks for a detailed response. I clearly don't qualify for the exemption from accepting ESAs. I will look at the HUD guidelines.

 Does petscreening charge the applicant? What documentation do I need from the applicant to run petscreening? Thank you.

This is the first time I am receiving an application for an applicant for a studio with an ESA Cat. There are numerous posts about ESA laws but I am unsure as to what is the latest in Palo Alto CA. What documentation should  I request? Additionally, it would be greatly appreciated if you could share addendum to include in the lease regarding the ESA animal.

The building has carpeting all over and we have a no pet policy. What can I ask in terms of how to carry the animal around to prevent anyone else complaining of allergies and such? I mean, can I ask them to always carry the pet in a carrier and not put them down on the carpet?

Please bear with me as I am navigating this for the first time but don't want to be caught in the crosshairs and still protect myself and the property.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Thank you for your thoughtful replies. I recommended that she file a police report for her alleged complaint. No news so far. I'll update here if I receive a response.

Dear fellow members, I am confronted with a weird accusation that I haven’t seen in 15 years of managing student rentals. We have multiple properties rented to students living in different rooms. We start showing rooms to prospective tenants right around a month before lease expiration. We have a blurb in the lease that has the tenant agree that with a 24 hour notice we will be showing their room. We barely spend a minute in a room to show the layout to prospective students.
subsequent to a showing yesterday I get the following email. I am seeking advice on how to  address this and help me with a response. We don’t require but advise tenants to carry renters insurance which they usually don’t carry. We don’t know what transpired and if any of this is even true. The email;

when I returned to my room this morning I noticed that my room looked out of place. I know you guys had people come look at the rooms Saturday afternoon between 3 & 5. My suitcase was opened when I returned and I had a bag that was ripped in it. I know some of my drawers were left a little open and my heels were out of place when I returned. I took photos of how my room looked before I left with timestamps and took photos of how it looked when I returned with timestamps. I am concerned because I had money in my wallet that was left in my room that is now missing. I think that if you are showing people the rooms this is an invasion of privacy of someone to go through my things. And I expect the money to be returned to me.

 Doesn't say anything expressly about this. Is it implied in residential contracts? If you can share verbiage I'd appreciate it.

With the recent storms in the Bay Area there have been a lot of power outages due to PG&E equipment failure. Some areas have been out of power for 4 days and counting. One of the resident's writes to us;

"You need to consider a credit or money refund for March rental payment. We have been without electrical power for four days.Your leasing company is receiving a very poor grade!"

Any thoughts on a fitting reply?