All Forum Posts by: Ernest Ho

In my 2/1 rental unit, the furnace is very outdated and needed to be replaced.  My home warranty can replace, but does not cover the pipe and duct work.  Since the furnace is located in the basement (not habitable with no return air), the duct and return air work not covered is fairly significant.    The alternative is use another supplier and get a cash value from home warranty.    In your experience, what's a reasonable amount they typically offer, as a cash-in-lieu amount?

Earlier this year, I bought property that was originally built in 1927.   I've recently had some drama in dealing with sewer pipe repair, and I would appreciate your advise.

Soon after my tenant moved in, she encountered problems with plumbing.  Plumbing inside the house is all new, so the problem is the sewer pipe from house to street.  After the initial camera inspection, the plumber located the breakage due to roots.  It's about half way from house to street.  After fixing it, stoppage occurred again.  They did another inspection, and found paper at the end of the pipe close to the street.  They said it's old paper from prior owner.  After they cleared it, stoppage happened again.  This time, they did another camera inspection and found another breakage close to the street.

Should the plumber be liable for not finding out whats going on all the way from house to street?  It took them 3 or 4 camera jobs to find out what's going on. They should have done another inspection when they fixed the pipe the first time, but they did not.

Or is this legit, and I will have to pay for repairing the newly found breakage?

Thanks.

A few months after close, and after a couple months of rehab, I finally have a tenant move in.  Quickly, the tenant discovered a problem with the sewer pipe.  This was not something the seller had disclosed.  The seller had inherited the property, and did not live there personally.  Some other family members were living there, on and off.  I believe the period between the inheritance to putting on the market was around 2-3 years.  Anyhow, the seller is claiming they did not live there, and therefore did not know about the sewer problem. Roto Rooter said there was a job about 1 year ago.  

According to the neighbor, this was a long problem that orginial owner had known for a long time but have not fixed it.  It was a very familiar issue recognized by the neighbor as soon as they saw roto-rooter there again.

How do I go about claiming the cost from the seller?  I feel the seller has responsibility to find out from whomever living there any problems they know of.

Thanks!

I'm told by Section 8, CA county office, that  The basement is built as part of the unit structure. Regardless of it being included as living square feet it may NOT be excluded from use by family.  Does anyone have experience with Section 8 in CA and tried to restrict basement?

After reading a few other post, security cameras on the outside is likely not a good idea for landlord.  Let me know otherwise.  Thanks.

I would like to install a security camera in my property.  I  have 2 single family house on one lot, and  both have tenant currently.

How does this work? Do I have to pay for separate internet so I have access to the video feeds? or do I share with one of the tenant?

Any concerns?  what rights does the landlord have in terms of security camera?

Thanks.

My tenant has a ESA, and may be changed later to service dog.  Dog is around 1 yr old or just under.

Do I need tenant to sign a lease addendum or something? so I can officially know about the dog, licenses, shots, etc.

Thanks.

Does anyone know the law in CA on restricting usage on certain part of house such as basement?  My rental has a basement, but it's low ceiling, has narrow and a bit steep stairs and is hazardous in general.  See below post for more details.

Thanks!

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