All Forum Posts by: Wai Chan

There is some deferred maintenance tenant want me to take care of in the bathroom and kitchen in a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom house. The work should take about 4-5 days. The work is pretty extensive so I want tenant to move out temporarily while the contractor can do the job easier. The tenant has a few other people that I am not aware of living in the unit and also have two dogs. I have been graciously turning a blind eye to the occupant and dogs situation for the past. However, when I told the tenant that I will provide one hotel suite for 4 people (2 queen bed with kitchen and free breakfast), she has started demanding me to provide room and board for everyone including the dogs. She told me I know the dogs live there so I should also take care of it. The hotel is about 4 miles away from where she lives but she demands that the location has to be close to her grandkids' school (I actually have no idea her grandkids live there). I thought I have been providing enough assistance to help with the situation but it seems that she now tries to take advantage of me. I am only asking her to move out for 6 nights but what she is demanding will cost me ~2/3 of the rent. At one point she even said if the hotel doesn't provide kitchen then I need to pay her $500 just for food for 6 nights.

If you were the landlord, what would you do? 

Quote from @Dan H.:

Quote from @Wai Chan:

@Dan H.

Thanks for the feedback. 100% agree with you as I don't want to encourage these tenants to take advantage of the landlord. Throughout the last 10 years I have never encountered such a troublesome tenant in all my properties. She is actually okay for the past few years until she saw that I have totally rehabbed one unit when tenant moved out and I guess she feel jealous and have since demanded a lot of repair/upgrade and started making a lot of accuse saying mold issue causing health issues but at the mean time trash my yard and keep the common area dirty. She is still paying rent on time but I am just afraid that she will play other drama to scare other tenants. Right now I will just play by the ear and see what's the next step.

 Because this is MF, You will likely have issues evicting due to ab1482 and city of San Diego more extreme rent control called something like tenant protection act if she is paying rent. The issue is tenant will be given opportunity to correct the issue(s).

It does suck that poor tenants are hard to get rid of. 

When is lease up?  Will raising rent 10% (max allowed) get her to give you notice?  It may work and if it does it will be cheaper than an eviction.  

prior to rent control, I got rid of my poor tenants by raising their rents above market rent.  They may have thought I was clueless to market rent, but they gave me notice and I had got rid of a tenant with little chance they would dispute anything.  It is tougher with rent control especially in recent years were rents were going up near 10% yearly.  

Good luck

 I have just renewed another 12 months lease with this tenant on June so need to wait until next year to raise rent again. I am sure I will raise to the max the law may allow.....

I feel like there is nothing a landlord can do legally to avoid issue with tenant in San Diego now. Say if I am raising the rent and they don't want to renew I could not force it and I need to start eviction. If they violate the lease I can also do nothing but eviction. At the end of the day, every possible legal action I can proceed may just lead to eviction which is 8K plus 6 months of no rent and time which is ~20K in my case (not including any potential trash/damage they may leave to the unit). 

There is a serious housing shortage in San Diego but the policy is also trying to discourage the private market to provide more housing by being extremely unfair to landlord. Isn't it ironic?

@Moses Moreno

Thanks for the feedback. It sucks that it takes 6-7 months and a lot of money for a eviction process. If I need to spend 6 months on this I am losing 20K almost for nothing. I guess I could regain possession of the unit but I am the owner so it is quite ironic to spend so much to get back what you are supposed you own....

I also own properties in Dallas and I have evicted a few tenant there before. It only takes 45 days or less and around $800 from start to finish...

Btw, what kind of eviction did you go through? Is it at fault or no fault eviction?

@Dan H.

Thanks for the feedback. 100% agree with you as I don't want to encourage these tenants to take advantage of the landlord. Throughout the last 10 years I have never encountered such a troublesome tenant in all my properties. She is actually okay for the past few years until she saw that I have totally rehabbed one unit when tenant moved out and I guess she feel jealous and have since demanded a lot of repair/upgrade and started making a lot of accuse saying mold issue causing health issues but at the mean time trash my yard and keep the common area dirty. She is still paying rent on time but I am just afraid that she will play other drama to scare other tenants. Right now I will just play by the ear and see what's the next step.

Has anyone gone through a at fault eviction process with tenant in the City of San Diego recently? I am considering evict my tenant with at fault just cause due to the lease violation (

parking, trash, common area cleanliness). I heard that the waiting time for a court trial is 5-6 months and another 2 months for having the sheriff to remove the tenant (only one police office in the whole city of San Diego to execute the writ of possession now). I have called a few places and the cost is about 8K from start to finish. I know there is a new tenant protection law but the waiting time is extremely unfair to landlord. On top of the eviction fee, I would need to consider not getting any rent for 7-8 months? Is it that crazy?

Can anyone share a recent experience to evict tenant in San Diego?

I am planning to sell my single family house in Plano 75075. It was my rental property but I have decided to cash out when tenant moved out last month. The cost to maintain the house (property tax, insurance, repair) is getting higher and higher. I looked at a lot of market data in Redfin and feel like it is now a good time to cash out but I want to hear feedback from agents/investors who look at deal in this area everyday. Is it a good time to sell? Is the supply still low and demand still high with the high interest rate? The house is a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom, ~2000 sq ft and closed to the Plano Senior High School. Planning to do some renovation before selling. Any real-time market insight on Plano is appreciated! Thanks.

Quote from @Mike Franco:

Quote from @Wai Chan:

 In CA there is AB-1482 which landlord cannot terminate the tenancy without just cause if tenant has stayed > 12months. Not sure the rule in NY.

some examples of Just Causes for eviction:

• Failure to pay rent
• Continued violation of a part of the lease
• Doing significant damage to the property
• Using the building for illegal purposes
• If the landlord wants to move into the property. In this case, or in other "no fault" eviction cases, the tenant is due one month's rent as a relocation assistance payment.

so the best way is to jack up the rent, and if they can't pay, they're gone. 

Also, this tenant would be super easy for me to evict since I have a no smoking clause in my contract.

Smoking clause is a legit reason to evict the tenant if it was written on the lease and if they have violated it

However, jacking up rent to let the tenant go is illegal in CA. That is the whole purpose of establishing the rent control....You cannot get away with it easily.

Quote from @John Teachout:

Quote from @Wai Chan:

Quote from @Mike Franco:

Quote from @Jake Johnson:

I guess it depends on how tough evictions are in your area. In VA it would be difficult to evict a tenant like this. It would likely go to court so weigh the costs of that vs renewing her at a lower rate and continuing to collect rent.

why is it difficult? because of covid rules?

are there only low quality tenants in VA?

do they not care about having an eviction record and risk not being able to rent prime properties for the rest of their life?

@Mike Franco

How do you evict such tenants? Can you evict them just because of the nicotine on the wall?  Are they doing more damages intentionally to the unit or create some kind of threat to the neighbors? Not sure the rule in NY but I don't think the landlord has any ground to evict her unfortunately if it is in CA. Given that the tenant has already known that the landlord want to increase rent substantially. I am not saying the tenant is right but I just don't see how landlord can evict her legally.

It sucks but it is the risk of being landlord. It is already priced in.

She doesn't need to be evicted. A notice of non renewal can be issued which requires her to move out. That's NOT an eviction. She would only be evicted if she refused to move out. At that point she would be a hold over tenant and most courts don't accept any excuses for that.

 In CA there is AB-1482 which landlord cannot terminate the tenancy without just cause if tenant has stayed > 12months. Not sure the rule in NY.

Quote from @Mike Franco:

for those that run a rental charity, are you exempt from income taxes?

would be great if someone could point me in the right direction to not pay income tax on rent.

 Not saying I am running a rental charity but I assume that most landlord should pay very little tax on rental income if they plan/do the accounting correctly...

Quote from @Mike Franco:

Quote from @Jake Johnson:

I guess it depends on how tough evictions are in your area. In VA it would be difficult to evict a tenant like this. It would likely go to court so weigh the costs of that vs renewing her at a lower rate and continuing to collect rent.

why is it difficult? because of covid rules?

are there only low quality tenants in VA?

do they not care about having an eviction record and risk not being able to rent prime properties for the rest of their life?

@Mike Franco

How do you evict such tenants? Can you evict them just because of the nicotine on the wall?  Are they doing more damages intentionally to the unit or create some kind of threat to the neighbors? Not sure the rule in NY but I don't think the landlord has any ground to evict her unfortunately if it is in CA. Given that the tenant has already known that the landlord want to increase rent substantially. I am not saying the tenant is right but I just don't see how landlord can evict her legally.

It sucks but it is the risk of being landlord. It is already priced in.