All Forum Posts by: David To

Well, my ex-tenant finally responded back to my email and stated she is filling out the assistance application so that's good news. It doesn't matter how long it takes for me to get back rent from the US feds. I can wait a year or more, so long as it gets approved and I'll eventually see that money in the future. Better than not getting anything at all and having to go through small claims court.

A new law just passed in July 1 in California and it's called AB-832. It added new stipulation, including the ability for housing providers to get 100% back rent owed even for tenants that have moved out already. So that's great news. I'm filling it out and trying to get my tenant to complete her application and trying to push her to comply. Some tenants are just damn stubborn and stupid in my opinion. The tenant even stated she needs to find out if it's legal. Well, she stayed on my property for over 6 months with an unlawful detainer and that's totally illegal and she got away with it. Now the law states housing providers can seek 100% back rent owed, courtesy of the US Federal Government and the tenant is hesitating because she has to verify if it's legal for her when she is receiving housing assistance currently. What stupidity. You'd rather I go after you in small claims court and you file bankruptcy or have a judgement against you? When you can simply cooperate with me on seeing for housing assistance and have the US Federal Government pay for all of your rent debts? Ridiculous and stupid people.

Small claims court will be unlimited going forward for people pursuing tenants that didn't pay due to covid eviction moratorium.

I have a tenant that owes me about $30K in rental debt in San Diego. I will pursue through small claims court after March, 2021. The problem is this.

1) when tenant moves out, they don't have to provide me a forwarding address

2) they could also change their email and or cell phone number as well

3) my attorney says it's a conflict of interest to try and get the tenant's forwarding address from the tenant's attorney (they will most likely not provide this information)

4) I do have the tenant's driver's license and US passport

So how do I go about obtaining the tenant's present address when there's no obligation on their part to provide it. Since small claims court requires you to know their present address in order to serve them.

So just wondering how previous landlords have gone about this. 

1) do you hire a private investigator? If so, please provide some contacts in Southern California (Los Angeles, San Diego) for me.

2) do you hire a profession collection agency? If so, please provide some contacts in Southern California (Los Angeles, San Diego) for me.

3) also, what database or website do landlords use to place this tenant on the list of tenants that landlords should avoid at all cost? I would like to include this tenant on the list as well.

Thanks for reading and hopefully some people will reply with good insight to this.

How about doing it yourself? Other than the criminal background check, the rest you should be able to do by:

1) employment history (so you can contact their manager, etc.) 

2) employment paycheck (last 3 months), etc.

3) bank / checking / savings account statement of last year (to validate employment check deposits and history, etc.) and tenant's net worth

4) previous property manager / landlord (the last 2 or so) so you can contact and verify if tenant was responsible and owes any money or not

Basically, it's like a job interview or refinancing of your home, I'm I correct on this?

Also, all this free extra money does not obligate the renter to use it to pay rent. Renter can use it to buy a new car, a new TV or anything and leave the landlord empty with nothing. That's what one of my tenant is doing to me. Tenant got all this free money and can afford to hire a lawyer to defend her but tells me in an email she doesn't have any money to pay me.

I have a question on this concerning the 3X income vs rent. What happens if the income is low but it is a high net worth individual? Like someone recently divorced or someone recently retired or working part time? But they have a lot of money in their checking / savings / retirement account? So let's say someone is working part time but have $100K + in their checking and savings account? This person has an income only 1.2-1.5X vs rent though but willing to draw money from savings / checking, etc. Would you take a chance on this type of individual? 

Is it illegal to ask for their last 12 months of bank statements (how much they have in their checking, savings, and retirement accounts)? Because when you refinance or apply for a loan, the banks will also require of this from you. This would determine if they are a high-net worth individual and can pay the rent without satisfying the income requirements. Let me know your thoughts on this matter.

Yeah, of course 80-85% of renters are still paying (but that's because they still have the same jobs and the same pay so for them, it's business as usual). It's the other 15-20% that you have to worry about, the ones that no longer have a job. But some are getting more money in unemployment ($600 / week federal money for 4 months on top of state money) and then decreased to ($300 / week federal money) and still refuse to pay a single penny. These people are the ones scamming the system and the politicians are idiots to provide unemployed people with free money when a part of that money (50%) should be going directly to the landlord to keep tenants in place. That's why I don't feel sorry for all these tenants demanding rent forgiveness, etc. and crying they will be homeless. Prove it. Show me your bank statements the past 1-2 years, show me your unemployment benefits and small business paychecks, prove to me you are not receiving any of these benefits, show me your net worth and if it's near zero and that you don't have any family members to move into and only then do you get a human right to squat for the time being. Else, you don't have a case.

Yeah, courts can and will take months. Look at how long it's taking me. What ********.

1) spent $250 for 60 days notice of termination to tenant back in July (stating owner will move back in October and take house off the rental market; within the laws and does not violate covid non-payment); also tenant rekeyed house back in April, in direction violation of lease agreement

2) October comes and tenant still there, providing statement of covid hardship and states she doesn't have the financial means to move and will be staying put

3) spent $1600 to eviction attorney to proceed with the serving in October

4) tenant's attorney replied back on 12/1/2020 stating to give them a 60 day extension so they will be out end of January (to which I agree to)

4) finally got a case number (trial is set for Monday, December 21) which happened yesterday; but now they are continuing to bull **** (the nerve of them to ask for one month security deposit back and I should forgive them of all debt and not pursue small claims court if they move out by Feb 1)

5) I told my attorney ********, no way are they getting anything back from me and I will pursue small claims court for all back-rent owed plus property damage plus all legal fees

6) so the trial continues and will re-convene back on 1/21/2020

What a load of crap. I am personally very angry right now. Amazing that this is the only business in America where you are providing a service for free at the moment. Imagine me asking my attorney for $35K worth of free court appearance /advise or a real estate agent to forgo the 6% fees on selling of a home or demanding my property manager give me 20 years of free property management or going to Best Buy every week and coming out with a cart full of electronics good without paying, etc. Or coming out of a Ford dealership with a brand new Mustang GT vehicle. Unbelievable.

 They are considering extending eviction moratorium to the end of Dec, 2021. That's like giving tenants 2 years of free rent. Including damages to properties that I will have to use my own money to fix, 2 years of missed rent and damages and legal fees amount to $75K - $80K. Do you think anyone can get this back in small claims court? I don't think so. Tenant will simply file for bankruptcy or flee or disappear and not pay a single penny.

Landlords have zero rights in California, while tenants have all the rights. Simply taking money from one group of people and giving it to another.

There should be more oversight and consequences. Tenant must prove the following:

1) they are unemployed

2) if unemployed, they must show their unemployment insurance statements and small business protection statements (because a lot of them are getting more money in unemployment and some also get the small business protection paychecks from their employers)

3) if so, they must pay 50% in rent each month or should get kicked out within a month; heck 50% of unemployment check should go directly to the landlord or mortgage company so don't let the tenant be the one to decide if they want to pay out or not

4) but with the money, they should voluntarily move into a smaller, cheaper part of town instead of staying put (common sense is that when you lose your job, you send out resumes looking for another job while collecting unemployment and also looking to move and downsize to a smaller, cheaper place); you don't stay put and be a squatter

5) they must show their bank statements (checking, savings, retirement accounts, etc.); any money they have in there must go towards paying 50% of rent as well

6) if they are short on all the above, they must move in with family / relative / brother / sister / parent, etc.

7) the only situation when they have a right to be a squatter is when they can prove that they will be homeless if evicted and have no one to turn to and no money in the bank (but whoever gets to this situation is a lousy manager of money and don't know how to live within their means while employed)