All Forum Posts by: John Chang

Hi, I am a landlord in Orange County, CA and at the beginning of the year I had a tenant move in and he seemed great and always pays on time. We never did do a background check but I believed him when he said he was a drug counselor. However, in the last month or so, I have had several neighbors complaining about him having people in and out of his unit, that they are outside in the parking lot at all hours of the day, they have seen needles on the ground, and they said they have seen cars coming into the complex with no license plates. All the other tenants have lived there for over 5 years or more, so I know that it is not them. I wrote a letter to all the neighbors that if they see suspicious people in the complex to call the police, as sort of a warning to him that the neighbors are watching. How do I proceed with this? I don't have actual proof he is doing anything wrong, but my other tenants are becoming worried about this and I would like this taken care of. Any advice? Thanks!

Thanks for the advice all.

Thats good to know. Yes, he is on a month to month lease. In the lease it states that his payment is due by the 5th of every month, but we don't usually receive it until the 10th or later. I send him a text every month on the 1st to pay on time or he has to pay a $50 late fee, which of course he never does, so I roll over and add the late fees to the next month and he'll eventually pay the total late fee.

In the meantime, should I give him a warning and discuss with him what happened? What is the best way to go about this delicately so that he understands he cannot continue to do that, but not get him angry so that he scares the other tenants?

Hi, I just received a phone call from one of my tenants in a duplex that she had to call the cops on the other tenant in the duplex because he was up all night banging on the walls and screaming. She said that he has had this behavior before, for a long time, and sometimes he will go into their backyard and pull out wires and stuff and she said that she is scared because she knows he has guns. She said she thinks he's mentally unstable. 

The day after the cops were called, he called me (before I found out about this from the other tenant) and he said that he was very sick and had to go to the emergency room the night before. I wasn't sure why he was telling me this, but now I figure its probably to see if I had heard about this incident from the other tenant. 

This is the first time I am hearing of this behavior and every time in the past I have talked to him, he seemed fine, but I have not talked to him extensively. How should I bring this behavior up to him to keep the peace between the both of them. I don't want my tenants to be scared. I have thought about evicting him because he never pays his rent on time anyways, but if he is mentally unstable, I know there are laws in CA protecting his rights, so I'm not sure how to go about this. Any help? Thanks

Thanks for all your input everybody. It is so helpful. What would be the best way to get her out? Is the only way through eviction? I have a feeling she is going to say she is withholding rent because of habitability. She had a clogged toilet 3 times in 3 months and I had a plumber go out and fix it each time the next day, and the plumber told me that it was because of excess toilet paper and wipes and this last time she clogged it, I mentioned to her that we were going to replace her toilet but in the time being to not throw anything in the toilet, so she complained that her unit was inhabitable and she had to go stay at a hotel, which I told her that the toilet got fixed and there was nothing wrong with her unit. She has been living at the property for several years, so now we are on a month to month lease. Thanks!

Hi all, I am new to this forum so forgive me if this has been asked before. I have a rental property in Costa Mesa, CA and a tenant claimed that after she cleaned, her carpeted floors in her room were wet and she was worried about mold being under the carpet and in the walls. I checked and her bathtub needed caulking so I fixed that but she said that would would now like new floors because she is worried about mold. I bought her a damprid to get rid of excess moisture and told her she should have opened her windows to ventilate and that she should have told me right when she noticed, but she waited several days until she finally paid her rent, after it was past due. I felt the floors and they felt dry to me, so I told her I would think about it. This tenant never pays on time and any time I tell her she needs to pay on time, she has a complaint about something in the unit being broken, or needing something to be done in her unit, etc., so I'm wondering if I can tell her to pay for a mold check by a professional is she is concerned about it.  Everytime she has mentioned something needing to be fixed, I have done it, but I don't know if she just wants new floorings, so now is complaining about something else or what. My question is, whose responsible if there is mold. Thanks!