All Forum Posts by: Kathy Benavidez

Informed Tenants two days ago that we are planning to sell the home (their lease ends at the end of June. We are hoping to sell the house as soon as they are gone). This afternoon, we let Tenants know that we have a prospective buyer and a Realtor who will view the home in two days at 1:45pm.

Tenant sent us a text citing California Civil Code Section 1954 stating they have a right to not let us enter. He also sent us a text stating that they will vacate the property at the end of their lease and to not schedule any viewings.

We replied that the Civil Code allows us to enter (citing that we are entering during business hours, giving almost 48 hour notice and the reason as to why they are entering). We’ve also asked them to keep the screen door unlocked so that we can use the key to enter if they are not home.

Tenant is active duty military living with his girlfriend. Not sure if they are exempt from any laws regarding our entry. As well, we are concerned they may refuse to open the door, or refuse our entry. 

They have been consistently late on payments (we’ve emailed them twice about it), they broke the lease regarding having extra dogs/cats and started a boarding business in our home which we informed them was not allowed as soon as we found out, as well as lacking in communication with them regarding things we needed to fix around the home.

This is in California.

We’ve just wanted to see what our next steps could/should be. Everything has been through email or text. Communication via phone is limited as we wanted a paper trail with them. Our handyman saw the home a couple weeks ago and said they’ve not taken care of the yard (stated in the lease, it is their responsibility), but the home itself looked okay. Spoke with an attorney and they said we have a legal right to enter.

Per the lease, we stated we would first have “friendly negotiations” and then mediation and then arbitration.

Thank you.

Hi Julie,

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately, we don’t have photos but we did do a walk through after the last tenant; after the cleaners cleaned; after the new floors were inserted; and the day or two before the new tenants arrived as the yard was cleaned that day. 

This is our first rental, so we will definitely be taking photos after each tenant now.

We had tenants move in a few months ago. 

Yesterday they sent the following picture claiming that that was there since they moved in. (During the last walk through with previous tenants, that was not there at all). The new tenant did say she showered and/or took a bath daily and that it’s gotten bigger every time she’s got out of the tub.

I spoke with a friend and she said her child had caused something similar when he was bathed in the tub and water would spill over (and she was too tired to clean it up). She caught it before it got as bad as the photo but she did have get it replaced/fixed. I spoke to a floor specialist (that she used) and he said that was due to excessive moisture. 

My question is, who is responsible for that? Would it be considered normal wear and tear or is this something excessive that the tenants have caused due to carelessness? She said it stinks and smells like urine as well. They do have a cat and dog. The house is professionally cleaned after each tenant leaves and the house is also inspected after each cleaning service is completed (to make sure it was cleaned well). So the house is inspected at least twice after the previous tenants leave. Before they moved in, it was inspected more than that because we just had new floors put in (not in the bathroom but the rest of the house).

She also stated that the TP holder and the towel holder in the bathroom are loose/ and coming off. Again, during the walk through from the last inspection, they were fine/working/not falling off or were loose. We don’t mind replacing that but I’m just concerned at this point that the tenants are not taking care of the property/maintaining the property and expecting us to fix everything by claiming wear and tear. These are just a couple of issues that have risen during their stay. They’ve only been there a few months as well, so these issues are starting to concern me.

Thanks in advanced.