Hello,
I have a SFH property in San Jose where the tenant has not made even 25% cumulative rent the past 3 months. Rent is 2500$.
Losses incurred till date. 7000$
The lease expires March 30th. I am starting to worry that Newsom and co will a) expand the state moratorium into Q3 and b) not allow eviction for holdover tenants (just like in NY). I am also worried that Biden will extend the federal moratorium even more. I am not too thrilled by the state/federal possibilities of landlord assistance. Even if California gets 2B from the rental assistance pool, I doubt I'll see even 1000$ and that too might take months to play out.
Tenant is not low income and has not applied for any rental assistance to my knowledge. However tenant returned the covid declaration along with several pay stubs for September/October (I did not ask for the paystubs). When I examine the pay stubs I see that the tenant has worked overtime for several weeks - in effect earning more than their monthly pay for that period. So the act of signing the declaration appears like perjury to me.
What are the chances of an attorney willing to challenge the tenant?
There are some other potential lease violations like the tenant getting their boyfriend to live in the house. How would I even prove this as a lease violation?
There are several other infractions like broken lights, not maintaining the backyard , etc. But all these seem like things that the tenant could wriggle out of.
I am also willing to look at other alternatives, like cash for keys, of getting my house back before any more moratorium extensions.
What is the best strategy for cash for keys? How do I make a cash for keys offer without weakening my position even more? Should I be using a real estate attorney to make the offer or should I be doing it? How much should I be offering for them to go away considering the rent is 2500$?
This forced government takeover of my property rights is leaving me totally stressed! I'd love to hear your opinions.
