All Forum Posts by: Nick K.

Great advice, Nathan. Thank you.

I've served the first notice. Is the 14-day notice another Curable Perform or Quit, or is there another form I use for that?

I noticed during routine maintenance that the tenant was allowing her pets to urinate on the floor and causing damage to the laminate flooring. Both wet and dry urine were discovered in multiple places. Pee pads futilely scattered everywhere. I served a Curable Perform or Quit notice asking that she address the issue. Now I would like to verify that the issue has been corrected.

I'm looking for advice on how to essentially "catch her in the act," so that she isn't just cleaning up the messes right before I see the property, then let it continue once I leave. Should I schedule a repair and try to “catch” the issue still going on? I know that she just leaves her pets at home the whole day every day, so I have a hard time believing she’ll be able to correct the issue.

Thanks!

UPDATE:

I scheduled and performed an entry to evaluate the various repairs inside the property. But really, I used it as an opportunity to take pictures, evaluate the overall condition of the property and investigate any questionable activity. The outside of my brand-new stainless steel fridge was filthy and she had the backdoor (that I might add, has a doggy door) left wide open, as if she leaves it open all the time. I discovered at least half a dozen pee pads scattered in the tiled laundry room. Unfortunately, I also discovered dried urine all over the laminate throughout the rest of the house. I noticed liquid in various areas, which I suspected to be fresh urine. The floors throughout were very dirty and the house as a whole smelled of urine. (Interestingly, to be polite I took my shoes off. My socks felt soiled when I left, from walking the house. I have three dogs at home. When I got home, I took my shoes off and when I walked through my own house, I noticed that my dogs beelined it to/sniffed the insides of my shoes and anywhere I stepped with my socked feet as if there was an invader in their midst. I took that as a strong confirmation that whatever was smeared all over the floors in the rental, was urine.

So, here's my question: if I have the tenant paying "pet rent," but only have a traditional security deposit (= 1mo's rent) in place, can I deduct the cost of the floor damage, caused by what I suspect is pet urine seeping into the damaged/lifted laminate planks, from that security deposit? How does it work regarding other pet damage, such as scratched doors, from pets rapping on them? I guess I can also make the argument that any damage that wasn't there when the tenant moved in is game for deducting from the deposit.

Finally, can I refuse to spray for pests if the property isn't kept clean and the doors are just left wide open for extended periods of time? I suspect she leaves the door wide open at night. So, roaches are not a surprise.

Thoughts?

Hopefully, this post can serve as a helpful cautionary tale to anyone considering a tenant who appeared to be OK at the outset, and one the landlord did their due diligence on, but ultimately has become a pain in the butt and liability. I'll also preface that this rental is in a market that is neither hot nor cold. It takes about a month to lease to a suitable tenant.

I’d love everyone’s opinions about what you think and how you’d handle. Please forgive me for the long post.

THE PROPERTY
SFR, 2 br/1 ba, near downtown Los Angeles.

THE TENANT
~65yo single woman. Good income, $80k/yr. Had a recent past bankruptcy. Claimed her employer fired her because of an expensive healthcare claim. I went in with my eyes wide open. Did my research on bankruptcies and saw it as a slight positive, because she wouldn't be able to claim another one for another 7 years and get out of paying rent.

THE SITUATION
Move-in went fine. The tenant has been in the unit for 2.5 months.

1.5 months in – I stopped by to pick up some items and ran into the neighbor. She informed me that there had been an incident. Apparently, the tenant’s mentally ill son (who had been staying at the house illegally) trespassed into another neighbor’s property and they beat him up. They threatened both the tenant and her son that if he bothered them again, they’d do something much worse. The neighbor who told me also mentioned that the son had tried to get into her property as well, and that the older lady across the street was afraid of him because he lurked the neighborhood.

Given that I knew, the tenant had to tell me about the incident. This is when she also revealed that he has an arrest record. The situation was addressed (somewhat) and the son was shipped to a facility in northern California. The harsh reality is that the son shouldn’t have been there in the first place. He is not on the lease. If he had applied with her, I would have probably rejected them both as tenants. That being said, I empathize with her. It has to be tough having a mentally ill son and whose well-being you worry about. Still, it doesn’t give her a pass for being dishonest.

Fast-forward to present day. She has yet to pay rent on time. Both times, she paid it ~6 days late. And now she’s informed me of several items that need addressing/repair. The house is old, so there will be some things that need addressing eventually. That being said, I lived in the house a few years before I rented it out and made improvements, kept everything in very good shape, took proper care of the laminate floors, etc. Neighbors have complained about noise. She comes home late, opens the laundry room door and runs the machines through the night.

Items she’s brought up:

• A vintage doorknob came off one of the doors, so her BF took the door down off its hinges, but didn’t put it back.
• Claims that the garbage disposal doesn’t work. It’s only 3 years old and was working when she moved in.
• Informed me that the laminate is warping and lifting near the kitchen sink. It was not that way when she moved in. I informed her at move-in that the floor was laminate and should not be wet mopped or exposed to prolonged moisture. I gave her some floor cleaner so she knew what to use and told her how to clean it.
  
• Claims that there is a roach and ant problem, and nests under the shower. She has two dogs, so there are water and food dishes out. From what I can tell, she is a very messy person. I had it cleaned professional before move-in. The house smelled and looked dirty after she moved in.
  
• Says the driveway gate is more bent than it was before. Not sure why she would be saying this. It’s not something that can just get more bent all by itself.
  
• Bathroom sink now drains slow. I had replaced the entire p-trap when she moved in and there wasn’t a problem then.
  

- ONCE THE LEASE IS UP, WHAT CAN I DEDUCT WITHOUT A HASSLE OR LEGAL CHALLENGE?

- WHICH REPAIRS FALL UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE TENANT? LANDLORD?

- IS IT IN MY BEST INTEREST TO JUST COVER SPRAYING FOR PESTS AND THE SLOW SINK?

- AT WHAT POINT DOES EVICTION ENTER THE CONVERSATION?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

-Nick

Great thoughts from all of the previous posters. The CEA bankruptcy thing is an excellent point that I'm glad I know now and must research more on.

I'll throw my POV into the ring for what it's worth. I'm a small-time landlord. I have a duplex and my personal residence, both in CA, both older homes, both insured. I grew up during the Northridge quake and saw first-hand how some properties were total losses, while others were left completely unscathed. Back then, I also saw how glaringly unprepared many large institutional buildings were for such a quake, e.g., the Northridge Mall, Kaiser Permanente, even though conventional wisdom may have said they were. We don't really know how terrible the "Big One" is going to be, or when it's going to be. I guess it also isn't a total impossibility that another large quake like the Northridge one could happen again.

I have earthquake insurance because it would be a life-altering, catastrophic loss if for some reason I had complete losses or heavy damage (essentially, total losses) on both properties. Personally, that's too much of a gamble to take. I feel that it's worth it for me to pony up the premiums. That, and be able to sleep at night. At least until I'm at a point where I could walk away from properties and survive financially, or was diversified across the country. I considered part of those premiums as payment for peace of mind, and worth it.

I can see how if the mother of all quakes happens, that CEA could go bankrupt. I guess my question is, what if a large one like Northridge hits and it isn't a complete wash across the board? If I'm one of those unlucky souls with heavy losses, you better believe I'd want to know that I have coverage.

Thanks, Hubert.

Yes, I included all of those stipulations and details you listed out. I must have pulled them from the same literature you did, because they matched up perfectly. I had them sign that contract, as well as the lease.

Good call about the cancellation fee, as I'd like to avoid any legal issues/disputes. The way it's looking now, they'll probably be forfeiting most, if not all, of their deposit through lost rent anyway. I wonder if they would still have backed out if they knew how much this would end up costing them.

Can they change their minds after finding out how much they'd be on the hook for? Can I legally deny them as tenants at that point?

I'm renting out a SFR in California. I had a young couple apply and pass the screening process. I offered a lease and they accepted. Because the move-in date was still a ways off, I offered to take a holding deposit/fee in lieu of full first month's and security deposit. Rent is $2500. Holding deposit is $1000, an amount which we both agreed was fair. I drafted up a short contract stating the terms and the move-in date. Conditions were that if they backed out of the lease, they'd forfeit a $200 cancellation fee and should move-in day come and I still don't have the unit rented, they pay a pro-rated daily fee for lost rent. If rented before the move-in date, I'd refund the remaining $800.

They backed out. Since then, I've re-marketed the property, made every effort to get it rented and now have new applications coming in. The thing is that the best qualified applicant's move-in date is AFTER the couple's move-in date. I plan to give the new tenant their desired move-in date and simply deduct the lost rent from the holding deposit. I'm also not factoring the $200 cancellation fee into the lost rent, because I consider it a separate charge for my time and energy of having to re-market.

At the end of the day, they broke their contract and should be held to any extent necessary. Although, I have also considered asking the new tenant to "meet me halfway" and move in sooner. Although, neither them or nor I owe the couple that backed out, anything. I've also considered letting the couple know about the expense they'll incur by backing out, and reconsider them as tenants, should they change their minds. But I stopped myself, because I really don't want them as tenants anymore, if they're willing to put me through this.

How would you have handled it? Thanks for the opinions.