All Forum Posts by: Sara Soleimani

Hello BP community,

I'm a landlord in California, and I'm dealing with a situation where my tenant is refusing to pay rent for the time during which mold repairs were being done due to water damage from a neighboring unit. The tenant's sink and toilet in their only bathroom were under repair, and I want to know if the tenant has the right to withhold rent in this case, as the unit may not have been considered 'habitable' during that time. What are the rules or guidelines in California regarding rent payments when a rental unit is temporarily uninhabitable due to repairs? Any advice or relevant legal references would be greatly appreciated!

@Deanna McCormick Thank you so much!

Thanks @Deanna McCormick for the info! I will call the city and see what they offer. She left me with lots of things to do!

Thanks @Dana Whicker. I will also call a mold inspector.

Thanks @Dana Whicker. I will start with a Mold Inspector! 

Hello BP Community,

My trash hoarder tenant is moving out, already took the all the trash out, and she said she is going  to clean it the unit nicely. But, I need to bring a health inspector to check it out so there won't be any health issues for the next tenants. Here are some questions I have:

1. Where can I find the Health Inspectors? Are they the same as the regular or mold inspectors?

2. Can I charge her for the inspectors from her deposit since she was trash hoarding?

3.  What other issues trash hoarding might cause that I need to hire someone else to check it rather than an inspector?

Any advice is appreciated!

Thank you!

@Deanna McCormick Thanks for your great advice! She is moving out this week and she already took out all the trash. But as you said it's wise to bring a health inspector, so I will also make sure the next tenant won't have any health issues. Do you know where I can find these health inspectors? are they the same as the regular or mold inspectors?

Thank you!

Thank you so much all for all the input and the advice. She finally cleaned the condo, it still needs some major repairs though. And we are not renewing the lease. Yes, it's very sad, but what can I do, I will give her some contacts for consultants, hope she feels better and find her way.

This was a great experience for us, but it seems in CA, regular inspection is not allowed and we have to have a reason (Repair, improvement, or like our case which was kinda an emergency) to give notice and enter the unit, so I am thinking if she would have not told me what she is doing there, how could I have known? What is the best way of monitoring tenants to avoid these situations? 

Thank you!

After three months of giving notice to our tenant to inspect the property and getting refused and canceled last minute, we finally entered the condo and faced the disaster. Massive trash accumulation and hoarding. I could not even stay there because of the bugs and the smell. There were blood stains on the wall which really scared us. 

She doesn't know we saw the mess. We gave her a notice a week of ago, but she canceled last minute again saying she is out of town. She also said that she is suffering from depression (really sad) and the condo is not clean and she is ashamed to let us in.

We gave her the final final notice to clean the condo by next week but I am afraid she doesn't do anything again due to her depression. We really want to help her but at the same time we don't want her there for the next year.

The lease is ending by the next month. We are not sure what to do about the whole situation specially the blood on the wall, it looked like she tried to harm herself or something. Should we contact the Police? 

The property is in Orange County, CA.

Any advice is really appreciated. Thank you.

@Elizabeth Wilson Thanks for your very wise advice! Which City do I really want to visit as I will have to! We will tour both cities and talk to come agents and TKP before make the decision! Thanks again!

Hello BP Community!

After lots of researching we finally narrowed down our OOS investing options to Atlanta and Memphis. We are looking at Atlanta as a slightly less cash flow but more appreciation and growth and Memphis as higher inventory and more cash flow. Just wanted to get more advice from the community and local investors about these two markets and predictions in 2017. 

Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!