All Forum Posts by: Stephanie T.

Hi Slava and Silvia,

Would you mind sending me contact info of lenders who do Family Opportunity Mortgages as well please? 

Thank you

Hi all!

We have a condo built after 1979 (year built was 1997), with tenants expiring with their one year lease soon. We are considering whether we continue with a month to month lease or offer a short term renewal (2 months). A few questions:

1) are we legally obligated to offer month to month or can we either terminate or sign a short term extension? Lease now cites it goes to month to month unless terminated or new agreement executed

2) how do laws for removing tenants or notice period change given tenants would have stayed beyond one year? I believe I've read it would be 60 days notice by landlord or 30 days by tenant given tenants have been there for more than a year. Is this true? Are there any other concerns given tenants would have stayed more than a year?

3) are there any other concerns of using month to month instead of a short term renewal (beyond the lower certainty for us as landlord)?

4) there have been new rental laws passed in California for properties older than 15 years which I believe would apply to this unit. Does this new law change our considerations?

At the moment, we are likely going to do month to month or sign a 2 month extension, but wanted to be aware of the pros and cons. Going to try to speak to a real estate attorney next week but not sure can get someone in time to respond diligently to tenants. Many thanks!

Also we have some wood beams in our first floor and I feel like that would be prime cat fodder..

Ugh...if I added the cost of replacing the floor downstairs and the carpet, it probably would run in the $6-7K range. That's the most draconian case of needing to replace everything. Collecting another $3K of security deposit seems too much. If we do accept this cat, would have to assume that the cat damages at most one or the other (or we'd not charge for the full amount of replacing everything). Maybe we do a $1K deposit (so total $5K) and $25 pet fee / month?

Hi all!

Our tenants are asking if they can get a cat. They would keep the cat stuff (litter box, scratch post etc) on the first floor where we have engineered hardwood floor. The second floor has really nice, plush carpet.

1) Should we allow that? I know there are people who may be allergic in the future

2) We plan to collect a $250-500 pet deposit apart from the $4K security deposit (this would definitely cover cost of carpet replacement though probably not that AND the engineered hardwood floor. However, our engineered hardwood already has some water damage so I doubt we'd actually replace..). Is this amount sufficient?

3) What should a pet fee be? Thinking $50-75 but not sure.

4) If the cat clawed at the carpet, is there a way to repair without replacing? 

Thank you!

Hi there!

Our tenants just left their unit in San Francisco. Some of the engineered hardwood flooring has water damage (maybe 10 SF). We're unsure if we should charge them anything. In reality, we wouldn't replace the flooring right after them, and of course you'd have to replace the whole thing (it cost us $4200 5 years ago). They've been good tenants otherwise and very laidback, so we don't want to gauge them..but also think it's fair to charge them something. What have people done in that situation? Just let it go? Or if you do charge them, do you just charge the cost of buying the flooring for that spot (which may end up being something like $50...pre-labor?)

Separately, we have new tenants in and they've requested us to 1) change a bunch of bulbs that are not working, 2) ice maker in fridge is not working. The bulbs seem reasonable for us to fix, but is the ice maker an item we should deliver? It's always not worked when we lived there. is this something we need to fix or can we just tell them that it's as-is condition?

Hi, thanks for both responses! A few follow-up below

- The tenants have lived there for 7 months

- For some more context, I'm actually hoping / thinking that the dishwasher isn't broken, it looks like the connection to water got messed up but would likely need an appliance guy to come take a look / help to connect. My question is more about the cost of someone to come reconnect it (the plumber is saying it wasn't him, the tenants may come back and say it is..at the end of the day, should Landlord be responsible for figuring this out / incurring or the tenants?)

- Just checked the seller disclosures, dishwasher was replaced in Jan 16 (so pretty much new)

- An excerpt from the lease below. 

MAINTENANCE USE AND REPORTING: Tenant shall properly use, operate and safeguard Premises, including if applicable, any landscaping, furniture, furnishings and appliances, and all mechanical, electrical, gas and plumbing fixtures, carbon monoxide devices and smoke alarms, deck, and keep them and the Premises clean, sanitary and well ventilated....Tenant shall immediately notify Landlord, in writing, of any problem, malfunction or damage with any item including carbon monoxide devices and smoke alarms on the property. Tenant shall be charged for all repairs or replacements caused by Tenant, pets, guests or licensees of Tenant, excluding ordinary wear and tear. Tenant shall be charged for all damage to Premises as a result of failure to report a problem in a timely manner. Tenant shall be charged for repair of drain blockages or stoppages, unless caused by defective plumbing parts or tree roots invading sewer lines.

Hi! New to this community but would love insight from those who have more experience (understand it is not a legal opinion, but looking for those who may have similar experiences).

Our tenants recently reached out about their sink filling up with water after using the dishwasher the night before, overflowing onto the floor a little. We jumped into action within an hour, getting a plumber to take a look. Ultimately the plumber discovered it was a building pipe blockage (we are in 3-unit building, we are on ground floor so the pipe affects us first). The plumber flushed out the pipes and all seemed ok.

However, the tenants have reached out again saying that the dishwasher has been showing an error since. The error seems to indicate that water is not flowing properly. The tenants are saying they think it's because of the pipe/plumbing issue. I called the plumber, who said it was already showing that error / broken before he started fixing. He said we should find an appliance guy but he is saying it is not his fault. Unclear who is not telling the whole truth here (we'll try to find out).

But if:

1) the dishwasher was broken before the pipe was being fixed - I assume this isn't the landlord responsibility? The tenants signed a conditions report when they moved in and signed off on a working dishwasher

2) the dishwasher truly was showing this error only after the plumbing issue - i'm still confused on whether it is their responsibility or ours to follow up with plumber / find an appliance guy if the plumbing company refuses to admit their fault.

Would appreciate any advice. We can seek more legal advice but think it is a relatively low cost issue.