All Forum Posts by: Larry Shepherd

I used Dennis Block for over 9 years and fired the firm last year. Mostly great attornies, terrible office staff.

I am very happy now with Fred Szkolnik in Encino, gets my tenants out a minimum of 30 days faster than Block.

I hate to say it, but there was absolutely nothing new in that article folks. Everything he pulls, we have had to deal with here in Los Angeles for years.

It appears many of you have not heard about the new 'Shriver Funding Act' that hit California this year. If you are a California landlord, Google it, because it will hit you right in the pocketbook in an eviction action. Basically the act provides money for 'indigent' tenants for attorney's fees. The courts have a list of law firms the tenants can contact when they are approved for the funding. Every law firm we have seen so far, since the act went into law, were high dollar Wilshire Blvd law firms.

What we have experienced in the last year due to it:

1. Tenant's attorney filed a Demurrer Action. This is a [u]seperate lawsuit filed against you the landlord. If you do not respond to it you automatically lose the eviction, it stops the unlawful detainer action until it is settled. Only an attorney can show up in court, you cannot. Cost the owner $1,000 extra in legal fees to handle it right away. Other option was to wait the 30 days until the action's court date and then pay $350.

2. Tenant's attorney filed a Discovery Motion in a standard, no pay, eviction. Took us four days, at 6 hrs a day, to prepare the information for the response to the discovery request. Literally hundreds of questions like 'How many 3 day notices have you served to tenants in the last 10 years, what were their names, what was the outcome?' I had to charge the owner $400 for our time and that was a bargain. Total additional legal fee charges ran $2,100 over the standard.

Hi Roy, my wife and I have thirty years in LA property management.
1. Is this property subject to RSO?
2. Did you allow this tenant to pay rent past the expiration of previous 3 day notices?
3. The 30 day notice you mention cannot be used on a rent control bldg at all
4. 3 day notices have specific valid dates, ie. banking holidays and weekends cannot be counted. Also the day you serve it doesn't count either. The clock starts at midnight that day.
5. Service of a 3 day notice to pay rent or quit is only the first step in an Unlawful Detainer Action, don't be a fool. Even with 30 years in this business we never attempt unlawful detainers ourselves, let an attorney do it.
6. Have you paid all your SCEP and RSO (if it's rent control) fees?