Landlords are saying No to Woke San Diego California Eviction Laws

[James Wise]

San Diego, California eviction laws have gotten completely insane. California has the craziest landlord tenant laws in the USA. With San Diego evictions taking forever and landlords having to pay evicted tenants relocation assistance when they finally get evicted, it's no wonder so many people are leaving California. If you're no longer interested in being a landlord in San Diego, California and are looking for an alternative investment for your money, take a look at Stairway Invest. Stairway Invest offers investors a Stairway Loan Account that pays an 8% interest rate. Call Stairway Invest to learn more.

Landlords are saying No to Woke San Diego California Eviction Laws | HoltonWiseTV Highlights

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[Dan H.]

Quote from @James Wise:

Quote from @Dan H.:

The type of eviction that you refer to does not require relocation assistance.

Have you looked at the eviction rate in San Diego (using the typical definition and not using it for an end of lease termination of lease)?  how Low is it?   The eviction rate is also one of the lowest in the county (the lockout rate is below 1 in 1000 rentals).  My family and I have had rentals for 50 years and have yet to not collect any money while the tenant occupied the unit.  Not $1 not collected.  

This is not because all the units are class a.  Our units go from class A- to class C-.

So why is this?  Certainly the pain to evict plays a role but look at the delinquency rate for San Diego.  It also is also one of the lowest in the country.   So this would lead one to conclude it is not primarily related to the PIA of doing an eviction.   No it is because of the housing shortage (vacancy is historically below 5%).   Our policy to rent our units is no evictions ever.  We require strong LL references and the credit report cannot have any indication of ever having not paid the landlord.   All the large home providers also do not accept any tenant that has ever been evicted.   The tenants recognize if they have been evicted or have an adverse LL issue on their credit report they will find it difficult to obtain a decent house to rent forever.  Therefore our tenants pay their rent on time and take care of the units.

Look at the stats.  It shows San Diego has high quality tenants and virtually no evictions.

good luck

 
Unsure what you mean by “nah nah” but everything in my post is verifiable except my personal experience.    You can look up the eviction rate and see it is one of the lowest in the country.   You can look up the delinquency rate and see it is one of the lowest in the country.  You can look up the vacancy rate and see it is historically below 5%.

Most recent city of San Diego vacancy data I can find is 3.12%

https://timesofsandiego.com/business/2025/07/02/san-diego-re...

All easily verifiable data but really the vacancy rate tells the story.   When there is a housing shortage, the tenants appreciate their housing.   They recognize an eviction, delinquent payments, poor LL reference will make it challenging to obtain quality housing.   It makes sense and you can see it in both the eviction and delinquency data.

How many people can say they have had hundreds of tenants have never not collected a single dollar owed from the tenants while they occupied the units?   Are we that good at screening or is it San Diego has quality tenants?  I think it is a little of both.

Also by the competition for local RE, there are not enough San Diego RE investors ditching San Diego. Last week we placed an offer $92.5k above initial list price. I was informed there were 4 offers higher than our offer. We can close extremely fast (with a cooperating HOA and seller, in as few as 3 work days) and we have a solid reputation in this area. The only contingency we had was HOA info and we would only exercise it if 1) unit was not allowed to be rented 2) large supplemental association bill was forthcoming 3) that HOA modification approval time limit is larger than 4 months. Very reasonable items to result in renegotiation. What happens if there is $30k supplemental coming? A: price should be reduced likely near $30k. What if HOA does not allow renting the units? A: this would significantly affect value and would mean our only option would be as a flip. What if HOA is allowed to take 6 months or a year to approve changes? A: potentially increases our hold cost which should result in some adjustment in price.

San Diego is a very different market than the Ohio cities.   Class a to c in San Diego typically have good tenants that always pay their rent, virtually always on time.

Good luck