Real Estate Professional · San Diego, CA · Member since 2016 · 4 posts · 0 votes
I purchased a property an the tenant agreed to move out within 30 days. I sent 30 day notice but have been unable to reach the tenant since. What options/recourse do I have to make the tenant vacate the property? The property itself is in San Diego, CA. I plan to occupy the property full time as the owner.
Make sure you follow the process perfectly for one. So if you serve any notice do it properly and have record of it.
Evictions and tenant laws in California are no joke. If the tenant has been there over a year they get 60 days for example. If the tenant is on a lease, that lease supercedes the sale and they can stay.
There are so many rules to it all, if I'm telling you things you already know my apologies.
Basically you have three routes to take.
1. Serve the notice and the tenant leaves on the agreed and legally rightful schedule
2. They don't leave and you go through an eviction
3. You give them cash for keys and they leave.
Also, any deposit they paid the prior seller is theirs when they leave... regardless
Make sure you follow the process perfectly for one. So if you serve any notice do it properly and have record of it.
Evictions and tenant laws in California are no joke. If the tenant has been there over a year they get 60 days for example. If the tenant is on a lease, that lease supercedes the sale and they can stay.
There are so many rules to it all, if I'm telling you things you already know my apologies.
Basically you have three routes to take.
1. Serve the notice and the tenant leaves on the agreed and legally rightful schedule
2. They don't leave and you go through an eviction
3. You give them cash for keys and they leave.
Also, any deposit they paid the prior seller is theirs when they leave... regardless
Ok thanks so much for the information. I'm working through this now. I think my realtor gave me bad information, do I have any legal recourse against them at all for not clearly defining all of this information to me beforehand?
I really don't know. I buy most deals off market without agents as I find them to be useless.
Were you provided with a copy of a lease prior to buying? Did you receive the security deposit from the previous owner? This is standard stuff we're talking about here.... If your agent isn't up to task, ask to speak to their broker and move up the food chain.
Be sure you are serving notices correctly too. In the end cash for keys is usually what works out best. Sucks but I'm a fan of the path to least resistance.
Yes, I have a copy of the lease and the security deposit as well as march rent credited through escrow by the prior owner. I've just sent 30 day notice. requesting them to vacate by 3/31. I'll give a week or so and then follow up with my agent again and ask to talk to the broker if necessary. I have a feeling my agent may not be as responsive after closing escrow but I feel like they should be looking out for my interests in getting this stuff. As the first time homebuyer they should be guiding me through the process and what to ask for.
I agree with @Tim G. that many realtors are nearly useless when things go wrong. I've been told more than once that the reason to use the realtor is when things go wrong with a purchase. This is when I have found realtors to be the most useless. I once had a $60K non-disclosure, before I was as experienced as we are now, that you would think the realtor and broker would help with the battle but no help was provided. I had to hire my own lawyer.
My current realtor I only use to help find properties. She and I both know that I know the market better than she does and that we are the experts but have not had the time to get a realtor license. She provides the access to MLS and sometimes the properties (most properties we buy only provide access after acceptance of offer). She knows that we likely have more contacts to address issues and really would be surprised if we ever asked her for assistance with an after sale issue.
Maybe I simply have not found that great realtor but we have used quite a few realtors. The last one I used that was not our normal realtor convinced us not to put short time limit on offer/negotiations. While in slow negotiations with owner another offer came in. I should have went with my belief and not listened to the realtor who was too inexperienced at under market properties and believed our offer was going to be accepted. If he brings us another property that we like we will not be using his advice in the negotiation.
I also think Tim G advise on how to get of the tenant is correct. It is often best to pay them to move out with a condition that the move-out satisfies your move-out instructions (I recommend a check-list). This helps ensure that the property is vacated to your expectations.
I think @Tim G. pretty much covered what options you have available at this point.
My question is this: If you intended to occupy the home (I'm assuming it is a single unit property) from the beginning, why would your agent not write the offer contingent upon the tenant vacating? I know that it generally requires a bit longer escrow, but it is well worth the delay considering the potential headaches it can save.
Something else to keep in mind is that if you're loan was for an owner occupied primary residence (which is likely the case if you put less than ~25% down), you generally only have 60 days to take occupancy.
Feel free to reach out if you want to chat about this further.