Investor · Sunnyvale, CA · Member since 2014 · 55 posts · 9 votes
We got a rental in modesto, California. Tenants called our property manager and reported that there are homeless staying in the empty lot, right next to our fence. They built simple shading structure and go to bathroom right at the lot. Manager called sheriff and they said they cannot do anything cos it is a private property. Anyone has ideas on how to handle this situation?
Contact the owner and see if they are aware of the homeless people living on their property. I'm sure a call from the owner would remedy the situation. Otherwise you can try calling the building and/or health department.
Contact the owner and see if they are aware of the homeless people living on their property. I'm sure a call from the owner would remedy the situation. Otherwise you can try calling the building and/or health department.
Yes, the property owner can call. I live in Modesto and have dealt with this in the past. The property owner has to be a bit of a pest and call often. The police will come, arrest the person, take them to jail for 30 minutes and release them and the transient will be back the next day. Then the owner needs to call again...until such time as the transient is tired of getting arrested and moves to the park. Or a novel idea might be to have your tenant go chat with the homeless person and ask them to move....??
Compel the owner to call in the sheriff to enforce trespassing laws. I think the only thing you can do beyond that is file a lawsuit against the owner of the property for any damages you are having (lower rent, loss of tenants, loss of peace and quiet, etc.). Nobody wants to go that far though, I Hope.
Get rid of them yourself. If your property is close enough why not try hosing them down at night. If the owner is not interested in helping maybe he will give you authorisation to enter on to his property with some friends to persuade them to leave. Chances are the police could care less and will do nothing even if they complain. The homeless although mostly mentally unbalanced have learned not to cause trouble.
There are many ways to encourage homeless people to pack up and move.
@Thomas Kwan Why not talk with the people first? Find out what their situation is and see if you can help them. Maybe they just needed a polite request to move on to a different location. Offer a one way bus ticket and food money to a destination of their choice. If worst come to worst and you can't find a common ground, then by all means use the law to make them leave. As the saying goes, "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar".
A simpler solution is just to call the police yourself and tell them you are the owner. When it's you vs. a vagrant the police ain't gonna be asking for no deed if you know what I mean...
We had one decide our second floor common area hallway was a good place to sleep and hang out at night. He seemed to be a courteous fellow having taken the time to bust out one of our windows so the smoke from his blunts wouldn't disturb the paying tenants. After I had him arrested the second time he came back and set the building on fire. This was enough to get one tenant on the second floor 2 months into her 12 month lease to just abandon the place.