All Forum Posts by: Camille Joos-Visconti

Thanks for your post. I am in the process of finding an attorney and seeing what I can do to get this tenant out. I just found out that he has a criminal past, but the record is from 1990 and I believe that a landlord in CA can only go back 7yrs history due to fair credit/fair housing laws. Gahhh... On his application he put that he had NO criminal past. So obviously he is lying since he does, but I have no way to prove it since it was older then 7yrs.  Do you happen to have any property management referrals for the Los Angeles area?

Originally posted by @Christopher Kinsling:

In a rent control unit once the lease expires it automatically rolls over to month to month, and they are not required to sign a new lease in order to stay. I would definitely have an attorney read the original lease and see what their interpretation is of which outside space belongs to which unit.

I would continue to serve him the three day notices and if he does not comply then you have a chance to go to court and try to evict him. When you go to see an attorney I would bring photos that show all of the trash and items that are piling up. The best thing to do is to document everything and continue to serve appropriate three day notices when possible. 

Lastly in my opinion I think you should look around for a PM to take over for you. It will cost more money than managing it yourself obviously but it may be worth it to not have to worry about it all the time. As you said the stress is overwhelming and it will be worth a little extra cost to not have it in your mind all of the time

Originally posted by @Manolo D.:

Camille Joos-Visconti Who said you can’t terminate a month to month lease? It is
month to month for a reason, both parties can terminate. Come on now.

Hi Manolo, 

Thanks for your post.  I wish it were that easy! Im new to the rent control laws in Los Angeles (other property isn't in LA bounds) but I've been reading non stop to learn about the laws as much as I can. Unless you know something I don't (hoping you do!) there are only 12 reasons I can end any lease at all, whether its 1yr or month-to-month.... Ill attach the link to the rent control guidelines I'm following, but if theres something you know that I don't please let me in on it!  **(Sorry its so long, I wanted to attach the reasons not just the link, so other posters can see it too)

http://hcidla.lacity.org/sites/default/files/docum...

LEGAL REASONS FOR EVICTION

A landlord may bring an action to recover possession of a rental unit for any reason listed be-low. Evictions for Provision 3 or 4 require that a Landlord Declaration of Intent to Evict be filed with the HCIDLA, when police reports and the City Attorney are involved. Evictions for Provisions 8 and 10 through 14 always require that a Landlord Declaration of Intent to Evict be filed with the HCIDLA. Please also review the Allowable Rent Increase RSO bulletin for information on legal rent levels after an eviction.

1. The tenant has failed to pay the rent to which the landlord is entitled, including the addi-tional one percent each for gas or electric services if that service is paid for by the land-lord. (LAMC Section 151.06.D)

2. The tenant has violated a lawful obligation or covenant of the tenancy, other than the obligation to surrender possession upon proper notice, and has failed to cure such viola-tion after having received written notice thereof from the landlord.

3. The tenant is committing or permitting to exist a nuisance in, or is causing damage to, the rental unit, or to the appurtenances thereof, or to the common areas of the complex containing the rental unit, or is creating an unreasonable interference with the comfort, safety, or enjoyment of any of the other residents of the same or adjacent buildings.

4. The tenant is using or permitting a rental unit to be used for any illegal purpose.

5. The tenant, who had a written lease or rental agreement, which terminated on or after April 21, 1979 (the effective date of LAMC Chapter XIV), has refused, after a written re-quest or demand by the landlord to execute a written extension or renewal thereof for a further term of like duration with similar provisions and in such terms as are not incon-sistent with or violate any provision of this Chapter or any other provision of law.

6. The tenant has refused the landlord reasonable access to the unit for the purpose of mak-ing repairs or improvements, or for the purpose of inspection as permitted or required by the lease or by law, or for the purpose of showing the rental unit to any prospective pur-chaser or mortgagee.

7. The person in possession of the rental unit at the end of a lease term is a subtenant not approved by the landlord.

8. The landlord seeks I good faith to recover possession of the rental unit for use and occu-pancy by:

a. The landlord, or the landlord's spouse, children, grandchildren, parents or grandpar-ents provided the landlord is a natural person and not a corporation or partnership; or,

b. A resident manager, provided that no alternative vacant unit is available for occupan-cy by a resident manager, except that where a building has an existing resident em-ployee-manager hired under an employee/employer agreement, who must reside on the premises as a condition of employment, who may not be under the protection of the RSO.

9. Ord. No. 176,544 Eff. 5/2/05. The landlord, having complied with all applicable notices and advisements required by law seeks in good faith to recover possession so as to un-dertake Primary Renovation Work of the rental unit or the building housing the rental unit, in accordance with a Tenant Habitability Plan (THP) accepted by the Department, and the tenant is unreasonably interfering with the landlord’s ability to implement the requirements of the THP by engaging in any of the following actions:

a. The tenant has failed to temporarily relocate as required by the accepted THP; or,

b. The tenant has failed to honor a permanent relocation agreement with the landlord pursuant to LAMC Section 152.05.

10. Ord. No. 177,901 Eff. 9/29/06.The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the rental units under either of the following circumstances:

a. To demolish the rental unit, or

b. To remove the rental unit permanently from rental housing use.

11. Ord. No. 172,288, Eff. 12/17/98. The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the rental unit in order to comply with a governmental agency's order to vacate, order to comply, order to abate, or any other order that necessitates the vacating of the build-ing housing the rental unit as a result of a violation of the LAMC or any other provision of law.

12. Ord. No. 173,224 Eff. 5/11/00. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development is both the owner and plaintiff and seeks to recover possession in order to vacate the property prior to sale and has complied with all tenant notification requirements under federal law and administrative regulations.

13. Ord. No. 180,175, Eff. 9/29/08. The rental unit in a Residential Hotel, and the landlord is eviction to convert or demolish the unit as defined in LAMC Section 47.84 and the De-partment has approved an Application for Clearance.

14. Ord. No. 181744, Eff. 7/15/11. The landlord seeks in good faith to recover possession of the rental unit to convert the property to an affordable housing accommodation in accordance with an affordable housing exemption issued by the Department. If the land-lord fails to record the required regulatory agreement within six months of filing for this exemption and puts the units back on the rental market, the rent shall not be decontrolled and the unit must be offered to the tenant that was displaced. 

Originally posted by @Rob D.:

Pm me. Not sure if i can list lawyers on here but I can give you the info on the guy I would use to evict. 

Completely agree with you- we do NOT want this one crappy tenant to determine our families future here, we want him OUT!!  Thank you- I will PM you.

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Honestly I would probably sell this property if I were in your situation... Bad tenant, you don't have any money for an attorney, you will have a baby soon, and its just causing you stress.  Plus its a fantastic time to be a seller right now.  

An attorney is only a few hundred, but other expenses that happen with real estate can be thousands of dollars, very easily. 

Reading between the lines, it sounds like you cant throw him out because you'll go broke without his rent payment.. either that or you have some sort of strong tenant laws that prevent booting him. 

PS -- Sorry totally missed the "LA rent control laws" part...  SO thats why you can't just boot him I guess. Same thing goes though, if you dont have ANY financial cushion, I'd want to get out from under this headache myself. 

Hi Nicky, 

We purchased this property a year ago after a quite hefty and lengthy sale. Its our dream house! We plan on raising all of our children here for at least the next 20 years. If this was just another normal rental property that we were temporarily living in, I may consider selling I suppose, (but honestly I would probably not sell myself short just due to a bad tenant)..... But it is definitely not that, it is our homestead and we are very settled. We need to find another way to deal with this guy other then packing up the entire large family, selling the whole land & moving. 

Originally posted by @Anthony Hurlburt:

If he is now of month to month why don't you just give him proper notice that you are terminating his month to month agreement and get him out that way?

 Unfortunately with the harsh landlord/tenant and rent control laws here in Los Angeles, I am unable to do so unless my reason for terminating his lease falls into one of their very specific tenant friendly categories. 

We bought a duplex last January & inherited a tenant. It’s a duplex lot but has 2 houses on it. I’ve had nothing but trouble with this tenant. They pay their rent on time. When purchasing the property, there was no security deposit. I wrote on the CAR lease agreement that I had him sign upon us taking over, that a deposit would be due on next lease. When lease was up a year later; he sneakily paid the next months rent online early, I didn’t catch it in time, and it turned into a month to month agreement. I advised him that per our agreement on the lease he now owed his security deposit since the initial term was over, and he found a one word loophole in the wording “next lease” and he delivered me a letter that his lawyer coworker friend wrote on legal letterhead, defending why he didn’t have to pay a deposit! He insisted his deposit was a fridge. I don’t want your dirty fridge!! The letter was full of incorrect info and a few lies, such as that 2 letters were also mailed to me (weren’t) and when I tried to approach the tenant immediately after opening the hand delivered letter, he hid from me! Wouldn’t answer the door, my calls, emails or texts. Finally got one email back telling me to call his lawyer if he had any questions. Then he hid in his house for 3 months avoiding all contact if me or my family were outside. Because they have lived here for 4-5 years, they are extremely entitled to what they consider “ours” and “theirs”. A few months later (2 days ago) we delivered a 3 day notice to adhere to lease agreement, stating he needed to clean up the communal yard area and store his ladders and junk elsewhere. He emailed a reply that said it was his area not ours, and that we needed to get our stuff off his area first! He has trash piling up behind the unit, old tires & hazardous ladders that my husband has tripped on numerous times. As far as I’m concerned, he rents the house, the garage & the driveway & we own & have the land all around both houses both garages and both driveways. The lease doesn’t state anything about him having a front or back yard, it says the communal patio and garden space needs to be kept clean. There is a rod iron fence with gate, separating the houses because there is a pool behind our house & we have dogs. Does that mean that automatically the other side is “his”?? Now I’m waiting for another lawyer letter to be hand delivered to me and much more stress to follow, again..... We also get complaint letters about noise, yard work, he states that anything we do “puzzles him” as if we are doing it to try to annoy him, and complains non stop about this and that, he emailed them to us AND certified mails them to us. I feel like since its rent control and very tenant friendly here, anything we do can be misconstrued or I can be sued for it. We have 3 small kids and am pregnant with #4. This is our home. And this PITA man lives on it with us. I could cry. We are low on funds but I just can’t take this guy anymore. Not to mention he is within a stones throw of our house, (our other house is just a few feet from ours on the same lot) & he completely creeps me out- I don’t even feel comfortable letting my children out to play in our yard in case this weirdo is outside or walks by- and I never go inside without my husband being there as I feel like he undresses me with his eyes. It’s been commented on several times by others who have met him as well. He has spoken about bringing his gun out to threaten our neighbors barking dogs- well he’s not allowed to have guns per the lease but there’s no way I can prove that he told me this! He terrifies me. Long story short, I don’t know what to do. I think I need a lawyer at this point. I don’t know where to find one that specializes in rent control laws, as the research i have done already all the lawyer sites around here say they help the “poor tenants affected by horrible landlords”. Well, I’m the “poor landlord affected by a terrible tenant!”. Do I get a lawyer & figure out some way to pay them? I’m broke at the moment :(. The income pays the mortgage here, & my husband supports our family of 6, and he has been out of work for 6 months so we are very low on funds.... Do we hire a property management company to deal with him and he can send his complaints to them and they can deal with his lawyer letters and legal letters he’s getting from his lawyer friend (for free, so he isn’t even having to pay a lawyer for help...but of course I would have to pay because I don’t have a lawyer friend...) and the PM co can deal with him until they can get him out? Any advise would be great. I’m in dire need of any help or advice at this point 😩. I’ve read there are only 12 reasons I can evict under RSO guidelines and I don’t think he falls into any of the reasons. I feel scared having him on our families residence property right next to us and the stress I’m dealing with from him while I’m pregnant none the less, is completely overwhelming. We definitely learned our lesson on never buying a property that has a tenant still in it, but in the meantime I need to figure out what the heck to do. Thanks for reading.

I've used YNAB- You Need A Budget, for years now. Very thorough reports generated, line item details, categories, ability to have numerous different budgets- love it!

I would advise them that the unit needs to be able to be secured properly and since this is tenant incurred damage, they are responsible for fixing it. I'd give a 30 day notice to repair, and offer to do it myself and bill them or they could have their own person do it. As far as drains go, install hair catchers and advise that all plumbing issues that are tenants fault (such as hair, grease etc) are repaired and billed to the tenant. I made the mistake of fixing clogs myself and then my tenants expected me to always clear their clogs!! I informed them that I would no longer do it, installed catchers, and advised next clog they need to call a plumber or I will and I'd bill them. They were much more careful after that!

Rick S. Its a triplex, we are renting 2 units and living in the 3rd. Planning on moving out of the 3rd and renting all 3 units out.

Im currently saving 10% of gross rent for property management (altho self managing), 10% vacancy, 10% repairs and 10% CapEx... My actual current rent income is $3413 but when we move out of this unit I'm estimating gross income of $5813. So saving 10% of gross income for each of these reserves is $581/mo for EACH reserve (total of $2325/mo)... Am i saving way too much for reserves?!

Should i be saving 10% each of current rent income or 10% each of what i could potentially be getting in rental income when we move out?