All Forum Posts by: Jenifer Levini

Hi all, @Taz Patel,

I'm an attorney in California. This general information is going to make you feel a lot better.

1. You are not responsible for a problem that you dont know about. So, for example, if your tenant was living in your property and never told you there was mold, and you previously didnt know, you are not responsible for being omniscent. This means any medical problem that happened was not your fault.

2. Your responsibility starts when you are notified of the problem. 

3. Once you are notified, you must investigate.

4. You should assume that there is mold and try your best to find it, even if this means tearing down walls, cabinets, anywhere the smell can be coming from.

5. The govt does not recommend using a mold inspector, but a lot of people get peace of mind from the reports they write.

6. Once youre on notice that there is mold, not only do you need to find and fix the mold, you also need to remove the source of water leaking.

7. Often times the mold smell is actually from mildew like laundry that is left next to a wall or wet carpet.

8. You must give the tenant notice that you are going to enter (24 hours, or 48 hours depending on your local rules) before entering the property to inspect and repair. The tenant cannot stop you from entering, once they have notice. However, be nice about it. If they say we are having a party on that day, schedule another day.

I have studied this issue and written a complete list of steps, with more details, that I can make available. Once you have notice your responsibilities change even after this tenant.

This information is not legal advice and does not establish an attorney-client relationship.

Has anyone else noticed the trend to follow artists? Ive noticed that artists tend to congregate in low rent areas. This increases the amount of culture. And higher rent businesses follow. Maybe artists arent the cause, maybe theyre just an indicator.

Just last week I was in Salida, Colorado, where the real estate market is booming. The entire downtown is full of artists, galleries, and pleasing-to-the-eye decorations everywhere. No big industry is apparent. Just people with money moving there for the lifestyle.

@Lee Ripma Thank you for that info and links to San Diego.

Yes, I have been following Janet Ashford. A news report said that the property owner refused to sell to her and the neighbors were going to try to stop her village. Has she bought property? Feel free to contribute to the conversation. It's linked here on Wishome's facebook.

I will be speaking about tiny homes at the SF Bay Real Estate Summit

Contact @J Martin for more info about this event.

Funny you should ask that. I have just been contacted by several other people in that area with tenant issues. So I will be getting up to speed on both Berkeley and Oakland housing ordinances shortly. If you have a specific question, please PM me and we can talk about it.

Hi @Brandon Monaghan

Hi @Lee Ripma

This is an interesting conversation for me. I'm a real estate/land use attorney and attempting to develop tiny home villages in California. Lee's put her finger on some of the problems that those of us who want to live small are facing.

Tiny homes on wheels are considered RVs or Park Models. In some places you cannot have them in residential zoning; in others they are allowed on the property but are not allowed to be plugged in or hooked to water for extended periods of time. In other places there are different restrictions. For example, in Sonoma County they are allowed only if the person living in the trailer is a care taker for the person living in the home, or vice versa, the person in the home is taking care of the person in the trailer. The only county that now allows tiny homes as secondary "accessory dwelling units" (ADU) (when there is another, bigger house on the property) is Fresno.

Tiny homes on foundations have other problems. All jurisdictions in California that I've looked at have minimum sizes for residences. Usually minimum size is at least 1000-1200 square feet. Some properties allow ADUs of 800 square feet, or secondary buildings (garages and sheds) can be smaller but cant have kitchens, plumbing...

Currently, I think the only solution is to buy a tiny home and put it in a trailer (mobile/manufactured home) park, or extended stay RV park. But if you find any other solutions I'd love to hear about them. I spend at least 40 hours per week reading zoning codes looking for ways to massage these old rules and regulations. If you have specific questions, I might be able to answer them. If not, I would be happy to do the research for you, but will have to charge for my time.

Jen

One other thought, if you are buying property for investment,and need to for your business entity (an LLC for real estate investors) I can help form your entity and teach you about his too.

Hey @Jen Anderson, I'm a real estate attorney, here in the bay area. If you find property in California, I'd be happy to help you with the contracts, negotiations, disclosures, and other legal (or non-legal) processes.

The people I have been working with save between $35,000-$100,000 off the price by not using a realtor, and having me do the Sale and Purchase Agreement.

PM me for my email and phone number.

Jen

Hi Tim Wong I'm a California real estate attorney, helping investors form their LLCs, writing Sale & Purchase Agreements, and all the other facets of land use, purchase, rental, etc. There are a few things to take into consideration: 1) the wait time for State review of applications is between 6 months to a few weeks, 2) the sooner you apply the sooner you have to pay State taxes on the entity whether or not you buy any property, 3) are you doing other business transactions that might expose your personal assets to liability, among other questions.

Hi 

@Abe Gonzales 

The way to find out what you can do on a piece of property is to:

1. Get the Assessors parcel number (APN)

2. Using APN go to your county zoning maps and look up the zoning on that parcel.

3. When you get the zoning, like C-1, C-2, RM, R-1-6 or some other code, go to your County General Plan and Zoning Guide and look up what that code means. This can be tricky. For example there can be many different meanings of agriculture. Some agriculture allows one home to be built on the parcel. some agriculture allows other commercial uses like visitor accommodations, some is very strict that it can only be used to plant commercial crops. When you look up the meaning you'll also need to read the follow-up codes and regulations because those have the exceptions to the original rules.

This is why people hire lawyers to understand this stuff. 

Generally, you cannot change the zoning without a big public process involving approval by county supervisors and public hearings. (think $$$$$) But sometimes you dont have to change zoning because the exceptions might allow the use youre seeking. You may be able to get an appointment in your planning department and ask about this use, if you cant figure it out, and you dont want to hire a lawyer. good luck!

Hi @Nicole Jones, welcome aboard the tiny home train. There are a bunch of us trying to build something, in my case a village, for tiny homes. Besides becoming an expert in this area, I'm a real estate lawyer, which makes it easier for me to understand the laws & zoning codes I'm reading.

As far as I know, there is only one County in California where tiny homes are legal as Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU), a unit placed on the property that already has a home on it. The only county that has allowed this is Fresno. Maybe that's where you got the idea this is legal. In every other county it is not legal. The State of California, HCD, has published a bulletin in February that they will prosecute people who occupy, sell or rent illegal tiny homes. So, your big challenge is working with the County where you want to develop this mini resort, to find a way they will allow you to develop. After researching this for the past 6 months in Santa Cruz County, I have found some ways that might work. The County has told me how they intend to push back against my developments. In my case I have some weapons to use because the County is under the gun for providing affordable housing and they are not doing it, in violation of State law.

Depending on where you want to develop Tuolumne, Mariposa and Madera counties will have different General Plans that create the rules that govern how land is used. There is a certain amount of creativity that can be used in following the General Plan in crating "visitor accommodations." But it must comply with the zoning rules. Generally, a piece of property that is zoned for a single family residence cannot be made into visitor accommodations.

This gets back to getting investors. You'll have to find a piece of property that allows visitor accommodations, apply for the permits and entitlements (very expensive) or disclose to investors that what you are doing is a violation of zoning rules.