All Forum Posts by: Sam Stabler

This was the tenants exact email to me in response (I copy/pasted it). 

Tenant: "The ”Safer At Home” Emergency Order, as linked here, is 'ordering all residents of the City of Los Angeles to stay inside their residences, and immediately limit all movement outside of their homes beyond what is absolutely necessary to take care of essential needs.’ In that link there is a list of essential needs, and nothing anywhere close to trying to clean and prep a house for rental comes into it. After our last meeting and me being frazzled, I’ve reached out to different resources as well, just to make sure that what I was suggesting was in fact correct and that I wasn’t just making stuff up. They confirmed that under this order you can do essential maintenance to the infrastructure of a property but you can’t just go in there if you don’t live there. You also can’t have open houses and bring people in to market it, but as you suggested that day as well, you guys didn’t plan to do that during this order.

Your text on March 18th implies that because of financial pressure you are trying to get into the house and prepare it for market. Just because you have lost an income doesn’t mean that you can act against this Order. . O
But that doesn’t mean that this is the time to be going back there. Many people are dying because others aren’t complying with these rules. We in California were ahead of the national game when it came to this type of lockdown, but many more people are going to get sick in the coming weeks. Also in your text you reference social distances. That is the guidance when you’re out completing essential needs, of which cleaning the back house still isn’t one. You’re still mandated by the order to ‘limit all movement outside of their homes beyond what is absolutely necessary to take care of essential needs."

I'm a landlord who owns a Single Family Residential home with a detached unit in the back in Los Angeles County. The detached unit is about 95% done before the City Inspector can sign off on it and give me the Certificate Of Occupancy. For the past 2 months I have not been able to bring my contractor to come into the property and finish the small amount of work remaining which is 2 days worth because my tenant who occupies the front unit refuses to allow anyone, including me, from entering the property because of the Stay At Home Order. He refuses to open the gate and wrote me a long email advising me because of the Stay At Home, I am not legally entitled to come to the property. 

How do I go about resolving this issue??? I am bleeding money right now. My wife has lost her job, my pay has been greatly reduced. And to make matters worse I can't replenish all the cash I have dumped into the construction costs by taking out a HELOC because the property has a lien from the City as a Hazardous Site since initially we didn't obtain a Permit from the City and got flagged by the Inspector.

This has been a nightmare and I just want it to be finished. Today the County announced they would extend the Stay at Home for another 3 months but that is something I cannot wait for. Please, any guidance here would be greatly appreciated. 

I wasn't sure where to post this but here goes:

Is the losing party between buyer vs. seller. Held liable for not just losing out on the Security Depsoit (3% of purchase price here in CA) but also held liable for all attorney fees on of the other party?

I'm a buyer involved in a dispute with my security deposit with a seller. The seller wants all of my earnest depsoit so this is likely headed to arbitration. I wanted to know just what is my liability? Me losing out on my security deposit held in escrow or does this also include legal attorney fees in the event that I should lose the case in arbitration.

Thanks

Im a buyer involved in an Earnest Deposit dispute with a seller here in CA.

Is my liability capped at the loss of the earnest security deposit (3% of Purchase Price) or am I also potentially liable for any attorney fees in the event that I lose the case in arbitration??

My biggest fear is me also paying for attorney fees on behalf of the seller should either the seller win outright or should the seller win partial portion of the earnest deposit.

I am looking to add 2 sub-meters for the water (front unit and detached ADU in the back). Does anyone near Greater Los Angeles recommend a specific Company I should go with to purchase a water sub-meter from given that there are so many out there?

Also, what is the norm as far as collecting water utility charges with sub-metering from the 2 tenants?

@Jaysen Medhurst Thanks Jaysen. That was very informative and appreciate it

How hard is it go get a 2nd Mortgage (Heloc) on a Rental Property? I generally only see it being offered on owner occupied properties.

Also, who are the typical lenders who do offer Helocs on rental properties and what's the typical CLTV required and rate?

@Sue K. HI Sue. I live in CA (Los Angeles to be exact). Am I allowed to put in a seperate sub-meter? And if so, how do you collect the payment from the tenant regarding water bill?

Thanks!!

How do you split the water bill among 2 tenants in a SFR property (main house and detached unit)?

Is this something you charge and collect separately or is this added onto the asking rent price? Any pointers would help

Hello,

So I am trying to sell my Condonunium within the end of this month. The HOA advised all owners that a earthquake retrofit is required for a owners in the complex. We were told that even if we were to sell the property, we would still have to pay for the earthquake retrofit costs which is near $20,000.

Can the HOA legally force us to pay for the retrofit even if we are in process of selling the condo or come after us after it has been sold?