All Forum Posts by: Tony H.

@Mitch Messer Thanks for the heads up!. This is my first rental property. I am thankful enough to have only 1 inherited tenant instead of two.

Anyhow, my agent didnt have any basis at all other than he met them personally in person. All I get from the seller is a copy of the month-to-month lease. Nothing else.

i am still in the process of getting the loan. Should I get the tenant and seller to sign estoppel now?

My agent said he has helped a lot of investors before. Not sure if he had an experience like my situation now =( should have asked that in the beginning.

I told him that I do plan to increase their rent as soon as I am the new landlord.. they are paying $875 now, and market is like $1200. 

I am sure if I raise all the way to $1200, it'll be raising hell. So I dont mind with raising just $50-75 for the next 12 months, but every renewal will have an increase until it reaches market price.

What do you think?

Hi BP,

I have been in contract for a duplex here in Sacramento. Estimated closing is mid July.

There is a long time tenant in one of the unit who have lived there since previous previous owner..their rent is so low compared to the are and they are on month-to-month.

My agent met them and told me that they are very nice family of 4. Polite mannered and such, he recommended me to keep them as tenant. 

I told him, that I want to meet them someday as we get closer to closing date. In the meantime, I have prepared my lease agreement and I am pretty confident I've covered all the needed basis.

My question is:

-Should I get the current tenant sign an estoppel and possibly my new lease before closing?

-I plan to raise his rent a little bit ($50-$75). I know I have to give 30 day notice (the notice will be given on 7/1 - about 2 weeks before closing), so can I put the lease start date 30 days from the closing date? or perhaps starts 8/1.

- If all of the above are not possible, what's the FIRST THING I need to do after closing?

I apologize if this has been covered somewhere, I tried to look but could not find exact answer. 

Thank you!

Chad Hale thanks for the info! I've read some postings and articles about some must have clauses to include in your lease. How do you modify the CAR standard lease to include those must have clauses? I was comparing CAR and CAA leases today. I thought I may take some clauses from each one and combine into my own lease. I can then add the extra clauses to it as well. Of course I will have lawyer reviews it too. What do you think? Thanks

Chad Hale if you dont mind sharing, what sort of combination of forms between the CAR and CAA forms are you using? Both have lease agreements. Thanks

Thanks All. Yes I have started learning about the laws and fair housing.

Hi BP, I finally found my first duplex. My offer has been accepted and will be in escrow tomorrow (since today is a holiday). Yay! While I was searching for my first rental property, I was also looking for a California standard forms (lease agreement, estoppel, etc). I have not found any, but now that I will be in escrow soon, I feel like I have to get these forms pretty quickly so I can review and perhaps have an attorney review as well. So far, the only forms that seems legitimate to me are from CAR website. However they charge quite a bit of money for the forms. Are they the only provider of legal lease forms in California? Are there any other sources that I should look into? Thanks!

Hi BP, 

Upon searching online, I came across this Landlord Tenant handbook that was issued in 1997 for Sacramento. It is 20 years old!, not sure if this is still relevant, but I think it is a great start for the newbies (including me) ?

http://www.records.cityofsacramento.org/ViewDoc.as...

Hope this adds value to someone.

Embert Madison jr it is on the south side of sacramento. By the way, i dont think i will try to rent out by the rooms anymore. I live about 2.5 hours away. I just dont think its a great idea to do that with all the potential problems. And i have not got a chance to read the landlord tenant codes! Been busy at work

@Account Closed I will look at that muni code. Thanks!

@P.J. Bremner Thanks for the insights. I do plan to have month2month lease for each tenant. 

Are you saying that the $300 deposit that you charge is only to cover damages for the room only? and that any damages to the common area will be your own out of pocket costs? 

If that so, I like that idea too! I think it's fair to do that. However, I will need to charge more than $500 for the room.

By the way I just looked up the duplex parcel and it is zoned as R-1-EA-4 - SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL 6-8 UNITS.

Does this mean I can rent out room separately like you mentioned above?

@Jeff B. Do you have a specific article or website where I can read more about this? Thanks for the warning though.

It was just an idea that came across my mind. A good friend of mine lives in Daly City, CA. He is renting a room in a single home. His landlord keep adding rooms and he does not live there. The house now has 7 tenants. Each renting a room and shares kitchen and bathroom.

That's why I was wondering if this is possible at all.

Thank you!