I see these stories time and time again—adult children acting like spoiled brats and misbehaving in their own parents’ home. Whether it’s not wanting to clean up after themselves or, even worse, a drug addiction that’s going downhill and the child refusing help, the parents are living day in and day out with an unhealthy [...]
I have been running into situations where residential landlords and tenants have been sending emails to one another to give notice to terminate their month-to-month tenancies. For some landlord-tenant relationships, the tenancy ends without any issues. However, in many situations, there are usually problems. There might be a tenant who has allowed other persons to [...]
I recently read a legal post from a resident of San Bruno asking lawyers what he should do about a very low-hanging high voltage power line that was running through his property to supply power to a neighbor’s building. The man said someone could touch the line by hand. Have no fear, this situation can [...]
For those who like the scent of fresh air and the warmth of the sun when drying your clothes, you no longer have to fear your HOA or your landlord. California passed legislation last year that went into effect on January 1, 2016, as Civil Code sections 1940.20 and 4750.10, that you can hang your [...]
I’ve seen a lot of stories about individuals and families who purchase properties at a county tax sale. From time to time in California, you will see public sale notices from county assessors to sell property for unpaid property taxes. The county conducts a tax sale to recover the unpaid property taxes due on the [...]
I get a lot of rolling eyes when I give my standard speech to landlords about dealing with tenant repair requests and habitability problems. I get questions, especially from landlords who are going through eviction proceedings, such as, “Do I have to go fix the broken item? The tenants haven’t paid rent in three months.” [...]
As many of you know, the housing market in the Bay Area has been, in one word, “crazy” with a shortage of housing units available for sale and rent. I was recently out and about looking at properties for sale when I spotted a big sign in the front yard of one of the listings. [...]
I get this all the time with clients who are landlords. If only I would have taken the time to order a credit report. If only I would have checked references. If only I would have required a full security deposit and not taken it in payments. If only … I would not be experiencing [...]
I have come across this question a lot from landlords and property managers who have provisions in their rental agreements to conduct an annual inspection or twice yearly inspections. The main reason for wanting an inspection is to make sure a rental unit does not fall into disrepair. But some landlords want to use inspections [...]
An issue I always run into in my landlord-tenant practice is the do-it-yourself owner who wants to maintain a landlord-tenant relationship and do everything from another state. This is often a huge problem for landlords who live quite far away. If a problem arises, they may have to travel long distances to handle their rental [...]
