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 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 [...]
I was working with a client this week about issuing a 60-day notice and timing the notice to expire at the end of March. I turned to my Date Ranger App on my iPhone to calculate the days. I thought January 30th would be my last day to serve a 60-day notice that would expire [...]
So you’re thinking about renting out the spare bedroom in your house. After all, you have an extra room and could use the rental income the room can generate, and you could have a roommate to keep you company. While it could be the greatest thing you do and you could perhaps find a new [...]
A relatively recent trend in the California rental scene is the rise of more and more tenants complaining about mold issues in rental units. Here is a typical scenario: A relatively minor mold problem appears in a unit; tenant tells no one about the issue, let’s the problem grow, and then comes back to the [...]
Are you a rental owner? If you ever end up in the unfortunate position of having to evict someone, you will see that time is literally money. During the eviction process, you will be unable to rent your property to a great tenant who would pay the rent on time. I want to share a [...]
