I’ve never understood why landlords go to their tenants’ residences to collect rent. The responses I get vary from “I won’t be the first to get paid if I don’t go” to “My tenants always claim their checks get lost in the mail.” But here’s the bottom line—unless you particularly love going to see your [...]
I still keep seeing older 30-day and 60-day termination of tenancy notices being circulated. I don’t know if it’s because these old forms are still on the Internet, but I do know that I’ve had very disappointed landlords come into my office with these old notices. I have to tell them that we will have [...]
I have been getting this question over and over again about requiring residential tenants to get and maintain renter’s insurance. We go back and forth on this topic at the Board of Realtors. Here’s a case that could dampen the mood on this insurance issue, at least concerning whether you will be able to evict [...]
More and more trust documents are being created due to an aging population. I’m seeing increasing problems administering trusts with provisions that allow family and loved ones to reside in a property included in the trust. Problems that commonly occur are payment of home expenses, exclusive possession of the premises, and downright disagreements among the [...]
I see this a lot lately. With the high values of real estate, more unmarried couples are purchasing property together. There are countless reasons why couples purchase real estate together. It’s a great investment both for income and appreciation, and it offers an affordable place to live so money is not just being thrown away. [...]
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 [...]
I came along another legal question that asked the Million Dollar Question: “I am selling my house and I wanted to know if I need to disclose that my neighbor is a nuisance.” The writer was complaining about her neighbor who operates a home business and gets on the phone at 5:30 AM. She loves [...]
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.” [...]
