Rental Roulette:
The Five Best Ways To Avoid Conflicts with Tenants
SPOSF News , April 2005
By Jeffery P. Woo
If you manage your own San Francisco property, you’re a brave soul. Not only must you constantly be up to date with changing laws; you’re also faced with tenant threats of harassment or wrongful eviction. But you can make your life a lot easier by being a educated landlord. Below are the top five types of disputes I see between property owners and tenants, with tips on how to avoid or at least mitigate them.
1. Written Leases
I would estimate that more than 50% of problems between property owners and tenants arise from the lack of a written lease. Problems include late payment of rent, bringing in new roommates without consent, changing locks or other alterations of the unit without consent, and documenting the security deposit. Even the most rudimentary written lease will set forth the obligations of the tenant. A well-written lease will provide even more rights for landlords to control their property.
Unless you have a lease, tenants are not required to seek consent to bring in a new roommate, fill out a standard estoppel certificate—often a contingency when property is being sold—or even give you a key to the unit if they have changed the locks.
Make sure that any new tenancy begins with a good lease. We at SPOSF are working on providing an improved lease form available only to our members.
2. Entry onto the premises
IYou are only allowed to enter your tenant’s premises under certain conditions. Except for an emergency, Civil Code Section 1954 requires that you attempt to personally serve a notice of entry on the tenant at least 24 hours before entry. If notice is served by mail, you must give at least six day’s notice.
Entry must be during normal business hours: the conservative definition would be Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., excluding holidays.
The reasons are limited to the following: necessary repairs, decorations, alterations or improvements; to supply necessary or agreed services; to show the premises to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgage brokers, tenants, workers, or contractors; to inspect the premises for a pre-move out inspection; if the tenant has abandoned or surrendered the premises; or pursuant to a court order. If your reasons do not fall under one of these categories, you can’t do the inspection. For instance, you can’t enter the unit simply because you suspect the tenant has committed a breach, such as having a dog.
Remember that you are entering someone’s home. Respect will go a long way toward preventing conflict over your need to enter a tenant’s premises.
3. New or replacement roommates
Former Supervisor Matt Gonzalez has left us with one last piece of fertilizer. Under his “Additional Occupancy of Family Members,” property owners must allow tenants to bring in relatives and domestic partners even when a lease limits the number of occupants. This is different than the Leno Ordinance, which requires property owners to allow replacement of departing, existing roommates. If you have a written lease requiring consent for subletting or assignment, that provision is still in force. If the tenant asks your permission to bring in additional roommates, you have limited reasons to refuse. Under both the Gonzalez and Leno Ordinances, if you “unreasonably” withhold consent, you may be faced with a Reduction of Services claim at the Rent Board or a defense to an eviction action if after you refuse, the tenant allows a new subtenant to move in.
Given these laws, you should use a request for consent to obtain as much information about the new roommate as possible. After the new roommate moves in, make it clear that you will not accept any rent payments from this person, nor respond to any calls for repairs. You will only respond to the master tenant. Though currently not required under Costa Hawkins (the state law), you should also serve any new roommates with a 6.14 form to protect you in the event Costa Hawkins is amended in the future.
4. Tenant’s right to repair and deduct
Most renters know that they have the right to repair and deduct the cost from the rent. Sadly, few tenants or landlords know the actual rule. Under Civil Code Section 1942, a tenant may deduct the cost of a repair from his rent only if these criteria are met: (i) tenant must have given landlord notice of the need for repair and a reasonable time to complete it; (ii) tenant must not have caused the problem; (iii) only after notice and a reasonable time to repair has elapsed can a tenant do the repair and deduct for it; (iv) the deduction is limited to one month’s rent; and (v) this procedure can only be used twice in any 12-month period.
Often, a tenant will not have complied with these requirements before deducting or will not have even done the repair. If you are faced with this situation, notify the tenant immediately that he or she is in violation of their tenancy and that they cannot deduct amounts from the rent without complying with the above requirements. If your tenant still refuse to pay the full rent, you may be forced to serve a three-day notice to pay rent or quit.
5. Dealing with security deposits when tenants vacate
When you know that tenants are leaving (for instance, because they gave you notice or you served them one), Civil Code Section 1950.5 now requires you to give your tenants notice of their right to have a pre-move out inspection. If the tenant wants this, it must be conducted at a mutually agreeable time within two weeks prior to the move-out date. The tenant must be allowed to be present. After the inspection, you must provide your tenant a written itemization of what you intend to deduct from the security deposit. Failure to do so may result in your not being able to deduct anything from the deposit, even if there is damage caused by the tenant.
Once the tenant has vacated the apartment, you have 14 days to pay any interest due on the deposit and 21 days to either return the deposit or provide a written itemization of all deductions. If you deduct any amounts over $125, you must now provide the tenant with a copy of a receipt for each deduction. One positive change to state law now allows you to charge for your own labor. In addition, you are also allowed to provide reasonable estimated amounts for work that is yet to be done. Once the work is completed, you have 10 days to provide a copy of the receipt and a reconciliation between the estimated amount deducted and the actual cost of the repair.
More property owners end up in small claims court over security deposit claims than anything else. If you follow these new requirements, your chances for avoiding small claims court will increase exponentially.
Good property management skills start with a combination of common sense and a working knowledge of the rules. Don’t let small hassles snowball into big problems for want of action. And don’t let ignorance create a conflict between you and your tenant that will cost you time, money and peace of mind.
Website: www.mypropertyrights.com