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HORROR STORIES
 

Unwanted Visitor and Lies, Deceit and Dogs!

When things happen that go awry I always look at them as a learning lesson.  What could I have done differently, what did I learn from this situation, how could I have prevented the situation in the first place?  Crazy things will always happen in Property Management and that is one of the things I love about the business.  It is challenging and keeps me on my toes.  So with 20 years’ experience this is what has happened to me within the first 2 weeks of 2011.

Unwanted Visitor

I have a furnished rental.  We have shown a few times.  Owner calls us frantic that someone has been living in the property.  My mind runs wild with squatters, eviction, damage, etc etc.  Sheriff takes report.  I arrive.  Home has things out of place.  Figure out it probably has been a homeless person who shimmied the back door open and left a window unlocked so they could come and go.  Owner ended up being very compassionate and had calmed down.  I called my cleaner and locksmith out who came immediately and I paid for the charges – even though not my company fault I wanted to reassure the owner things were under control.

Lesson learned:  if things are out of place don’t assume owner was using the home over the weekend.  Call owner.  Check all windows and doors for security before leaving a property even if you entered through the front door.  Double check everything.  Communicate with showing agents to get their feedback from showings and the property.  Alert neighbors so they can keep their eyes open.  It is always harder with furnished properties than unfurnished. Have great relationships with your vendors.  My vendors came out immediately and it was end of day.

Lies, Deceit and Dogs

Large 3 bedroom 2 bath home completely remodeled was for rent.  Single professional woman views property but has 2 men with her.  She introduces them as friends.  She applies – has excellent credit, excellent income, everything checks out, but….something doesn’t feel right.  We ask her outright.  This is a large house for a single person.  She says she has more business coming from Santa Cruz and will be working from home and the 3rd bedroom is for guest.  We rent to her.  She moves in Friday. Within 24 hours get call from owner that there are 3 people and 2 dogs in the house!  I get info from neighbors and conclude this woman has sublet the house out.  I post on Monday 3 day notice to be out.  She calls a day and a half later indignant, doesn’t deny the people in the house says they are friends who helped her move, denied the dogs.  She threatened to squat, and we would have to evict her and she would cause damage to the house. 
In the end we told her to just give us the keys back by the end of the week.  She insisted on a full refund and we promised if house was left as it was when she moved in (3 days occupancy) then she would get her security deposit back.  She is breaking her lease and there is stipulation that she must pay all costs associated with re-renting the property. We kept telling her to read her lease.
I entered the house, empty, dirty, evidence of dogs – muddy paw prints, hair and there was damage – how could all this happen within 3 days?  Needless to say, we changed the keys, got cleaners in the house, repaired the damage and are advertising again.

She will be charged for the damages but what could have been done to avoid this.  My gut said something wasn’t right but, I couldn’t NOT rent to her since she was qualified, right?  I sought out answers. 

Another property manager gave the advice to Google the person to see if there are any red flags.  Also, if this is the only application tell the person the owner wants to hold out for a few more applications so they can select the best candidate.

Again, neighbors were the key to alerting us to what was going on.  What did we do right?  We got her out immediately.  Don’t be afraid to enforce the rental contract. Also, listen to your intuition, gut whatever you call it.  It is usually right.

Don't ever put an address on keys!

I employ a number of housekeepers in my property management business. The housekeepers are all independent contractors who work for a number of other people as well as working for me. One of the housekeepers had her garage broken into recently. Along with a camera and some cleaning equipment, her box of keys to houses she cleans on a regular basis was taken.

Fortunately for me, none of my keys can be identified, because they all have codes on them as opposed to addresses. The codes match an internal system that the burglar would not be able to figure out. However, one of the other property management companies for whom she manages has complete addresses on all their keys, so they got busy re-keying about 80 houses on the day after the robbery.

The moral of the story: Don't ever put an address on a key! There are lots of code systems that you can use to identify your keys. Pick one you like and use it!
Favorite Quotes
 
"Great and good are seldom
the same man"
- Winston Churchill

There are lots of good landlords; why not be one of the great ones?

 
 
 

Horror Stories are a regular feature of California Landlord Solutions. These are stories that have happened to our members. We can all learn from the experience of others!

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Landlord Liable for Dangerous Tenant

This horror story comes from an actual court case (Rosales v. Stewart) whereby a landlord was held liable for injuries caused to a neighbor by his tenant.  He was held liable because the landlord knew of the tenant's dangerous propensities and failed to terminate the tenancy after acquiring the knowledge.

In this case, a neighbor's child, a 10-year old boy, was killed by a gunshot fired by the tenant.   The 10-year old boy lived in the house across the street. The landlord knew the tenant liked to discharge firearms periodically in his back yard.  The landlord failed to evict the tenant once he found out that he was conducting dangerous activities on the property. The court found that the landlord was under a duty to third persons to remove dangerous conditions on the property, even if that meant getting rid of the tenant.

The lesson:  A landlord must not allow a tenant who poses a danger to others to remain in residence.  This would apply to a tenant who has a dog that is known to be vicious or has a history of biting people, for example, or a tenant who is known to be a reckless driver, as well as any tenant who poses a danger to others in any way.

Great, no vacancies!

Barry is a new California landlord. He just purchased his first rental property, a tri-plex that is across town from where he lives. He was very excited to own a piece of investment property (remember that feeling?) and wanted to be a good landlord. He also considered himself very lucky that he bought a property with all three units occupied. Great, no vacancies!

Shortly after closing the escrow on his triplex, Barry got some telephone calls from neighbors in the vicinity of his property. They were complaining about the single lady in Unit A. She has guests late at night almost every night. They felt sure she is a prostitute. Barry contacted the local law enforcement, but was informed that he would need further proof in order for the law enforcement to get involved.

On the first of the month, Barry got checks from the lady in Unit A, and the tenant in Unit C, but no rent from Unit B. When Barry went by to see the tenant in Unit B, and to ask why he had not paid his rent, the neighbor informed him that the police had arrested the tenant from Unit B last week for selling illegal drugs out of his rental unit. This time, Barry contacted his attorney for advice, but was disappointed to find that even though his tenant had been arrested, Barry does not automatically regain possession of the rental unit. Barry wrote his attorney a check for $500 to start the eviction process for non-payment of rent.

The next month, the tenant in Unit C complained that his unit was infested with roaches. Being aware that the implied warranty of habitability requires a landlord to keep a rental unit pest-free, Barry went to inspect the property and arrange for pest control. He found that the tenant had turned the unit into a garbage dump. The tenant had obviously not taken out his trash in weeks; there were piles of newspapers in every corner, and mildew in the bathroom. No wonder he had a roach problem! Barry called for pest control, then went back to his attorney's office and wrote another check!

Barry has learned a valuable lesson about investing in rental property – not all landlords screen tenants properly! If you are purchasing property that is tenant-occupied, you may want to consider making delivery of the property vacant a condition of the close of escrow. That way, you can select your own tenants using your own criteria. Otherwise, you may inherit someone else's problems!

Information and suggestions provided at this site are not intended to be legal advice. Only a California attorney can give you legal advice and explain to you how California law applies to your individual and specific circumstances. Although we go to great lengths to make sure our information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult an attorney if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your particular situation. California Landlord Solutions is an affiliate of Landlordsolutions.org. View our Privacy Policy