Legal Q & A
Q. I served a three day notice to perform covenant or quit, asking my tenants to remove an unauthorized pet from their unit. I also served a thirty-day termination of tenancy. What do I do if the tenant does not vacate after 30 days? When do I file an unlawful detainer?
A. If the pet is still there and you can prove it, you do not need to serve a 30-day notice. You can proceed directly with the eviction. If you are unsure, you could serve a thirty-day notice if you are on a month-to-month agreement, but if the tenants have been there one year or longer, they are entitled to a 60-day notice.
Q. Ownership of my property is held under the name of my revocable trust. Is it legal for me to sign a lease with my name where it states “Owner’s Signature” on the lease form? Also, can my resident manager, who is licensed, sign the lease?
A. If you are the trustee of the trust, you can sign on behalf of the trust. Your onsite manager, as an agent for the owner, can sign his/her name on behalf of the owner, the same way a management company may sign on behalf of the owner.
Q. When the sheriff locks out a tenant, what happens to the personal property? Who is responsible for moving it?
A. If the sheriff preformed the lock-out, you are required to hold any personal property in a safe place for 15 days. You can charge reasonable costs, from the date of the lock-out, as a condition of returning the property to the owner. If no one claims the property, it must be sold through public auction if valued more then $300. If less than $300, it can be disposed of.
Q. My rental unit is 15 years old. One month after a large man rented my unit, the shower pan cracked. We are sure it was because of his weight. Who is responsible for the repair?
A. If the crack was due to “normal wear and tear,” it is your expense. If it was caused by extraordinary wear and tear, i.e. abuse, it is his expense. The tenant could argue that a shower pan should hold any person’s weight, but it also depends upon the way it was used and the age of the pan.
Q. I have a tenant who plays his stereo and television all day and all night and keeps everyone up. We call the police constantly, but they an only do so much. I want to evict him, but he signed a one-year lease. None of the notices I have make sense in this situation. What can I do to get the noisy tenant out?
A. If the tenant is producing major and continual disturbances to the quiet enjoyment of the neighboring property and its severe enough, the court would allow you to evict the tenant after service of a three-day notice to vacate. This notice does not allow the tenant to cure anything. Therefore, it has to be a severe situation. Otherwise, writing letters and documenting the disturbances can bolster your case if the tenant does not stay quiet.
Q. If we gave a tenant a 30-day notice of a rent increase, but should have given him a 60-day notice, is the notice still valid?
A. The notice in invalid, and you should serve a 60-day notice as soon as possible.
Q. Our month-to-month rental agreement calls for tenants to provide us with a written 40-day notice when they are planning to vacate. I realized that a 30-day notice from the tenant is enforceable; however, is the tenant required by law to provide a 30-day written notice?
A. A tenant on a month-to-month agreement is required to give a 30-day written notice on his intent to terminate the month-to-month agreement. This time frame cannot be waived by the tenant through the rental agreement.