Legal Q & A
Q. Our insurance company is requiring a mold addendum be signed by the tenants. What do we do if the tenants will not sign?
A. If they are on a month-to-month agreement you can serve a 30-day notice to change the terms or the tenancy. If it is a fixed-term lease, you can make the addendum a part of the renewed lease. The insurance carrier should understand and work with you.
Q. A tenant reported a broken refrigerator at 10 a.m. on a Monday. We replaced the refrigerator at 6 p.m. on Wednesday of the same week. Now, the tenant wants us to pay for the spoiled food. Should we?
A. You would only be liable if the tenant could prove you were negligent in maintaining, purchasing or repairing the refrigerator. Landlords are not guarantors or insurers of the tenant’s personal property.
Q. I read that roommate/multiple residents must be combined in income and not held accountable separately.
A. If you do not require married couples to individually qualify for you income standard, then non-married roommates must be given the same benefit, so if one qualifies for your income standard, the other does as well. This is just for the amount of income required to qualify. If either roommate has poor credit, or poor rental history, the applications still could be turned down.
Q. Our tenants have a one-year lease. So I need to give them a 60-day notice to terminate their tenancy at the end of the lease?
A. Unless your fixed-term lease provides for a notice of intent not to renew, there is no legal requirement to give any notice. However, it is recommended you send them a letter indicating that you are not planning to renew their lease.
Q. I took a $300 deposit from a tenant to hold an apartment rending a credit check. The credit check came in and I declined the application. How long do I have to return the money?
A. There is no statutory requirement regarding "holding of deposits." If the agreement did not state a time-frame, the court would impose a period of time considering the tenant's need for the money to rent another premise, so the sooner it is returned, the better.
Q. One of our clients owns an apartment building that we manage. He wants to rent some storage rooms on the property. If he does rent the rooms, would the unlawful detainer process have to be followed if the renter did not pay the rent? Or, do these units have the same rules as storage companies?
A. They would have to go through eviction procedures as mini warehouse storage units.
Q. One of our residents asked permission to plant some flowers in front of her apartment. This was three years ago, and not the resident is moving and wants to remove the flowers. They have become bushes in some cases, and we never agreed to allow them to be removed. What are our respective rights in this case?
A. Under the law, personal property that is attached to the real property becomes a "fixture." The law pertaining to fixtures determines liability and ownership based upon several factors: prior agreements, the ease with which the fixtures can be removed, the probable intent of the parties if they had a specific agreement, and the cost of removal and putting the property back to its original condition.