State Specific Question About: CALIFORNIA (CA)

Hello,

We are in Los angeles, with an un-permitted back house garage conversion.

The conversion was done before we owned the house and was quite nice. full marble bathroom, kitchenette, heater, loft, hardwood floors.

11 years ago, we rented the unit to a friend of our neighbors. Very informal, no lease. Rent increases at never more than 3% ever few years.

As time went by, the place became more and more wrecked. The tenant started to hord and build junky craft decorations. He also became more and more detached from everyone.

We never made a big deal out of anything he did.

We then decided to ask him to move out. He said that it was much too inconvenient for him and needed 6 months. we told him that we needed it to be two months. I actively tried to find him another place, but he wasn't interested. Finally I received a letter from a free legal clinic. It stated that I didn't have the right to tell him to move out, as we had stated that my wife wanted to move her business into the unit. That apparently isn't a valid reason to ask someone to move out.

So we gave up. This was two years ago.

Now we want to try and move him on. We have been told that we should try to get him to sign a month to month lease. The goal is to include a clause that agrees that no one will sue for legal damages.

I have a lease, which a neighbor landlord uses, It appears to be pretty good. We tried to do a more complicated lease, but it turned into lawyers asking for 2500 dollar retainers. Those leases appeared to talk about the same thing.

Any ideas? We just were hoping that we could use our own house again at some point.

Thanks

You are in a very dicey position, and you need to be very careful not to do anything to antagonize your tenant. In our part of California (bay area), renting an illegal unit can lead to your having to pay back ALL the rent the tenant has paid you over the years. In Los Angeles, there are all kinds of rent control ordinances which probably make the situation much worse.

You need to consult a good real estate lawyer like yesterday. Don't make any changes or try to do anything that would lead your tenant to react without finding out just how much you are risking first.

He is about 53. He is a single carpenter-musician.

I have heard the "pay back all rent" horror story. I have also heard that if you aren't renting a closet to someone, judges aren't inclined to use that remedy.