I have been in a lawsuit for 11 months by a sleazy paralegal tenant who has not paid rent all this time and has destroyed my property. The law in California discriminates against landlords. My tenant files things which I have to pay to respond to, had a judge recuse himself, filed bankruptcy twice, filed a civil rights violation in Federal Court in San Francisco and the judge dismissed as frivolous. I still have no resolution-has cost me thousands of dollars for a bankruptcy attorney and an attorney to represent in Lake Co. Ca where home is located. I just started a meetup group called Landlords Fight Back.

www.meetup.com Landlords Fight Back

California is a very liberal state.....you are living in a liberal part of the of the very liberal state.

I am glad to see that you are noticing that the system might be rigged against someone willing to make such a long term investment.......so why are you electing to stay there with your investment?

Where I applaud your spirit.......you will need about 20 million people in your group to help reform the broken system out there.

About 20 years ago I rented a second story apartment with a view of the beach, that was located a block away. My tenant was an "accountant" and for the first few years I never had any trouble with him.

Then one day I found out he went back to school to become an attorney and was working then as a paralegal. As he got closer to taking the State Bar Exam, he began to withhold rent and demand things that weren't included in his lease. I hadn't raised his rent in years but he demanded an apartment sized washer and dryer, a built in dishwasher and a second parking spot. Since the property had a laundry room, he didn't need a personal washer and dryer. But I did offer to install a built in dishwasher, but he'd loose some cabinet space in doing so.

Again he withheld rent and continued to play games. So I served him a "3 DAY NOTICE TO PAY RENT OR QUIT" at his place of business -- in front of his boss.

The second time I had to serve him another notice to pay rent, I served his in class -- night school for Bar text perpetration. I did this because he claimed he never got notices posted on his door or mailed to him.

I than called everyone on his application for emergency contact saying I couldn't reach him, and I couldn't, and that rent was late once again.

So now he was fuming mad, I had taken our dispute and let the world know he was a dead beat out to get free rent.

Then he send me a 3 page letter that once he became a layer he would use that skill to crush me and take my property away. I delivered a copy of this letter to the California State Bar that was located near to downtown L.A.

Then when he parked a second car in the garage, I had it towed. Then when he purchased a portable washer and dryer, as still didn't have renters insurance, I then served him a "Notice to Perform or QUIT". A kitchen sink with stuff in it will block the drain so that a draining portable washing machine could flood out the unit and the apartment below. And it did. So I filed another eviction, this time not for rent and won.

Then I took him to small claims court for the damages and won. Nine years latter I tried to collect on my judgement and then renewed it for another 10 years.

I had a wonderful tenant until she went to law school and passed the bar. Her attitude became one of She was the screw-or and I became the screw-ee. That's why my no lawyers, para-legals or legal secretaries.

Annie,

Sorry to hear your troubles. We see a lot of crazy stories from Cali on this forum.

Laws are made by elected officials. Someone voted them into office.

For self education I like to review the applications of the folks who cause me trouble - to see what I missed and learn from it.

Your post confirms our screening policy. We do not accept these occupations: attorneys, paralegals, folks who work in a legal office, police, sheriff, other law enforcement. I know there are many great people in these professions but a few bad apples have ruined it for the whole bunch.

A quick check of the intergoogles show SOURCE OF INCOME is a protected class in Cali but is separate from OCCUPATION.

Example: Income source is Sec* (protected), occupation is drug dealer (not protected).

(SOURCE OF INCOME is not a protected class in all areas - every LL must check your state and local laws)

BRAD

I haven't gotten to post this in ages, so with my condolences to the OP.

It's funny that everyone's talking about no lawyers or paralegals.

I passed on pursuing the 7 unit I posted about a few weeks ago because one of the tenants that lived there was a paralegal for the local assistant DA.

Not only won't I rent to them, I WONT BUY THE

BUILDING!

Just found out she moved out this weekend though.

Had an attorney that was a part time local DA.

Weekly, we talk about the latest version of "Lets make a Deal".

He was with me for a few years, and after that time, I learned that if you go to trial, the attorney are considered to have failed.

Thanks Brad for that explanation between source of income and occupation.

We do have to abide by and cannot discriminate against Source of Income in CT but doubt we have occupation as a protected or unprotected class. Will research that further but in my 30 years of landlording and being a member and official of several landlord associations, that subject never came up.

Brad wrote:

A quick check of the intergoogles show SOURCE OF INCOME is a protected class in Cali but is separate from OCCUPATION.

Example: Income source is Sec* (protected), occupation is drug dealer (not protected).

(SOURCE OF INCOME is not a protected class in all areas - every LL must check your state and local laws)

I think most landlords here would be in absolute disbelief of how unfairly ontario landlords are treated. Our former landlord tenant board that heard landlord and tenant cases is now called the Ontario Social Justice Tribunal!

You can imagine how stacked this tribunal is against landlords with a name like that.

OP, I feel sorry for you. I hope I never end up in your situation.

That said, why don't you fight fire with fire? Hire a REAL LAWYER and crush this paralegal. As long as you aren't doing anything wrong I don't see why you wouldn't win in court. And sue for legal fees.

" The law in California discriminates against landlords. "

Hogwash and Balderdash !

You are complaining to shift attention away from your half-baked management as a landlord. CA has the fairest laws that I know of, providing an environment that is fair to both parties and operates to make an excellent rental environment to those that know how to participate in that environment. Don't blame "the system" for your inept management skills.

First of all, you made a bad choice of a tenant. Thats your fault. Don't even tell me about paralegals being the problem. You failed to screen for this tenants' CHARACTER.

So your tenant took advantage of the laws to file all sorts of suits, motions and pleadings, to extend the time to get him out. That happens everywhere. The Federal lawsuit can be filed anywhere in the US. He hasn't even begun to sue you abroad.

Having taken a bad choice of a tenant, you are now stuck with trying to get out while minimizing your loss. Try negotiating with the tenant to let you off the hook in exchange for a cash settlement and cut your losses. You are entitled to rent for all the time that he lives there, that is, if you win the eviction suit. If the tenant has any worth, you will get your rent in the end. Be prepared to wait for it.

But don't strike out with such nonsense claims that its CA's fault. Learn how to be a landlord and you won't have such troubles.

" There are people out there who take advantage of the system. "

Of course there are. Are you suggesting that CA is any different than anywhere else? Especially in the ability to file multiple motions, suits, pleadings in order to stall the end result? Someone else is naive if they think that ANY system of law doesn't allow these procedural measures to be misused. In fact, any good lawyer (even an average paralegal) knows about them and will so advise a client who wants to stall. Don't blame CA law. It is the fair procedure which is common to ALL states which is being misused.

What to do to avoid this problem? Look to character of your applicant, instead of (or in addition to) the cliches of 3X income, or length on the job, profession, facebook entries, etc.

Moshe

Moshe

Moshe

Except Moshe, when it comes to California a landlord isn't allowed to consider items generally associated with character when deciding to who to rent to.

All,

Annie Darrimon is the one with multiplying legal bills, a tenant that she cant get rid of, thousands of dollars in fees to a bankruptcy attorney and an eviction attorney, not me. She doesn't know what hit her.

Im the one that hasn't been to court in years, not missing the aggravation and the costs and the uncertainty.

I don't know who told you about what a CA landlord can use or not use in selecting a tenant. I don't have trouble to select the tenants that I want.

To anyone that doesn't know who to examine a potential tenant's character, I suggest that you ponder the problem, study it, and come up with solutions. Its not really so hard. A good landlord manager knows how to do this, and thereby avoid squatters and holdovers. I didn't learn that from reading about "growing" problems. I did it by thinking.

I've spent the last twenty minutes searching and I can't find any statistics on how often squatting actually happens. Help?

Is this a real problem, an urban legend (unlikely), or just exaggerated?

Hi, I just posted something on my facebook page if you want to send your email I will give you my link. Annie

I just went to a city counsel meeting. I couldn't believe the things I heard. I live in Santa Rosa. What became very obvious was the scales of justice don't exist for landlords. I don't know why it is this way? Justice means fair-balanced on both sides. Landlords are like the enemy.

How often does this happen?

Laura, how many of those court cases were over people that just decided to stay as long as possible for free rent? (As opposed to... They were being evicted for other reasons)

I really want to know so I can budget this kind of fight into my overall profit predictions. (I currently budget 1 month per year of lost rent due to vacancy and I've been lucky to have good tenants and easy turnovers. So I've probably averaged 1month in four years or 1 week per year per unit). But I assume that eventuall I'll run into a problem tenant or a recession or other problem...

Sorry, Laura & Annie, but my keeping out of court is NOT based on folding under pressure from tenants.

Its based on knowing the law (very well), using good business practices to deal with tenants, and above all, carefully choosing tenants. Character of a tenant is everything, much more important that 3X rent or paralegal profession, length of time on job, etc.

When I have a vacancy, I get an estimated 100 calls before I find the one that I want. I offer class B accommodation, in excellent condition, pleasant environment, good neighborhood and excellent location. In return, I expect a clean credit record, good recommendation from 2 most recent landlords, I generally expect a B.A. or better, a pleasant personality, I even stress that a little when interviewing, just to add to my screening. I have had in the past, tenants who can easily afford to pay the rent, but can't get themselves together to get it done, and I have had tenants for whom the rent is a stretch, but who simply take their bills seriously. I can almost always tell honestniks from phonies.

By the way, Annie, landlord tenant law in CA is state law, not special to Sonoma County. The only exception is under local rent control ordinance.

State landlord/tenant law in CA is not perfect, but it is mighty good. It is fair to both parties, its designed that way.

I notice that, along with your complaining, you have not given us any examples of these abominable CA discriminations against landlords.

Ahh, but still no examples, Annie?

NO lawyers, NO paralegals, NO exceptions. i also don't work for lawyers in my contracting business.

i've had them pee all over my leases and contracts with their "revisions". i've had to tell four or five that exactly zero terms on anything i generate are negotiable. when they tell me they're lawyers i simply soft peddle the file. i've had them revise my applications as well...good lord they're bold.

this raises the issue of being lenient on lates and having a resolve to treat the tenants as the parties to a contract they are. some of my worst losses followed being nice for no other reason than it was easy.

as soon as a tenant starts telling me what the law is i make a note and give them the door when it's convenient but not retaliatory. no sense having an unhappy tenant. let them go where they will be happy and someone else's PITA

Brad, you have the best replies.

occupation...drug dealer...CLASSIC. one must aspire to career achievements!

other occupations i've run across are neighbor tormentor, constant dope smoker, pit bull raiser, dirtbag boyfriend accommodator, old cars that i'm gonna fix-upper, recyclable steel aggregator, old paint in rotten cans enthusiasts, game the system so i can sit around and play videos professional.