State Specific Question About: CALIFORNIA (CA)

We have a section 8 tenant in a rent controlled single family home, who is claiming the drinking water is not clean and there are issues with the pipes. She has lived there for at least five years with no complaints about water in the past, but she is a serial complainer and always wants something fixed.

The housing authority just recently granted us a large rent increase and although, her payment went up only slightly, we think she is feeling rather bitter about this. We will be visiting the property tomorrow to find out exactly what is wrong with the water if any. I assume that if the water appears cloudy/brown that we should just call the water department or plumber.

My thoughts are that she is looking for a pay out. Although she hasn't threatened us directly with a lawsuit, she did say that she's been drinking the water for years and it might be making her sick and will cause cancer.

Check it out and if nothing appears visibly wrong or smells bad tell her to contact the city water treatment plant to send her a water analysis.

Further complaints will result in non-renewal of her lease.

This is a 5 minute problem unless something is legitimately wrong. As in, if the water is fine it should take you no more than 5 minutes to observe it and tell the tenant it is fine.

Oops...forgot this was rent controlled, so non-renewal is likely not an option. My lease specifies that "nuisance calls" (i.e. insisting there is a problem when there isn't) results in $40 fee per visit.

In my situation, I could let tenant move if they were unhappy, with just the 30 day notice. But, I would still be inclined to look into the water situation. My city is known to have good quality water, but, there are still many lead laterals that have many people skittish.

In your instance, I might be inclined to add a kitchen faucet after filtration system, but, tenant would be responsible for changing filters, IF it was needed excessively. In other words, I would see what the manufacturers’s recommendation was for changing filters, and I would supply that. But, any more than what manufacturer recommends, tenant would need to do.

Sometimes houses need extra things that other areas just don’t. For instance, in my city, most houses have basements, and the basements are damp moldy places. I supply a small dehumidifier at each house, and I wash the filters about once a year. Fortunately the filters are washable, so not any extra expense. But, a landlord in say, Colorado or California would probably never need to have a dehumidifier.

I had a section 8 tenant who would turn off the water and open up all of the fixtures to allow air to enter the system. This was about 1 hour before an inspector showed up. Then when the faucets were turned on, oxidation and discolored water would come out of the faucets until they were flushed.

Is it public water or well? I think that would make a huge difference. If it's public how can she / the tenant end up making you the ultimate responsible party in all of this?

What an obnoxious tenant, and I'm sure that at least twenty better potential tenants would love to just be in line to take her place.

You can get the water tested and document the issue; I'm guessing that it will probably turn up nothing. I'm sure that you have a record of the other complaints that the tenant had issued. You could perhaps at least consider calling a good eviction attorney such as Todd Rothbard in West San Jose or Dennis Block in Southern California to find out your options. Taking action could help you even just mentally to be pro-active in this situation. I met someone who used an eviction attorney, regarding a property in the Berkeley Hills and was successful.

Best of luck and please share what happens.

Our town water pipes are flushed twice a year. They publicize and have notices of what areas they are doing when, and remind people to run the water for a while if it looks cloudy or dirty, and be sure to check the water before doing laundry. Could they be flushing the lines in your area?

MYOB, I respectfully disagree. Pissed now goes over there with more knowledge, additional things to look for. And, information may help her remain calm, so the situation doesn’t escalate. She’s gotten some commiseration from a fellow CA landlord, a mighty successful one at that. So now she goes over there to check things out, and also will realize to check her faucet to see how the kitchen faucet filter can attach. So, she already has a simple solution at the ready if the drama-tenant wants to kick up more fuss.

Pissed daughter, one thing I have noticed with tenants, when they get a rent increase, the want to feel they are getting more for that extra money. Rightly or wrongly, they seem to do it. So, I try to do a pre-planned improvement around the same time as my annual rent increase letters go out. Even if I just let them know about a ‘planned improvement’ that will happen that year. It doesn’t always need to be expensive, but things that are visible to the tenant. If the improvements aren’t visible to the tenant, such as extra insulation in the attic, installed while they are at work, then I make some noise about it, both before and after the install.