Hi all,

We have a problem unit with months of lease violations, with the biggest issue occurring today.

Previously, the tenant had an unauthorized resident (tenant's son) move in without permission. Tenant's son had some mental issues, which caused him to scream and yell around the premises, stand in the middle of the driveway with his shirt off, etc. Would swing on the patio fence gate and damaged the hinges. Other tenants complained and we wrote a few notices about this to them, the son moved away last month.

The ongoing issues are unauthorized parking in fire lane, unauthorized occupants, and harassment of management.

Parking in fire lane:

They frequently have guests over, and sometimes they just park in the dead middle of our pretty narrow driveway, blocking anyone from passing through, and claim "they're just waiting for someone", or park in the marked fire lanes of the side of the driveway. We've told them to move, and they have refused. Calling towing just results in them immediately running out to jump in the car and scream at the tow truck driver. One of the guests has also denied visiting this particular unit, when we watched them walk into the unit. We've given multiple notices too regarding this, and had a fire inspector remark "they're not supposed to be parked there."

Unauthorized occupants:

Aside from the tenant's son that moved away, there's now the tenant's daughter (on lease), her newborn baby (more later), and daughter's boyfriend (not on lease). We've requested for documentation regarding the newborn baby's information so we can add it onto the lease, but they've refused. Daughter's boyfriend claims he doesn't live there, but is seen quite frequently on premises at all hours (cause of harassment later), parks in the fire lane, and refuses to provide his information. Notices have also been given.

Harassment:

Today, one of our staff was taking a picture of another unrelated tenant's vehicle in the fire lane. Just so happened that further down the driveway in the shadows was the daughter's boyfriend; he couldn't be seen at all. He immediately ran over and began harassing me and staff stating "you got a problem or something taking a picture of me?" We told him we had no idea he was standing there, and he continued to threaten to sue us about the above mentioned stuff - taking pictures of the vehicles parked in fire lane, giving lease violation notices, etc., stating what we were doing was illegal and harassing him and his family by asking for him and his baby's information. He again stated he refused to provide any information. We stated that since he stated he was not a resident, we had no obligation to speak with him. He left, and we called the police. Police rolled their eyes when we told him what he said about taking pictures on premises. To quote the police: "No reasonable expectation of privacy in a public area, so long as you're not taking pictures through their window. Plus, you're management, that's y'alls job." They spoke with the guy and left.

Anyway, right now, we're considering eviction, but do we have the grounds for it? Per the TPO, we have to have just cause, which so far is:

Unauthorized occupants, nuisance (harassment and previous disturbances), and material breach of lease (continued parking in fire lane).

Not sure if we can trespass the daughter's boyfriend for harassment of mangement.

Appreciate everyone's help, look forward to the replies!

If you are not in a rent control city and you have been carefully documenting everything that has been happening it shouldn't be too difficult, especially if the other tenants are willing to provide statements.

In a rent control city it will be more difficult as you will have to follow the procedures and possibly free legal aid.

Maximizing rent increases to problem tenants usually helps move people on without all of this back and forth. It's pretty obvious this will get worse.

I don't know where your rental is located in CA, but each city has it's own set of rules. For example in Los Angeles if you "KNOW" about an illegal EXTRA occupant and do nothing, then after 30 days, they become a legal occupant.

Plus any DEPENDENT Child, under 18, is allowed to LIVE in the rental and there is nothing you can do about it.

I rented an apartment to a married couple with 3 kids. After they moved in, his prior children from his first marriage and her children, a total of another 5 kids moved in. So instead of 2 adults and 3 kids, I had 2 adults and 8 kids.

I served them a notice and found myself in court. The judge ruled that any dependent child is allowed to live in my rental.And Housing and the Heath department fined me for over crowding. So I sued everyone in small claims court and paid for a jury. The Jury couldn't believe what my City did to me.

Who is training who at this point?

They are a bad fit at this point and you are in log jam. I am sure that there is more to this story but that doesn't really matter. What area of Cal are your rentals at? Not areas of California ae created equal. Many have additional protections, protecting the tenant from a landlord who might have a bad lease or unclear house rules.

You might want to make sure that your residents signed saying they understand and will follow the house rules like not parking in an unauthorized parking space (or creating their own) before you consider getting rid of them.

Good ideas above. And, while you are at it, is there a space to add one or two more parking spots? Not to encourage more stay-over guests, but that could have some sort of signage to indicate its a loading zone? Not sure if this is a good idea, but others who have dealt with limited parking might have suggestions.

I dealt with a tenant who always had lots of family over, birthday parties, family get-togethers were at her house ( my house) But, neighbors were complaining that kids were always sitting on the stairs ( single family home, just so happens that both front and side stairs are very close to neighbors houses.) So, I fixed the issue: found a very sturdy, commercial grade hexagon picnic table, made of heavy plastic and steel off of Craigslist for $100. These tables retailed for about $1000 at the time. I then created a mulched area behind the house, away from neighbors, placed the picnic table. Eventually added another shade tree. Then, eventually used some paver bricks I got free from Craigslist to create a spot for the grill away from the house. Oh, and added a covered trash bin, so no paper plates or napkins blowing around. Gave a slightly bigger rent increase, maybe $15 -20compared to $10 that I might have done. Now, , certainly, all family events were going to be there; I made it inviting. I also spoke ( gently) with my tenant about thinking about the neighbors when they were having big get-togethers. My tenant began training her guests to pull up in front of her house to unload ( a proper parking space, ) but once unloaded, pull down the street where there are two vacant lots opposite each other, thus usually plenty of parking.