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Re: Hiring a Lawyer VS. Evicting tenant myself - Landlord Forum thread 358383

Re: Hiring a Lawyer VS. Evicting tenant myself by Tory on August 8, 2018 @14:21

                              
I live in Los Angeles, California and from the preliminary research I've done thus far it seems as though tenants have a lot of rights here even when they are in the wrong. The city is very concerned about the growing homeless population and laws protecting tenants appear to reflect this.

My tenant has been a problem for quite some time but for fairly minor issues that I'm not able to evict her for(interpersonal issues with other tenants, breaking rules in the building, smoking weed in the home, etc.). Due to the frequency of these issues, I requested that she move out and gave her 60 days notice (she's on a month-to-month lease). After her 60 days was up, she stated that she refused to move out. I met with a lawyer who advised me to give her another 60 days and I provided her with an official notice. I did this but she has not refused to pay her rent and is now asserted that if I want her to move out I need to pay her 2 months rent.

I don't want to get into the "issues" I've had with her, I'd rather just pursue the eviction based on the fact that she has not paid her rent.
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Re: Hiring a Lawyer VS. Evicting tenant myself by lpadave on August 9, 2018 @05:53 [ Reply ]
1. Canabus is now legal in cal.
2. Unless you have a no smoking clause in your lease that is no cause.
3. Certain areas and certain classes of buildings in LA have rent control or stabilization. Yours might be one of them.
3. Sounds like your tenant might be talking about """relocation assistance""", which might be valid in some of those jurisdictions........or is the two months rent the return of the tenants security deposit ?
4. It also abounds like your first sixty day notice was not in a valid form

Is the tenant willing to pay the rent or not ?

Not to get preachy on you,...but everyone in every kind of business has customers they might not like or get along with. Business is about the money. It's about keeping it simple, clear and uniformly applied and enforced. Keep it arms length and professional.
    Re: Hiring a Lawyer VS. Evicting tenant myself by Tory on August 13, 2018 @01:55 [ Reply ]
    True cannabis is legal now but the lease has a no smoking clause that the tenant continues to violate. My building is not rent controlled. And the 2 months of rent the tenant is asking for is unrelated to her security deposit … she is essentially demanding that if I want her to move out, I'm going to have to pay her to move out - this is not relocation assistance she is asking for, this is someone who is upset that they have to move and now is refusing to pay rent.

    My original 60 days notice was done as a courtesy. When she refused to move out, I then submitted an official notice with all the proper legal language. It was only after I submitted that official 60 day notice that she refused to pay her rent.

    So in effect my case is about the money and not the other issues.
Re: Hiring a Lawyer VS. Evicting tenant myself by Fiona on August 9, 2018 @11:29 [ Reply ]
Hire an eviction attorney. I had a rental in LA County and it is not worth the risk to go it alone. There are two many very, very tenant-friendly judges out there, California is a pro-tenant state.

I used an eviction attorney to do the eviction for me. They could guide me through all the curve balls the tenant tried to throw and I got them out relatively quickly and easily.

The investment in an attorney is worth it, but please make sure you shop around and get someone with a good track record, not the cheapest.
Re: Hiring a Lawyer VS. Evicting tenant myself by Fiona on August 9, 2018 @11:36 [ Reply ]
Tory,

I should add that there are legal firms in LA County who specialize in screwing the Landlord out of as much money and time as possible. There is one in particular who extended a tenants stay by four months without paying rent, and they asked for moving expenses.

For these reasons alone I would use an eviction attorney who has a good success rate in your city.

    Re: Hiring a Lawyer VS. Evicting tenant myself by Tory on August 13, 2018 @01:47 [ Reply ]
    Thank you so much Fiona. Would you happen to have any tips on how I can go about identifying a reputable eviction lawyer in my area. I only started with yelp (initially believing I would not need an attorney) and many of the reviews read as if they had been planted. I've reached out to friends and colleagues but none have had any experience with having to evict someone.
      Re: Hiring a Lawyer VS. Evicting tenant myself by Fiona on August 13, 2018 @19:20 [ Reply ]
      My lawyer looks after north-east LA County, I don't think they handle LA city. You could just call a few and ask for references. You can also go into LA County Superior court to use their computers to look up successful Unlawful Detainers in your area and who the attorneys were for those cases.

      There's a lot of info on the court computers that can be useful to landlords.

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