Dear Dan:
Hello – so far, I have only had one out of three tenants have a problem paying rent. She is on a partial pay reduction, but she was unable to pay half of her April rent. I have a one and one half month security deposit. She is cooperative and her place is immaculate. I am applying her security deposit for the balance.
This will work for three months as she thinks she will be able to pay at least half. This way, I get some money and she won’t have a backlog of rent. If a tenant is really going to be a problem or destructive, a security deposit won’t cover it anyway. It may not work for all tenants, but she is trustworthy. At some point, we could replenish the security deposit, but I’m not stressing about it. Just thought I’d pass along my strategy. Beth P.
Dear Dan:
I called the Governor’s office describing my situation as a landlord wherein several of my tenants are destroying the property and creating dangerous fire hazards. After telling Newsom’s office that the tenants do not heed my requests or warnings to discontinue this dangerous activity, and asking them what my recourse is, his response was to the effect “I don’t know, Mr. Newsom hasn’t told me.” He then proceeded to cut me off mid-sentence and transfer me to an obscure voicemail.
The jist of the conversation was that this guy could not care less and certainly wasn’t interested in a solution for me and other landlords in similar situations. Terrence Winters
Dear Editor:
I am disheartened to see that AOA has engaged in spreading misinformation by publishing 2 parts of the article titled “The ‘Big Lie’ Behind COVID-19”. The article expresses false medical opinion from an author without qualifications. His statement of “bad year for the flu” is absolutely false. In a bad flu year, about 60,000 Americans die. There are over 143,000 deaths from COVID-19 in just 5 months. The writer’s medical opinion that young people don’t get sick is also false. People aged 20-65 are just as likely to be hospitalized as older folks. My hospital is forming a committee to help decide which patient will get care and which patient will be left to die when the number of sick people overwhelm the hospital. Being a responsible member of a society is not an argument against freedom. Arousiak Varpetian, MD, AOA member
Gov. Newsom:
How can you continue to keep this state in lockdown when you are okay with asking business owners and out of work employees to volunteer at food banks where there are more people congregating then there are in a regular business?
You are destroying CA only to make a point that you will not do anything that the President tells you to do – at the cost of the people.
You are the one making this a political battle. The people are starting to see what you are doing which is why there are so many protests. This has got to stop. You are causing more financial problems, homelessness, hunger, suicides and death than any destruction the virus could ever cause. How can you sleep at night knowing what you have done to CA? Sincerely, Melissa