Dear Dan:
I am a single family home owner and rented my home to a family last year. I found out during this shelter-in-place that my tenant does not live there and has listed all rooms on AirBNB individually. He has even modified the house to convert the living/family areas and garage into bedrooms to increase his profits. In a similar fashion, they have at least one more house in Fremont from a like-minded landlord.
While making money from both these rentals, they have taken advantage of the moratorium without proof of financial difficulties during the pandemic and started paying lower rents. Now, in retaliation to my notices as of August, they have stopped paying the rent in its entirety.
Due to the Alameda County moratorium and the judicial council’s Emergency Rule 1, we are unable to proceed with the eviction process. Even if the judicial council rescinds the ER 1 ruling, the Alameda county moratorium will still not allow us to proceed with the eviction case.
I am hoping that with your support, we could request Alameda County Supervisors to allow for lease violation evictions to go through, so we can finally get justice and relief from the emotional and financial strain.
CBS has published the story, here is the piece:
I will look forward to connecting with you and I am happy to share any other details you may need. Best regards, Avinash J.
Open Letter to Honorable Governor Newsom:
It is wrong to single out apartment owners to cover the expense of the coronavirus. I work two jobs to pay for my apartment building, but AB 1436 may cause me to lose that building and all the hard work I put into providing housing for CA residents. AB 1436’s eviction moratorium puts the coronavirus burden directly on the shoulders of rental property owners.
The pandemic has driven away jobs and forced tenants to seek housing and jobs in non-lock-down states. Some of my tenants have quit paying rent even though they still work. AB 1436 gives CA tenants more power and will embolden them to join the rent strike crowd.
I’ve had delinquent tenants now since March, and I’m losing ground trying to satisfy the negative cash flow caused by the eviction moratorium. Income needed to pay bills has been severely diminished while unscrupulous tenants who don’t pay rent at all enjoy the good life. I need paying customers to cover the bills or I will lose the building.
It costs a lot of money to keep a building running. The maintenance men, the water, trash, sewer, electricity, gas companies all rightfully expect to be paid. On top of that, there are taxes which must be paid. Which one of those expenses do you think should be waived next by the stroke of your powerful pen?
A bank foreclosure won’t hurt just me. It will be a foreclosure on all my tenants because banks simply cannot effectively manage foreclosed assets. 1436 will extend the hardships by forcing apartment owners out of business, leaving abandoned buildings filled with unhappy tenants, crime, and disease. No name due to fear of government reprisal.
Dear Assembly Member David Chiu:
Hi. I own property and rent it at below market rates. As such, I provide affordable housing, the very thing you claim you support. Unfortunately, the actions you take do not suggest you support it.
Please revise your orders that force me to go unpaid for nine months.
I’m sure you’re going to extend this craziness so I’m wondering if you can force Walmart to give me free food or force plumbers to work for free or disallow my property taxes. If it’s okay to bud in on my private business, why are other sectors immune?
I have one tenant who works full time and his wife works full time. They decided they were not going to pay crying COVID. I gave him the name of a nonprofit that would provide assistance to undocumented immigrant to pay. He is undocumented. He decided not to apply. After that, they went out and bought a new car and new appliances. They threw the old ones on the lawn. That’s a code violation but I couldn’t do a thing.
The non-paying tenant just locked himself in. I called his job and yup, he’s still working there.
He told me the law is on his side. I was wondering why it’s not on mine. My attorney said there is nothing I can do. I am stuck forfeiting my children’s college tuition to pay this man’s way.
Now I’m sure you are thinking I’m that evil landlord you seek to punish. No, I am not. This tenant has a rent of $1,500 for a two-bedroom, free standing home with gardening service.
When will you help me? Why is it that I spend a portion of each day writing emails like this one and there has yet to be one person to even reply? Jennifer D.