$850 Rent Too High to Get Relocation Fee

QUESTION: My husband and I moved into our Beverly Hills duplex and signed a one-year lease in 1982. When the lease expired, our landlady said she preferred to keep us as tenants on a month-to-month rental agreement instead of a lease. The rent was $850 a month.

Since then, the ownership of the duplex has changed hands twice. Each time the owners have kept us as month-to-month tenants without a lease. The new owner recently told us that he bought the building with the intention of tearing it down to build a large apartment complex. He said that he will give us a 90-day notice to vacate.

My question is, does he have to pay us a relocation fee? If he does have to pay the fee, how much are we entitled to? We have a pretty low rent, which is hard to find in Beverly Hills. It will be difficult to find something this good at the price.

ANSWER: According to the Beverly Hills Rent Stabilization Office, “Relocation fees are payable only to tenants who moved into their units with rents under $600 a month. If the rent was over $600 at the time you moved in, you are not entitled to any relocation fee.”

The amount of relocation fees in Beverly Hills is $5,000 for seniors, the handicapped or the mentally ill. Others get $2,500.

Helpful Tenants Gets Bill for Early Move

Q: I live in Oceanside, and I had a lease that was supposed to run until Jan. 31, 1991. Due to health and parking problems, I gave a notice on Oct. 15 of my intent to vacate the premises by Nov. 30, or as soon as a replacement tenant could be found.

On Nov. 1, the manager of the building said that a replacement tenant had been found for Nov. 15. He asked me if I could please be out before then to accommodate the replacement renter. I agreed and worked very hard to get out by the morning of Nov. 14.

When I gave the manager the keys, he told me that the new tenant would not be moving in until Nov. 25. Now, the landlord has withheld my security deposit and is billing me for delinquent rent from November 15 to 25.

Is this legal? It seems unfair to me. I moved ahead of my schedule at extra expense to myself to help them out. Since I am always an excellent tenant, I am angered at being called delinquent. Is there anything that I can do?

A: Yes. If you have the request in writing from the manager that he asked you move out by Nov. 15, or if he admits it, you probably have a good case for small claims court.

If you don’t have the manager’s request in writing, the verbal contract that you seem to have made with him would still appear to be binding. It just depends upon who the judge believes, assuming in court the manager denies making the request to you to move out early.

Apartment Move-Out Time Is by Midnight

Q: Earlier this year I was a tenant in an apartment in Long Beach. I gave a 30-day notice of my intention to move and I was out of the unit at 8 a.m. on the day following the 30th day of the notice to vacate.

The owner said that he was charging me an extra day’s rent. He said the check-out time was supposed to be at midnight the night before. My impression was that checkout time was around 11 a.m. Is it proper for the landlord to take an extra day’s rent from me in this situation? Can you recommend a course of action so that I can recover the rent for this day?

A: Unlike most hotels and motels, most apartments operate on the midnight standard. Unless you had something in writing or a verbal understanding indicating something different, there is possibly not much chance of your recovering the day’s rent in small claims court, where you would bring such a legal action.