New owner must give notice

Question: I leased a house for one year about 10 years ago. The lease lapsed, and I have been on a month-to-month agreement since. Now the house has been sold. Does the new owner have to give me a 60-day notice to move if he wants to live in the house?

Answer: The new owner does have to give you a 60-day notice to move under California law because of your length of residency. He does not have to give you the notice on the rent-due day, usually the first of the month, but he must give you a minimum of 60 days’ notice.

If you live in the city of Los Angeles, and the house is under rent control, usually meaning that there’s more than one rental unit on the property or more than one set of tenants in the house, and it is not defined as new construction or luxury housing under the law, you are entitled to relocation fees if the owner decides to occupy the house. The relocation fees are $3,200 per unit, or $8,000 if you are handicapped, a senior citizen (62 or older) or have minor children in the household who are under 18 years of age.

Renter has no doggone contract

Question: I have rented the same apartment for 25 years. I did not get or sign any rental agreement when I moved in. A few months ago I bought a puppy. The owner has told me that the puppy has to go or I will have to move. If there is no rental agreement between us, do I have to get rid of the puppy or move? Is it lawful for the owner to ask me after the fact to sign a rental agreement that prohibits pets?

Answer: Fido may not have to go. In general, property owners have the right to allow or refuse to allow renters to have pets. The big exception is pets that renters have for health purposes, such as guide dogs or companion animals for mental health reasons.

The other exception is for units governed by the Los Angeles city rent-control law. Under rent control, the tenant must agree to changes to the terms of a tenancy, other than things such as the city-authorized annual rent adjustment. Since the owner did not prohibit pets in your oral agreement, he cannot do so now without your concurrence.

If you live outside the L.A. rent control area, the owner can change the terms of your tenancy with a 30-Day Notice of Change of Terms of Tenancy to prohibit your pet. But if you had a pet when you moved into the apartment, the owner still could not make you get rid of it down the road if he changed his policy and decided to prohibit them. He could, however, change the policy and not allow you to get a new pet after the original one is gone.

The owner cannot make you sign a rental agreement after the fact, but he can give you a new rental agreement with a 30-Day Notice of Change of Terms of Tenancy as long as it does not change the material provisions of your oral agreement.

For example, the owner cannot raise the deposit or limit the number of occupants to less than the number who moved in by merely giving you a new rental agreement.

As long as the new rental agreement does not change those kinds of material provisions of the oral agreement, it becomes effective in 30 days whether you sign it or not.

Full rent is due regardless of noise

Question: I’d like to know my rights regarding loud neighbors and my leaving because of the noise before my 30-day notice is up. The management sent them letters about the noise, but the neighbors continue to party until all hours of the morning. I tried to meet management halfway and offered one-third of the month’s rent, but it wants it all. I refuse to pay.

Answer: You have the right to give a 30-day notice, assuming you were on a month-to-month rental agreement, and move after it is up. You do not have the right to move early and disregard the balance of the month’s rent because of the noise.

If noise was a major concern for you, you should have asked about it before moving in. If you had done so and the management company misled you, you would have a legitimate issue about which to complain. That does not appear to be the case. The management probably will take the balance of the rent from your security deposit.

Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine, a publication of AAGLA, an apartment owners’ service group. E-mail your questions on any aspect of apartment living to AptlifeAAGLA@aol.com, c/o Kevin Postema, or mail to AAGLA, c/o Kevin Postema, 621 S. Westmoreland Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90005.