Best to be honest from the start that lease may be up in a year

Question: We want to rent out our house on a one-year lease. After the year is up, we plan to reevaluate and either sell, continue to rent or move back in. Do we have any obligations to the renters? Can we ask them to move out at the end of the year, or would we have to give them relocation fees?

Answer: You should be honest with your renters. As in many areas, honesty is always the best policy. Although the law does not require you to tell the renters that this may be a one-year-only lease, you absolutely should tell them the situation before they move in.

That way, there will be no hard feelings when the time comes for them to move out, and there is far less likelihood that you will have to evict them to get them to move, or that the house will be damaged by disgruntled renters who felt like you were not fair to them.

As for relocation fees, many single-family homes are exempt from such provisions.

For instance, single-family homes in Los Angeles are exempt if there is only one on a lot, and it contains only one set of renters.

If there are two or more on a lot, they may be covered by the rent-control ordinance and its relocation provisions.

If there are two on a lot, and the one house in question was issued its first Certificate of Occupancy after Oct, 1, 1978, it is exempt under the L.A. ordinance because it is defined as new construction. If the house is rent-controlled, you are usually required to pay relocation fees to the tenants.

There is also an eviction-control ordinance in Glendale that includes relocation fees. To find out whether there are relocation fee requirements in your city, and their specific requirements, call the city in which the property is located.

Tenant’s clutter is spilling over

Question: I own a three-unit apartment building that is under rent control. One of the tenants is a pack rat and has junk boxed up all over her apartment, back patio, driveway and side patio. Now, she is actually starting to put stuff in her neighbor’s side yard. I’ve asked her to clean up the mess, even giving her a written notice, but it’s not working. I think this is a fire and safety hazard, but I’m not sure. What else can I do?

Answer: This may well be a fire and safety hazard, but your local fire department and the county health department can say for sure.

You can call them and ask them to come out and take a look. Be advised, however, that if there is a problem, they will cite the tenant and you.

This is a mixed blessing. If you are cited and the tenant does not take corrective action, you can evict her for failing to do so. The downside is that, like the tenant, you become responsible for correcting the problem, which generally means initiating an eviction to get rid of the tenant and her stuff, if she won’t cooperate.

Kicked out after just one notice?

Question: I had a little party on the roof last weekend, and there was a complaint about noise. The manager told me that I need to turn in a 30-day notice to move or I will be evicted because she has had three other noise complaints about me and has turned them all over to corporate. Can I be evicted after just one noise notice of which I was made aware?

Answer: Unless the city in which you live has a rent- or eviction-protection ordinance that covers your unit, you can be evicted without any cause whatsoever. If you are in a unit that is rent- or eviction-controlled, the owners cannot evict you solely on the basis of this notice.

Kevin Postema is the editor of Apartment Age magazine, a publication of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, an apartment owners’ service group. Send letters to aptlifeaagla@aol.com, or mail them to Apartment Age, Attn: Kevin Postema, 621 S. Westmoreland Ave., L.A., CA 90005.