Her possessions aren’t leaving quite as fast as she is
Question: A tenant who is about to move has asked whether she can leave belongings in the apartment until her new unit is available. I told her no, but what can I do if she leaves personal items and furniture?
Answer: Civil Code Section 1984 allows you to send a Notice of Right to Reclaim Abandoned Property to a tenant who leaves belongings after they have moved. This notice gives a tenant 18 days to make arrangements to take possession of their belongings. During this time, you can move the items to a safe area to protect them. After 18 days, if the items have not been removed and they have a collective value of less than $300, you can dispose of them in any manner you wish. But if, in your estimation, the value is more than $300, you must hold a public sale and, after deducting reasonable storage fees and sale costs, deposit the net proceeds with your county’s Department of Revenue. Try to work with the tenant to resolve this matter without having to resort to these measures.
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Landlords must give 60-day notice
Question: Is it true that a landlord has to serve a 60-day notice to move while a tenant is only required to give 30 days?
Answer: Effective Jan. 1, Civil Code Section 1946.1 requires a property owner to serve a written 60-Day Termination of Tenancy notice to month-to-month tenants who have resided in a rental property for one year or more, except in certain limited situations when the property is being sold.
Tenants are obligated to serve a 30-day written notice. This notice requirement does not apply to tenants who have leases. In the case of a lease, tenancies can be ended by the non-renewal of the lease by either party, although most leases have a clause requiring an advance notice, usually 30 or 60 days, when a tenant or property owner does not intend to renew.
Even when rent is paid on a two-week or seven-day schedule, the owner is still obligated to give a 60-day notice. For tenants of less than one year, a property owner can serve a 30-Day Termination of Tenancy notice.
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Grant transgender tenant’s request
Question: One of my tenants has asked me to change the gender listed on his rental application from male to female. Because the application was only used to qualify him as a tenant, I don’t see the need to make this change. Must I?
Answer: It would be wise to allow the tenant to change the gender listed because under federal fair housing law gender is a category protected from discrimination. This means that a person cannot be discriminated against solely based on the fact that they are male or female.
Under California law, sexual orientation is a protected category, which means that you cannot discriminate against someone because they are gay, straight or transgender.
If you were to refuse to make this change for this tenant but would agree to make another change -- a change in marital status, for example -- for another tenant, this tenant could potentially file a discrimination claim against you.
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This column is prepared by Project Sentinel, a rental housing mediation service. Questions may be sent to 1055 Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road, Suite 3, Sunnyvale, CA 94087.
