Thursday, February 16, 2012

New Landlord - Tenant Relationships ~ You Need To Know These

A lot of people are buying up homes to become investors. Where they couldn't compete with Mr. Trump before, they now are stepping into the race. And, you all know I believe that Valencia, and it's surrounding neighborhoods, has some great investment opportunities at this time.

But, you must keep current on tenant-landlord relationships. As I too am a landlord, I read up on that portion of Real Estate to share with my blog peeps.

This tid-bit I had read and planned on writing a post about, but when a portion of it dropped into my lap while looking for investment property it jumped up in the priority list of notifying my clients, past and present.

Changes for 2012 include:

"SB 332, which allows landlords to ban the smoking of cigarettes and other tobacco products anywhere on the property, even inside the tenant's apartment unit. For new tenants in 2012, the landlord must indicate on the rental agreement the areas where smoking is prohibited. For existing tenants before 2012, a new smoking ban is a change to the terms of tenancy that requires adequate notice, depending on whether the tenancy is a month-to-month or fixed term agreement.

Another win for landlords pertains to their rights in relation to HOA's (C.A.R. sponsored SB 150). Starting January 1st, any new HOA prohibition against renting or leasing a unit in a common interest development does not affect an owner who acquired title before the rental prohibition. That owner's right to rent persists for certain subsequent transfers, such as probate sales, spousal transfers, parent to child transfers, and other transfers exempt from property tax reassessment. This law does not apply to rental prohibitions in effect before 2012.

Tenant victories this year include the right to display election and other political signs under SB 337, but the landlord can make reasonable restrictions. For a single family dwelling, a political sign can be displayed from the yard, window, door, balcony, or outside wall. For a multifamily dwelling, the sign can be on the door or window of leased premises. The landlord may also limit the size of a political sign to six square feet, and restrict posting of a sign to 90 days before an election or vote and removal within 15 days thereafter.

And, one more tenant victory was SB 341. Beginning July 1, 2012, a multifamily building of five or more units must arrange for recycling services if reasonably available from a local service provider. The landlord may, however, require tenants to source separate their recyclable materials to help comply with this law.

1 comment:

Aiza said...

Nice and a great post. Keep it up.

Tenant Agreement