Abusive tenant. Is my back house subject to rent control? (Los Angeles: apartment, renter)

[cvtoons]

I just inherited my grandfather's house in zip code 90047. There are two houses on the lot: the front house, which he lived in (and in which I now live), and the back house, which he's always rented out.

The current tenant has lived there for 20 years, and she's in her sixties. This tenant is disrespectful, cusses at me, and just threatened to kill my dog if it barks at her again (and I'm pretty sure she means it). My grandfather only raised her rent once, in 2010, to $450 (which is way below market rent), because he was in his nineties, had good will toward her and was doing her a favor. But she's used up any good will *I* had toward her (by being so foul to me and threatening my dog); so I've slowly come to the realization that she's not a friend, she's a tenant. And I want to do whatever the law allows to maximize my investment.

So here's my question, in three parts:

(1) Is my property subject to rent control? There are two units on the same lot, but one of them is owner-occupied. Only one unit is a rental unit.
(2) If is rent controlled, is there a provision that would allow me to evict her for her nuisance-behavior and her threats?
(3) If it is rent controlled, can I raise her rent by more than 3% because it's substantially below market rate (comparable units in this neighborhood rent for twice as much)?

[CSD610]

Why worry about raising her rent? Why don't you just start eviction proceedings and get her out of there, repair whatever needs repaired in the home then deal with a new renter after you have found out all the legal answers to your questions.

[JohnG72]

Originally Posted by CSD610

Why worry about raising her rent? Why don't you just start eviction proceedings and get her out of there, repair whatever needs repaired in the home then deal with a new renter after you have found out all the legal answers to your questions.

Clearly you have never tried to evict someone in California. It's not that easy.

OP, is it city of LA? If so, start with googling the "city of Los Angeles housing department". There's info there for landlords.

[Mashi]

$450 in THAT area?! I'd say be thankful, put the dog inside, and buy her a gift basket.

[Voyageuse]

Evict her. I good lawyer will walk you through the process to make sure that you cover your legal a#$.

My mum owns rental property and just evicted a 20 year tenant because she was a hoarder and was letting the apartment fall into disrepair/unhealthy conditions. The irony is that the tenant never called her for repairs, because she didn't want to bother my mum, so things that would have cost a few hundred dollars to fix, are now going to cost thousands; this what compelled her to give her the boot. The process was actually pretty straightforward.

As far as your tenant goes, I would consider getting a restraining order against her too. The money isn't worth it. Get her out of your life ASAP!

[mistercommuter]

This may be the most direct and vague answer to your question.

As may this.

Unfortunately... being a landlord in a renter-favored city will require you to invest the time and patience to learn how to do so.

You might want to avoid tangling with LAHD altogether by ceasing to rent the unit.

[Fontucky]

I don't know what hoops one has to jump through in LA County, but here in SB County we served the 3-day pay or quit on March 11, went to court sometime in late April, and the evicted tenant delivered up possession of the premises during the week of May 13th.

[IloveOC]

Did the tenant have any written lease at all? I would find out the rules and laws of renting in your city and go from there. And if there is no lease - I would definitely get one. Years ago my grandma lived in Inglewood and then moved to Lakewood. After grandpa died she moved back to Inglewood and rented a small 2 bedroom home from her old neighbors who had the same arrangement. I think they gave her a break on the rent because they had been friends for years and also knew she was on a very limited income from social security. I hope you are able to get the problem resolved. When you inherited the house was there any mention of the tenant in the other home?

[cvtoons]

Originally Posted by JohnG72

Clearly you have never tried to evict someone in California. It's not that easy.

OP, is it city of LA? If so, start with googling the "city of Los Angeles housing department". There's info there for landlords.

It is the city of LA. Thanks for the suggestion, I'm doing that as well as talking to a lawyer. So far the lawyer isn't telling me what I was hoping to hear. I'm at the point where I would rather withdraw the unit from the market than continue renting to her, but he's telling me I would have to pay her about $15 thousand in "relocation fees" if I do that. I'm going to go to the housing department and ask them directly because that just sounds preposterous to me.

[cvtoons]

Originally Posted by IloveOC

Did the tenant have any written lease at all? I would find out the rules and laws of renting in your city and go from there. And if there is no lease - I would definitely get one. Years ago my grandma lived in Inglewood and then moved to Lakewood. After grandpa died she moved back to Inglewood and rented a small 2 bedroom home from her old neighbors who had the same arrangement. I think they gave her a break on the rent because they had been friends for years and also knew she was on a very limited income from social security. I hope you are able to get the problem resolved. When you inherited the house was there any mention of the tenant in the other home?

I knew the tenant was there; I visited grandpa a couple times a week for the last several years and every once in a while he would ask me to deal with her on his behalf: once because she had let a whole family move in with her and they were driving up the water bill (to the point where it cost almost as much as her rent), and again to repair things around her unit). He always told me he wanted to evict her, but didn't want to go through any hassle at his age. He always said he'd just let the next owner deal with her.

I've been digging through all the papers and all I've found was an unsigned copy if her original lease from 1994. If I can't evict her (my lawyer is making it sound as if evicting her would be an expensive uphill battle since she pays her rent on time), I'll give her a new lease to sign. According to the LAHD site, I can evict her for cause (and presumably avoid having to pay her any exorbitant relocation fees) if she refuses to sign this one.