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I'm a renter in California. My lease covers the entire house and lot, but we have discovered that there are two micro-units built into the backyard. The landlord said these were just for extra storage, but as it turns out, each one (smaller than the living area of an RV, but with toilets and kitchenettes) has a family living there. They seem like friendly people, most don't speak English and apparently they've been there for years.
There's got to be 10-15 of them crammed into these tiny units, but it's difficult to tell because it seems like some of them come and go and don't live there full time, while others have even been using our mailbox to receive mail. Probably half of them are kids ranging in age from 3-14, many don't go to school and hang around all day in the backyard with no shirts or shoes, playing in the dirt.
So, here's the problem. My wife and I are foster-adopting. We notified the landlord of this when we first applied, and in fact by sheer coincidence she's currently taking the foster parenting classes herself with the same instructor who ran our training -- so, none of the following problems are a sudden surprise to her.
The issue: there's simply no way that the county foster home inspector will certify this home for child placement under these circumstances. The density (population) is too high for the lot, the squatters leave rusted tools and dangerous construction materials everywhere in what are supposed to be common areas, and when we ask them to be removed they disappear for maybe a day or two before reappearing somewhere else on the property. They've also built a ramshackle shed near the gate to the backyard that could not possible be up to city code, and one of their dogs runs loose everywhere, using the yards as a toilet where we'd hoped to play with our kids.
So, that's our situation. Our landlord now says she was aware of them when she bought the property a few years ago, but didn't have the heart to force them to move. I can sympathize, but my wife and I have waited far too long to start a family to have this circumstance derail us any further.
So:
-- We've already notified the city of the density and construction violations. They're pretty backlogged, and their process for forcing removal of the squatters and bringing the structures up to code can take the far side of six months.
-- We've already notified child protective services, but they're mostly concerned with drug use, malnutrition and physical abuse in the home, rather than benign neglect or minor property hazards; plus I don't like the idea of splitting up families
-- I recognize that our primary complaint is with the landlord, but she seems like a nice person and we'd like to sustain a good relationship with her. She's obviously not been straightforward with us -- at one point she told us they had a lease, but at another point told us she doesn't even know their names -- but I'm not even sure what kind of action we would have against her or how we could force her to evict them.
-- We don't want to move again, and in fact we've decided that's not an option.
-- I'd like to simply ask them to move, explain to them what will happen if they don't, and if they refuse we would change their circumstance to make staying less appealing. For example, right now we have continued to let them park on the property -- but we could just as easily lock the gate, so they'd have to park on the street (not easy in our neighborhood). We haven't done anything to all the construction materials that they leave around the common areas, but we could just as simply remove them ourselves. And so on.
I recognize this situation is unusual, since we're tenants rather than landlords, so a lot of the advice out there doesn't necessarily apply to us. For example, I know that a landlord can't go in and remove personal property from their residence; but can another tenant remove personal property that's been left in a common area where they *don't* live? I recognize that they have squatters rights to the micro-units, but does that give their cars squatters rights to our parking spots?
Your landlord bought the property and did not evict the squatters by having the police come and removing them from the property and padlocking the buildings and you are just expected to "deal with it"?
I'm a renter in California. My lease covers the entire house and lot, but we have discovered that there are two micro-units built into the backyard. The landlord said these were just for extra storage, but as it turns out, each one (smaller than the living area of an RV, but with toilets and kitchenettes) has a family living there. They seem like friendly people, most don't speak English and apparently they've been there for years.
There's got to be 10-15 of them crammed into these tiny units, but it's difficult to tell because it seems like some of them come and go and don't live there full time, while others have even been using our mailbox to receive mail. Probably half of them are kids ranging in age from 3-14, many don't go to school and hang around all day in the backyard with no shirts or shoes, playing in the dirt.
So, here's the problem. My wife and I are foster-adopting. We notified the landlord of this when we first applied, and in fact by sheer coincidence she's currently taking the foster parenting classes herself with the same instructor who ran our training -- so, none of the following problems are a sudden surprise to her.
The issue: there's simply no way that the county foster home inspector will certify this home for child placement under these circumstances. The density (population) is too high for the lot, the squatters leave rusted tools and dangerous construction materials everywhere in what are supposed to be common areas, and when we ask them to be removed they disappear for maybe a day or two before reappearing somewhere else on the property. They've also built a ramshackle shed near the gate to the backyard that could not possible be up to city code, and one of their dogs runs loose everywhere, using the yards as a toilet where we'd hoped to play with our kids.
So, that's our situation. Our landlord now says she was aware of them when she bought the property a few years ago, but didn't have the heart to force them to move. I can sympathize, but my wife and I have waited far too long to start a family to have this circumstance derail us any further.
So:
-- We've already notified the city of the density and construction violations. They're pretty backlogged, and their process for forcing removal of the squatters and bringing the structures up to code can take the far side of six months.
-- We've already notified child protective services, but they're mostly concerned with drug use, malnutrition and physical abuse in the home, rather than benign neglect or minor property hazards; plus I don't like the idea of splitting up families
-- I recognize that our primary complaint is with the landlord, but she seems like a nice person and we'd like to sustain a good relationship with her. She's obviously not been straightforward with us -- at one point she told us they had a lease, but at another point told us she doesn't even know their names -- but I'm not even sure what kind of action we would have against her or how we could force her to evict them.
-- We don't want to move again, and in fact we've decided that's not an option.
-- I'd like to simply ask them to move, explain to them what will happen if they don't, and if they refuse we would change their circumstance to make staying less appealing. For example, right now we have continued to let them park on the property -- but we could just as easily lock the gate, so they'd have to park on the street (not easy in our neighborhood). We haven't done anything to all the construction materials that they leave around the common areas, but we could just as simply remove them ourselves. And so on.
I recognize this situation is unusual, since we're tenants rather than landlords, so a lot of the advice out there doesn't necessarily apply to us. For example, I know that a landlord can't go in and remove personal property from their residence; but can another tenant remove personal property that's been left in a common area where they *don't* live? I recognize that they have squatters rights to the micro-units, but does that give their cars squatters rights to our parking spots?
Please help -- any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Cough cough. I'm betting she was more than aware of them because she's probably charging crazy rent on those "units". Your LL knows exactly what she is doing. Lol. She didn't have the heart to move them. I'm sure she's letting them live there for free because she's a humanitarian.
How does that happen? Who pays their electric bill? Their water bill?
How did I miss that?
To the OP, if they do not have separate meters I bet that YOU are paying those bills.
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Originally Posted by Electrician4you
Cough cough. I'm betting she was more than aware of them because she's probably charging crazy rent on those "units". Your LL knows exactly what she is doing. Lol. She didn't have the heart to move them. I'm sure she's letting them live there for free because she's a humanitarian.
OP here; first, thanks for all the replies. Also, I should have made a few things more clear, but felt the original message was already too long.
-- She's definitely collecting rent from them. The whole "I didn't have the heart to make them move" thing was about why she didn't evict them and re-rent each place to regular single adults (probably surfers, since we live by the beach). Plus evicting them would have been expensive, and it was just as easy to take the money from them and let them stay.
-- Utilities are included in the rent. We're sympathetic, not stupid.
-- WE'RE NOT MOVING AGAIN. The tl;dr version of the last six months is that we were renting a fantastic house when the tree roots underneath broke some pipes and flooded the entire downstairs, with repairs that would take eight months. After an emergency move to another house, we found that the landlord was psycho, killed our dog with chemicals and his wife was a crazy drunk who would repeatedly hate-call us and come onto the property at all hours of the night. Yes, we could have taken them to court; instead, we decided simply to get the hell out. So no, now we've moved here and we're not moving again.
I'm hoping that people might be able to help with a few very specific questions:
1. If the people who live in the backyard have squatter's rights to their units, do their cars have squatter's rights to our parking spots? Because locking them out of them would go a long way toward encouraging them to move.
2. Can we remove personal property that's just been left around in the yard, that's not specifically inside their squatter units? Because once again, if they can't store this property out in the yard, then they're likely going to need to move.
3. Since we have a lease that covers the entire property lot, does that convert them from tenants of the landlord to subtenants of our lease? Because if it does, we can proceed with eviction ourselves as the "landlord" to the subtenants, rather than "co-tenants" of the owner.
Once again, any and all help is appreciated. Thanks!
HUH? Why in world do you want to Stay? You said you wanted to Foster Parents But the place wont pass... guessing you really don't want that very bad. Then Stay pay your rent Forget the people renting behind you cause really they a Not your concern. Yes they paying rent so Yes they Do get to park their cars there. You are just going to have to find some where else to park.
BTW they are NOT Squatters they like you are TENANTS with ALL the rights of tenants.
OP here; first, thanks for all the replies. Also, I should have made a few things more clear, but felt the original message was already too long.
-- She's definitely collecting rent from them. The whole "I didn't have the heart to make them move" thing was about why she didn't evict them and re-rent each place to regular single adults (probably surfers, since we live by the beach). Plus evicting them would have been expensive, and it was just as easy to take the money from them and let them stay.
-- Utilities are included in the rent. We're sympathetic, not stupid.
-- WE'RE NOT MOVING AGAIN. The tl;dr version of the last six months is that we were renting a fantastic house when the tree roots underneath broke some pipes and flooded the entire downstairs, with repairs that would take eight months. After an emergency move to another house, we found that the landlord was psycho, killed our dog with chemicals and his wife was a crazy drunk who would repeatedly hate-call us and come onto the property at all hours of the night. Yes, we could have taken them to court; instead, we decided simply to get the hell out. So no, now we've moved here and we're not moving again.
I'm hoping that people might be able to help with a few very specific questions:
1. If the people who live in the backyard have squatter's rights to their units, do their cars have squatter's rights to our parking spots? Because locking them out of them would go a long way toward encouraging them to move.
2. Can we remove personal property that's just been left around in the yard, that's not specifically inside their squatter units? Because once again, if they can't store this property out in the yard, then they're likely going to need to move.
3. Since we have a lease that covers the entire property lot, does that convert them from tenants of the landlord to subtenants of our lease? Because if it does, we can proceed with eviction ourselves as the "landlord" to the subtenants, rather than "co-tenants" of the owner.
Once again, any and all help is appreciated. Thanks!
If your landlord will not get rid of these people, the only way to get them out is to call code enforcement(if these dwellings do not meet code). However as you know that may cause your landlord to give you notice to leave at the end of your lease. You already did that and that's all you can do. You cannot evict them yourself or take any action against them. Since the units were on the property when you moved, the tenant's have access to the property as you do. You can't restrict their use.
I would be careful about making their stay less than pleasant by using the tactics you mentioned. I'm sure they can do the same to you.
-- I recognize that our primary complaint is with the landlord, but she seems like a nice person
She's not a nice person. Nice people don't lie and cheat their tenants.
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but I'm not even sure what kind of action we would have against her
You can (and should) sue her, if your lease says you are renting the entire property.
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or how we could force her to evict them.
Can't do that.
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-- We don't want to move again, and in fact we've decided that's not an option.
OK, then you're not going to be fostering children. Because you have zero power in this situation. The only effective play is to move now but you've ruled that out.
Quote:
-- I'd like to simply ask them to move, explain to them what will happen if they don't, and if they refuse we would change their circumstance to make staying less appealing. For example, right now we have continued to let them park on the property -- but we could just as easily lock the gate, so they'd have to park on the street (not easy in our neighborhood). We haven't done anything to all the construction materials that they leave around the common areas, but we could just as simply remove them ourselves. And so on.
And when they call the cops on you, what then?
The police don't get involved in civil matters such as leases or code violations, so don't get your hopes up there.
Quote:
For example, I know that a landlord can't go in and remove personal property from their residence; but can another tenant remove personal property that's been left in a common area where they *don't* live? I recognize that they have squatters rights to the micro-units, but does that give their cars squatters rights to our parking spots?
If the landlord allows it. And it sounds like she does.
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How did I miss that? 
