30 Days notice without prior warning (apartment, lease, tenant, eviction)

[Niknak4]

I am new to the landlord business, we recently took over some property with tenants already there.

One as two dogs, one of the dog as growl at me before, but I didn't pay too much notice as he stopped when I said so.

But, last week a prospect tenant came to view another unit for a second time and the said dog jumped on the hood of her car and tried to get in the car to bit at her, the women drove off the drive into the mud and got stuck for 45 minutes, while the dog owner came out, took the dog in and said nothing, closed the door & curtains leaving her out there in the mud. she had to walk around on a strange piece of property in the dark to find someone to help her.

I heard of this the next day to my dismay and gave the dog owner 30 days to leave... she as No lease. Can I do this without prior warning?

She gave the previous owner her security deposit, who gives that back to her too.

[DonnaReed]

30 day notice is pretty much how we do it.

Who gives her back the deposit? I think that would be you, the owner/landlord, unless it was already given back to her by the previous owner.

Any records, leases, deposits, etc, should have been given to you. You needed to make sure of that.

But you say she has no lease. Why not?
Did her lease expire before you took over the property?
Did she never have a lease?

If she doesn't have an annual lease, I think that would make her month-to-month, and a month's notice would be fine.

But how do you know about the deposit or if she even has one if you have no records?

How many units do you have? Or how many tenants without leases?
Do you have leases for other tenants?
Any way of knowing who's who and who pays on time?

You may want to get some leases going on.

[ShaneSA]

You need to check the laws of the state and or county you are located. On transfer, the deposits usually go to the new owner to hold.
If you do not have leases on the other tenants, do it now. If they have expired and have become month to month, you can demand new leases at your terms. If the current tenants do not like the terms, they can move. If you are keeping the rents the same, make sure they tenants know this. Also, collect deposits in the new leases. Unless the former owner collected them. if the former owner collected them, you need to have them transferred to you as the owner.
If this is all new to you, get a lawyer to help. At a minimum, get a friend or someone who is a current landlord in your area to give you a quick lesson in laws and rules for your area.

[ESFP]

Yea. Security deposits are the property of the tenants. The previous landlord can't take it with him. It stays with the apartment, regardless of who owns it. You may have to take the owner to small claims court to get the deposit returned to the building. You then have a limited time (30 days or so) to put it in a bank account separate from all other monies. You have a limited time (45 days, usually) to return it after vacancy, minus any documented damages by way of a walk-through. The tenant has the right to be present during this inspection. Go to the law library and become very current on rental laws. Tenants make it a point to know every loophole. It's not just a game anymore.

[KonaKat]

Did the owners association give you any training or information when they hired you? Ultimately they are responsible for the actions of their resident manager. I realize you're trying to do a very hard and thankless job. However, you owe it to yourself to talk to them about some education about how you should handle certain situations. Sounds like quite a mess!

By the way, a 30 Day Notice (if applicable according to her lease terms), requires no "advance notice"! It IS the notice! You may be thinking of something along the lines of what we had in Nevada; a 3 Day Nuisance (wherein the tenant was told to stop something or vacate. if they complied either way, that's the end of it), followed by a 5 Day Unlawful Detainer (saying you didn't comply with the 3 Day, therefore you should have vacated and since you didn't you're in unlawful possession of the property), followed by the eviction filing. I'm sure nothing could happen that fast in California but I'm also sure there is some similar Notice procedure to the Nuisance issue.
A 30 day "no reason" can come at the end of a lease term wherein the owner wants the property vacated for any reason at all. Then if they don't vacate, the 5 Day Unlawful Detainer and eviction could proceed.

[Phil in SoCal]

I'm going to be buying soon. The current owner has been there all his life. So I suppose he inherited the home & land. Years ago I sold my then home to an investor. We only used an escrow company. How does it work in MO ? Do we just need to use an escrow company? Or do we need an RE attorney? Or should I get a buyers RE agent? I'll probably need a title company for insurance. I don't want to buy the place then in 5 - 10 years have someone show up & claim I don't own it or the boundaries are not what I thought they were.

[Happy in Wyoming]

The laws of your state determine the fine points, but I do wish to tell you a couple things about owning income property. First, never evict a tenant who pays. You may not like dogs and a prospective tenant may not like dogs, but if the people with the dogs are good pay and don't wreck the place, treat them like gold. Remember, renters are generally at the bottom of the financial ladder. Most of them will take advantage of you and cheat you anytime they can. They hate you for the fact that you own it and make the rules.

I suggest that you read all of the paperwork for the sale. I have never heard of not transferring deposits, prepaid rents, etc. Regarding deposits: even if you are in a state requiring escrow accounts, returning a deposit should be a rarity. You should always find damages caused by the tenant. If you could keep every single deposit, you'd still be out money on damages. Too many tenants resemble the armies of Attila the Hun.

[mmouwse]

Originally Posted by ESFP

Yea. Security deposits are the property of the tenants. The previous landlord can't take it with him. It stays with the apartment, regardless of who owns it. You may have to take the owner to small claims court to get the deposit returned to the building. You then have a limited time (30 days or so) to put it in a bank account separate from all other monies. You have a limited time (45 days, usually) to return it after vacancy, minus any documented damages by way of a walk-through. The tenant has the right to be present during this inspection. Go to the law library and become very current on rental laws. Tenants make it a point to know every loophole. It's not just a game anymore.

Just a friendly reminder that laws vary GREATLY from state to state and even within states. Your advice is very outside the statutes of my state, Ca.
Landlord/Tenant Book Index - California Department of Consumer Affairs