The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Real Estate and Landlording => Topic started by: jeromedawg on March 31, 2020, 05:03:07 PM
-
Hey all,
So my brother just called and told me my parents' renters (a couple doors down) informed them that the husband had his work hours cut and he won't be able to make a full payment on rent in light of the current circumstances. This is up in the Bay Area btw, so they are impacted by the moratorium on evictions. My dad verbally agreed to cut their rent in half for a few months of course without consulting anyone or documenting it. He doesn't even know what he said and even told my brother that the renter lost his job; not that his hours were cut... (my dad is not in a right state of mind right now either with recent anxiety issues). That said, their financial advisor said to come up with an agreement that's documented as far as what they will pay the next couple months and then a repayment agreement as far as paying them back what is owed at a later time.
I'm not really sure what else can be done at this point but just looking for ideas and wanted to know what recourse there is (can they be evicted at a later time if they refuse to repay the debt?).
-
I would ask for employer confirmation that the tenants hours have been cut, and the number of hours, in case it’s a ploy. A check stub copy might suffice. But definitely put the new rent amount in writing with an end date (maybe 3 months) as well as agreement to repay the lost amount on whatever specific terms make sense. Whatever the timeline is for eviction moratorium has to be adhered to and maybe another couple of months if they are good tenants and are showing good faith.
Perhaps you can get your dad to agree to consulting with you or your brother before he makes any further moves.
-
2 points:
-You are right to want to get things in writing. Make sure you do that ASAP.
-Your parents are unlikely, IMO, to recover any lost rent from this time, so any agreement to repay extra money down the road is *probably* worthless in reality. That doesn't make it pointless to make the agreement, but you should expect to simply not get as much rent for a while. Be happy to get rent at all, IMO.
-W
-
2 points:
-You are right to want to get things in writing. Make sure you do that ASAP.
-Your parents are unlikely, IMO, to recover any lost rent from this time, so any agreement to repay extra money down the road is *probably* worthless in reality. That doesn't make it pointless to make the agreement, but you should expect to simply not get as much rent for a while. Be happy to get rent at all, IMO.
-W
I would ask for employer confirmation that the tenants hours have been cut, and the number of hours, in case it’s a ploy. A check stub copy might suffice. But definitely put the new rent amount in writing with an end date (maybe 3 months) as well as agreement to repay the lost amount on whatever specific terms make sense. Whatever the timeline is for eviction moratorium has to be adhered to and maybe another couple of months if they are good tenants and are showing good faith.
Perhaps you can get your dad to agree to consulting with you or your brother before he makes any further moves.
My brother told me that CA doesn't require someone who claims to be in hardship to give any proof that they actually are in hardship, which is nuts, since that means a lot of people could start abusing this.
EDIT: nm... https://www.ocregister.com/2020/03/27/newsom-orders-moratorium-on-rental-evictions-due-yo-coronavirus-through-may-31/
"Tenants are required to retain documentation showing they have suffered economic hardship due to the outbreak but are not required to submit it to the landlord in advance. The tenant also remains obligated to repay the full rent “in a timely manner” and can still face eviction after the moratorium is lifted." - I take that to mean that they don't have to show proof of hardship in addition to their notice and can supply it after they give notice that they cannot pay rent or can only pay partial rent...
As far as being obligated to pay the remainder not sure how that even works if they're out of a job long-term. I think the most you can do as a landlord at that point is to evict them and perhaps in the case of the relocation fees due in CA, that can be reduced (based on months of rent not paid) so the landlord doesn't have to pay out as high of a relocation fee to the tenant?