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Help! Can out land lady make us clean the house so she can show it

eflat

Platinum Member
Man please give me an answer if it's totally unreasonable to make us move our furniture. She even threated to hire people to move our stuff if we didn't do it ourselves.

This is with about 5 days warning, by the way.

So I realy want to call this lady and yell at her but I need to know just how absurd this obviously is!
 
If she wants you to move out, she needs to give you a proper 30 day notice. Or whatever it is in your state; certainly longer than 5 days.
 
Originally posted by: eflat
Man please give me an answer if it's totally unreasonable to make us move our furniture. She even threated to hire people to move our stuff if we didn't do it ourselves.

This is with about 5 days warning, by the way.

So I realy want to call this lady and yell at her but I need to know just how absurd this obviously is!

no.

get a lawyer.

a cease and desist letter does wonders.

get one of those $19.95 group law things that writes 2 letters per year on your behalf.
 
Originally posted by: JEDI
Originally posted by: eflat
Man please give me an answer if it's totally unreasonable to make us move our furniture. She even threated to hire people to move our stuff if we didn't do it ourselves.

This is with about 5 days warning, by the way.

So I realy want to call this lady and yell at her but I need to know just how absurd this obviously is!

no.

get a lawyer.

a cease and desist letter does wonders.

get one of those $19.95 group law things that writes 2 letters per year on your behalf.

How long does that take? I don't think I'd do it but I would like to know about it for some future situation?

What I was really wondering is if:

a. can she make us move major furniture like carpets (a really big one on the wood floor) and our TV and entertainment center, etc, period? Common sense makes me hope that is not the case.

b. Can she be in the house when we are not? She wants us to leave the house for three hours so she can show them around our place.

Mind you that all our personal belongings here that we don't really want people to see and need to know about.

If I were on the premises it seems like it might be reasonable to allow new renters to see the house with me there and the landlord so I can be sure no one touches my things.

c. How many days notice? I would think 30+ (this is California). She mentioned she wanted to show it a few weeks ago, but she never mentioned us moving our stuff until like five days ago.

?
 
look at the lease. You might be required to keep the house in a clean state but that doesn't mean a Home and Garden stage house. It means take out the trash and put dishes in the sink and have cleaned the floors in the last month. You can be at your house anytime. The owner must give you notice but can not require you to leave. I think CA law requires 48 hour notice to enter a rental unless it is an emergency.
 
Can our land lady make us clean the house so she can show it?
No, she can only ask you. If you choose not to there's not much she can do since you are moving anyway, especially if you already secured another place to live.

Even if it's written in the lease she'd have to take you to court to enforce it and odds are you'd be out of the residence before it even is scheduled for a hearing. Of course you couldn't use her as a reference but she seems like a bitch so you probably wouldn't want too anyway.

BTW I was a Property Manager for 10 years in CA and dealt with this situation dozens of times. It was always nice when the tenant cooperated but when they didn't there really wasn't much you could do given normal circumstances. Of course I never requested the tenant move his furnishings so I could show the place, that's totally unreasonable. I also never requested that the tenant leave the premises when I showed it. If the tenant was a problem I would just wait for them to move before I showed the apt, house, etc.
 
Easy, tell her to take a long walk off a short pier. Make sure you have a plan ready to move to another location for when/if things become unpleasant in the future, but tell her to shove it. Her threats to have someone come in and move stuff etc are completely hollow, there's really very little she can do. She could try to evict you, but provided you are up to date on your payments etc, even that would be very difficult and would take a while, most certainly more than 5 days. Also, I'm not sure about Cali law, but in most states the landlord cannot require you not to be present for an extended period of time unless repairs/maintenance requires activity that would force you not to be there (for example if they have to fumigate the place).

Let her know you are fine with making sure the place is reasonably clean, but that you will 1) be present if someone else is in the residence since you have valuable items there, and 2) you will not be moving things around to suit her tastes of where the furniture needs to. Otherwise, see ya in court.
 
Well, I took a glance at the lease and wrote her his:


OK, but we already have some problems with what you want to do and we're pretty sure they all breach the contract.

Here are a few:

Article 18 A: "Notice may be given orally to show the Premises to actual or prospective purchasers provided the tenant has been notified in writing within 120 days preceding the oral notice that the premises are for sale and that oral notice may be given to show the premises."

That is about all it says about showing the premises. It does not say it but me, me, and me think that it is reasonable that we "tidy up", to the extent that "tidying up" will involve not more than vacuuming the carpet and wood floors, cleaning the kitchen and kitchen counters and putting away stray items in an organized manner.

We do not think you are allowed to enter to clean the carpets. They are not broken nor in any state of disrepair, by any reasonable assessment.

Also, we do not want you showing the place without our being on the premises. The only time mentioned in the lease that you can make us "vacate the premises" is in Article 30, which states that you can make us leave to: "allow for fumigation (or other methods) to control wood destroying pests and or organisms, or other repairs to the premises. In other words, it is only allowable if the house is in danger of structural damage that can not be repaired with us on the premises due to a danger to our health and safety.

So we would appreciate not being threatened and pushed around.

Thanks,
me
 
You didn't address the idea of moving some of your furniture out. Pretty important since she's said she will hire someone to come in and take your stuff away.
 
Why did you write the rest of the letter when you started with "OK"?

You gave her consent and then said "we don't appreciate being pushed around"
 
Tell her to fuck off.

Read this:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publicat...ndlordbook/index.shtml

"WHEN CAN THE LANDLORD ENTER THE RENTAL UNIT?
California law states that a landlord can enter a rental unit only for the following reasons:

In an emergency.
When the tenant has moved out or has abandoned the rental unit.
To make necessary or agreed-upon repairs, decorations, alterations, or other improvements.
To show the rental unit to prospective tenants, purchasers, or lenders, to provide entry to contractors or workers who are to perform work on the unit, or to conduct an initial inspection before the end of the tenancy (see Initial Inspection sidebar).
If a court order permits the landlord to enter. 104
If the tenant has a waterbed, to inspect the installation of the waterbed when the installation has been completed, and periodically after that to assure that the installation meets the law's requirements. 105
The landlord or the landlord's agent must give the tenant reasonable advance notice in writing before entering the unit, and can enter only during normal business hours (generally, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays). The notice must state the date, approximate time and purpose of entry. 106 However, advance written notice is not required under any of the following circumstances:

To respond to an emergency.
The tenant has moved out or has abandoned the rental unit.
The tenant is present and consents to the entry at the time of entry.
The tenant and landlord have agreed that the landlord will make repairs or supply services, and have agreed orally that the landlord may enter to make the repairs or supply the services. The agreement must include the date and approximate time of entry, which must be within one week of the oral agreement.107
The landlord or agent may use any one of the following methods to give the tenant written notice of intent to enter the unit. The landlord or agent may:

Personally deliver the notice to the tenant; or
Leave the notice at the rental unit with a person of suitable age and discretion (for example, a roommate or a teenage member of the tenant's household); or
Leave the notice on, near or under the unit's usual entry door in such a way that it is likely to be found; or
Mail the notice to the tenant.108
The law considers 24 hours' advance written notice to be reasonable in most situations.

If the notice is mailed to the tenant, mailing at least six days before the intended entry is presumed to be reasonable, in most situations.109 The tenant can consent to shorter notice and to entry at times other than during normal business hours.

Special rules apply if the purpose of the entry is to show the rental to a purchaser. In that case, the landlord or the landlord's agent may give the tenant notice orally, either in person or by telephone. The law considers 24 hours' notice to be reasonable in most situations. However, before oral notice can be given, the landlord or agent must first have notified the tenant in writing that the rental is for sale and that the landlord or agent may contact the tenant orally to arrange to show it. This written notice must be given to the tenant within 120 days of the oral notice. The oral notice must state the date, approximate time and purpose of entry. 110 The landlord or agent may enter only during normal business hours, unless the tenant consents to entry at a different time 111 When the landlord or agent enters the rental, he or she must leave a business card or other written evidence of entry "

 
Originally posted by: eflat
Well, I took a glance at the lease and wrote her his:


OK, but we already have some problems with what you want to do and we're pretty sure they all breach the contract.

Here are a few:

Article 18 A: "Notice may be given orally to show the Premises to actual or prospective purchasers provided the tenant has been notified in writing within 120 days preceding the oral notice that the premises are for sale and that oral notice may be given to show the premises."

That is about all it says about showing the premises. It does not say it but me, me, and me think that it is reasonable that we "tidy up", to the extent that "tidying up" will involve not more than vacuuming the carpet and wood floors, cleaning the kitchen and kitchen counters and putting away stray items in an organized manner.

We do not think you are allowed to enter to clean the carpets. They are not broken nor in any state of disrepair, by any reasonable assessment.

Also, we do not want you showing the place without our being on the premises. The only time mentioned in the lease that you can make us "vacate the premises" is in Article 30, which states that you can make us leave to: "allow for fumigation (or other methods) to control wood destroying pests and or organisms, or other repairs to the premises. In other words, it is only allowable if the house is in danger of structural damage that can not be repaired with us on the premises due to a danger to our health and safety.

So we would appreciate not being threatened and pushed around.

Thanks,
me

This is the perfect example of why high school English classes need to toughen up. "me think it is reasonable" is unacceptable.
 
In most states she is required to give 24 hours notice of entry. This doesn't mean you have to leave the premesis, only that you have to grant her access with proper notice. She also can't force you to be gone for any specific amount of time. She can't demamd that you clean, or move major pieces of furniture. She can ASK you to do this. But you don't have to comply.


 
Tell her to go pound sand, and if she wants to show the place you and your roommates should lay around naked while she does it.
 
Originally posted by: eflat
Well, I took a glance at the lease and wrote her his:


OK, but we already have some problems with what you want to do and we're pretty sure they all breach the contract.

Here are a few:

Article 18 A: "Notice may be given orally to show the Premises to actual or prospective purchasers provided the tenant has been notified in writing within 120 days preceding the oral notice that the premises are for sale and that oral notice may be given to show the premises."

That is about all it says about showing the premises. It does not say it but me, me, and me think that it is reasonable that we "tidy up", to the extent that "tidying up" will involve not more than vacuuming the carpet and wood floors, cleaning the kitchen and kitchen counters and putting away stray items in an organized manner.

We do not think you are allowed to enter to clean the carpets. They are not broken nor in any state of disrepair, by any reasonable assessment.

Also, we do not want you showing the place without our being on the premises. The only time mentioned in the lease that you can make us "vacate the premises" is in Article 30, which states that you can make us leave to: "allow for fumigation (or other methods) to control wood destroying pests and or organisms, or other repairs to the premises. In other words, it is only allowable if the house is in danger of structural damage that can not be repaired with us on the premises due to a danger to our health and safety.

So we would appreciate not being threatened and pushed around.

Thanks,
me

please tell us you did not send her this letter....
 
Originally posted by: eflat
Originally posted by: JEDI
Originally posted by: eflat
Man please give me an answer if it's totally unreasonable to make us move our furniture. She even threated to hire people to move our stuff if we didn't do it ourselves.

This is with about 5 days warning, by the way.

So I realy want to call this lady and yell at her but I need to know just how absurd this obviously is!

no.

get a lawyer.

a cease and desist letter does wonders.

get one of those $19.95 group law things that writes 2 letters per year on your behalf.

How long does that take? I don't think I'd do it but I would like to know about it for some future situation?

What I was really wondering is if:

a. can she make us move major furniture like carpets (a really big one on the wood floor) and our TV and entertainment center, etc, period? Common sense makes me hope that is not the case.

b. Can she be in the house when we are not? She wants us to leave the house for three hours so she can show them around our place.

Mind you that all our personal belongings here that we don't really want people to see and need to know about.

If I were on the premises it seems like it might be reasonable to allow new renters to see the house with me there and the landlord so I can be sure no one touches my things.

c. How many days notice? I would think 30+ (this is California). She mentioned she wanted to show it a few weeks ago, but she never mentioned us moving our stuff until like five days ago.

?

Don't want them to see those chains, whips, ball gags, and other torture instruments huh?
 
Originally posted by: allisolm
You didn't address the idea of moving some of your furniture out. Pretty important since she's said she will hire someone to come in and take your stuff away.

If she does that he could always sue the crap out of her dumb ass. She has no right to demand that.
 
Originally posted by: Eeezee

This is the perfect example of why high school English classes need to toughen up. "me think it is reasonable" is unacceptable.

By that I think he substituted in the names of himself and his roommates. He just removed them for the internet.
 
She can show the place, I doubt there's anything legally wrong with that (IANAL). If she tries to move all your stuff out though, that is illegal for sure. Probably burglary or something. To do that she'd need to evict you.

 
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