SF Landlords Sentenced to 4 Years In Jail

Last month, two married California landlords were sentenced to four years in jail after being convicted of several reckless acts aimed at evicting and scaring their tenants. The crimes took place over a two-year span, and led the couple to become dubbed, “Landlords from Hell.”

The district attorney in San Francisco said the landlords harassed their tenants by cutting off power and phone service, changing locks, and illegally removing and/or destroying their belongings. They even were charged with soaking the victims’ clothes and electronics in ammonia and using a chainsaw to cut a hole in the floor of one tenant’s unit. They also severed floor joists in hopes of making the building unsafe, and hoping it would ultimately it collapse under the tenants.

The duo also sent fraudulent emails pretending to be their victims. The emails were aimed at making it appear as though the tenants were threatening to kill the landlords’ children.

Authorities say the motive behind the attacks was all due to the landlords wanting to renovate the rental units and sell them off individually. However, California has strict laws regarding the harassment of tenants by landlords, and prohibits the eviction of tenants without just cause.

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Don’t Reject on a Rumor. Make Lease Rules Clear and Trust the Tenant

Consider this scenario: A 21-year-old recent college graduate applies to become a tenant of your property. You run a background check, employment check, and credit check and everything comes out clean. But while calling personal references and her previous landlord, you discover that the young woman supposedly has a boyfriend who basically lives with her. Furthermore, there are offhanded remarks made about said boyfriend being an illegal drug user or, worse yet, a dealer.

What do you do? You certainly don’t want to open yourself, and your property, up to potential trouble with the law. And you don’t want anyone living in your property who is not on the lease. But you can’t discriminate against a tenant based on rumors and hearsay.

If you liked the applicant, she gave you a good first impression, and everything in her application and background check turns out solid, then go with your gut to sign her to a lease. But before you do, have a candid talk with the applicant that expresses your rules against people living in the home that are not on the lease, and that breaking such rules will result in eviction. Be stern from the start and allow her to decide whether something is worth risking her financial stability and housing future. Chances are, she’ll either withdraw her application and look elsewhere for a place with a more lenient landlord, or she’ll agree to your terms and hold up her end of the bargain.

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