Hopefully by now you will have received a “heads up” on recent changes (January 1, 2002), affecting landlords and tenants. Any landlord who has participated in more than a few evictions knows the heartache that results from showing up in court with a defective notice. In previous columns I have emphasized the importance of belonging to an apartment association and seeking legal advice when necessary. Some mom and pop landlords feel that joining an apartment association is unnecessary for one or two rentals. Any landlord is in the rental BUSINESS whether they own one rental house or one hundred units. It follows that any businessperson needs to stay current on new laws and belong to a professional organization for educational purposes. In the case of landlords there are many apartment owners association that provide monthly magazines, seminars, credit and eviction checks, etc. etc.

The purpose of this article is to warn you that existing 3-days notices cannot be used without providing additional information. Your 3-day notice to pay rent or quit needs to provide a person to pay, an address and phone number for that person and a time period when payments can be received. Several cities have now enacted a SIXTY-DAY NOTICE requirement in lieu of a simple 30 days notice. Again, serving a 30 days notice in the WRONG CITY can now be a disaster.

I am purposely not going into detail on specific notice requirements or cities involved, as this column is merely an ALERT. If you have not already heard about these new provisions please contact your apartment association or eviction service to get the details. If you are one of the “fly by the seat of your pants” landlords, please, please, join a local association.

Peter Rosenthal
VIP Trust Deed Company