Customer Reviews

The Eviction Book for California: A Handy Manual for Scrupulous Landlords and Landladies Who Do Their Own Evictions

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Let's face it: the task the landlord hates to think about is sometimes necessary-evicting a tenant.

The most common reason is that the tenant suddenly stops paying rent. Occasionally, the tenant becomes a nuisance to the neighbors.

This is a painful and slippery endeavor. As author Robinson points out, if you make a mistake anywhere in the process, you have to start over again.

He points out some real hard truths. Your tenants, who are creating a real problem for you, hold a very valuable asset: your house or apartment. They have the keys, they are living inside your $250,000 house. They could very severely damage your property. And, you know what? Even if they destroy your hard-earned dwelling, the police will do nothing. It's a civil matter, don't you know.

As Robinson points out, you have to tread very, very carefully here. Be nice. Smile. Engage in friendly small talk. Stay on their good side. Don't get angry (to their faces at least). Express sympathy with their problems. Try to frame the situation as making the best of an unfortunate situation. (Of course, if you have an insane mass murderer type, you may have to alter these rules!)

Many times, there is a job loss, or, sadly, drug addiction involved. These are problems that do happen, and they do affect real people.

You can be sympathetic. But your real goal is to end a business problem. It's best to stay out of court, if you can, as author Robinson points out. If you go the court route, it can take a long time, maybe months, to solve the problem. He points out one solution: bribe them to leave. He suggests taking a $100 bill, tearing it in half, giving half to the tenant, and telling them the other half is theirs when they move out. Brilliant!
It's hard to reward a bad guy for bad behavior, but, as Robinson points out, the landlords business is to collect rent, and that means paying tenants.

This is a very good book, and it helped me greatly in several evictions. Highly recommended. Let's hope you'll never need it, but it's good to be prepared.

If you own property and rent is out you must have this book. Even if you only want guidelines, this book has forms, and every painstaking step to protect yourself and your property. Rentals are not for sissies.