30 day notice to terminate

CVSSSTORAGE

We have a tenant we gave a 30 day notice to due to unsanitary conditions kept in and outside of his unit. He has until December 7th at 6pm pst to vacate. He has not showed up yet at all to move. We live in California does anyone know if we then have to go through prelien and lien procedures because he is current or if it is considered abandoned at that point? 

Orkocean

Still learning the CA statues myself so don't take anything I say for authority but I don't believe the lien process would apply as it's not a past due account. By 30 day notice i'm assuming you mean eviction notice. If the timeframe comes up and he hasn't vacated I would lock him out from the unit but still not enter/touch the unit for some time as people love to push boundaries on stuff like this so the customer may try coming in the day after or near and cause problems if his items are gone. Not worth the headache IMO.

teamcapitola

California is weird on the whole Eviction thing. Technically, eviction terms are spelled out/enforced by your rental agreement (ours says 7 days notice to term a lease)

If you talk to lawyers in Ca. about it, they will say to use the unlawful detainer laws/procedure to evict (like as a residential lease) which takes forever and is a pain.

If you read the Unlawful Detainer laws, it specifically states that it doesn't apply to self storage, and to see B&P codes 21700 -21716 .... which has nothing for eviction other than to spell out the Lien process for nonpayment.

In 7 years I've never had to go to court to evict anyone; I just type up a stern letter citing the lease termination clause, and all of them have just left.

I've also had Self Storage Mgt. companies say to raise the rent to the point that the tenant can't afford or will make them move...or kicks off the Lien process for nonpayment ...but that can be dangerous since suits can be brought citing discrimination or punitive rent raises.

Others say to just stop taking payments, then start the Lien process.

So, bluffing works well at my facility; mostly because the type of tenant we would evict usually doesn't want cops involved, and/or has no money to sue... (also having a good rapport with your local Police Dept. helps a lot.)

Orkocean

Another thing to consider is how fearful of lawsuits your company is. We had a tenant with multiple units who became a major issue on our property in Florida years ago. We did the 30 day notice to evict the tenant and during the 30 days he sent numerous faxes and calls to the home office that pretty much gave his "Crazy" away from anyone who never dealt with him before. When the time lapsed and we notified my higher ups they refused to enforce it as they were fearful of any possible lawsuits and bad press. We left that property a few months later and he was still a tenant not paying at that time AND was allowed access to his units still per higher ups. 

CVSSSTORAGE

I called his alternate which is his mom and asked if he was planning to leave. She said oh yes but is there any way we can have until the end of the weekend which is tomorrow. We said yes just to have them out. I am sure he will get his stuff out this weekend. I didn't tell them anything except I would hate for him to lose his stuff and she immediately said she will personally remove it this weekend if he hasn't moved it out

CVSSSTORAGE

Well they did not get out so they are on next months auction. The unit is a mess. Found out because they were terminated we could just cut the locks and be done with them. Thank you all for your input

teamcapitola

@CVSSSTORAGE - Let us know how everything goes!  Are you auctioning them or just dumping the contents?

CVSSSTORAGE

we have lock cuts Friday so we will see when it is opened. I saw it the last day they came to get stuff and it looked like a landfill =/ so we may just be tossing it all I think we will have to have the dumpster dumped a few times 

Orkocean

If it's even remotely salvageable stuff I would take pics and post on local facebook and craigslist for "Free, must take all". You'd be surprised how many times that has kept me from having to deal with trash myself.