How to teach tenants a lesson legally?

the fact is most landlord-tenant “horror stories” are the result of two human conditions: lack of responsibility (usually the tenant) and abuseof power (by landlords). As result we have the laws that we have today. While many landlords (and tenants) like to cloak themselves in the justification of “common sense”, the fact is usually the actions (or lack thereof) are the result of an emotional charged response to the situation. As a landlord, getting emotional involved (ie. upset, pissed, etc) is probably the worst thing you can do. Lets face it, the day you became a landlord, your IQ does not immediately jump by 20 points; landlords, like tenants do a lot of dumb things.

So, that not to say I’m some kind of softy. There are plenty of ex-tenants of mine that would probably call me a (insert favoriate expletive here). Even in here in Calif with its “liberal laws”, I can have out of my property in 30 days or less for less than $500 in cost (been there and done that!). If you chose to fight me, it will take a little longer and a bit more money, but prevailing is not a problem. So coming back to the orginial post, when people take matters into their own hands and try to “teach my tenant a lesson” that when trouble starts and you lose focus on your objective. What are you doing? Running an educational institution or a business?!?!

As I’ve explain to more than a few tenants. Things work well when each party understand and accepts their roles and responsibility; me, as the landlord, it my responsibility ot maintain a good product (place to live); tenant: you responsibilty is to pay on-time and obey the terms of the lease. Simply put, the landlord is the vendor, the tenant is the customer and the product is place to live. Understand that is your business and all will work well (and for goodness sakes, don’t try to run a school at the same time!)

Mike in Calif.