Property Management California: Experience Elevated

Please leave all utilities on and in your name until the resident moves in. We confirm that SMUD, PG&E or the electric and gas utilities have been transferred into the resident’s name before they receive keys. We suggest you keep the water, sewer and trash in your name, send us a copy of the bill, and we will charge the residents accordingly. At the move out you will need to transfer the utilities back into your name.

It would be our pleasure to coordinate your request. But please remember we need to give the residents at least 24 hours written notice and we need a few days to handle the request. The more notice the better.

We will mail you a 1099 to you each year by the end, by the end of January of the next year. You will also receive a 12 month Cash Flow Statement which you can share with your tax advisor.

If this happens, we will be in touch with you to discuss your options. The first order of business will be to return the property to rent-ready condition. The next step will be to decide to go to court and obtain a judgment or take the resident straight to collections. Typically, our recommendation is the latter.

When a property is vacant, we closely monitor the level of activity we are receiving in terms of phone calls, emails and showings. We are marketing the property on over 30 different websites so most of our inquiries will be occurring in the first few weeks. If the volume of inquiries is low we may need to make an adjustment to the rental rate or we have recommendations to share with you, we will contact you to update you and have a conversation.

In almost all cases, the resident will pay the fine. There are all types of HOA’s and their restrictions range from just a courtesy notice to an outright fine. The four most common HOA violations are lawn care, trash cans, items on the door or front yard and parking restrictions. Plus, some HOAs are very tight on the requirements. So, more times than not, it is a minor infraction that is being cited by the HOA. All fines which are the cause of the resident are the resident responsibility to pay in a timely manner.

This should never happen but if this were to happen, simply refer the resident back to us and we will work with the resident to address any concerns and make sure it will not happen again.

We carefully track residents who have not paid rent each month by generating a daily report during the first 3 days of the month. Unfortunately, an eviction for simple non-payment of rent is not an easy process in California. Prior to COVID-19 it would take between 30 and 45 days. Since COVID-19, it now takes 4-6 months in Sacramento and El Dorado Counties. Sorry to say but we are at the mercy of the courts, their calendar, new resident protections and attorney caseloads.

Rents are due on the first and late on the third day of the month. The third day has to be a business day. If not, the next business day is the day rent is due by. If the resident does not pay by 5:00 p.m. on the third, a “3-Day Notice to Pay or Quit” is personally delivered and posted on the fourth. This is the start of the eviction process. This letter is usually enough to encourage most residents to pay, but if not, we will then continue to move forward with the eviction process. Prior to COVID-19, we have not been to court in over 5 years to evict a resident we have placed in a home. Since COVID-19, we have only had to proceed with 3 filings for a non-paying resident.

If an applicant has a service animal and can provide proof of the need for a service animal, the animal is not a pet by federal law and it must be allowed, again per federal law. We require a pet application for all residents who wish to have a pet. The application requires a number of items. A service animal also needs to meet the requirements.

We can make all the requests we wish but obviously, there is no way to monitor or enforce this. We cannot be at the property 24 hours a day. Our recommendation is that if you allow pets, assume they will be inside the property.

The choice is yours, but we highly recommend that you allow pets. The reason for this is that over 60% of U.S. households have pets. If you do not allow pets, you are eliminating over half the potential rental market from the very beginning. Please ask us about our pet screening process and the additional protection you receive. We do charge additional Security Deposits for pets and will have you involved in the process.

We process all of our owner statements on or before the 10th of each month. The processing date may be a day or two earlier or later depending on weekends and holidays. Since we pay via direct deposit (ACH) into your bank account, it will usually take 1-3 days for the monies to actually appear in your bank account. This is due to your institution’s policy on releasing funds to their clients.