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On Nov. 8th Mountain Voters approved Measure V, commonly known as the Rent Control Measure. If you are the Administrator of a Mountain View Probate Estate that has rental property to sell this is a huge deal. You need to know the rules in order to make sure the property is sold without breaking any new laws.

What does restricting rental price increases have to do with selling a Mountain View rental in Probateyou may ask? Well, I’ll tell you.

The reason is MOUNTAIN VIEW JUST CAUSE EVICTION.

Measure V relates to not only rent control, but also JUST CAUSE EVICTION.

Just Cause Eviction means that tenants cannot be asked to vacate just because the lease is up or they are on a month to month rental and you give 30 or 60 days notice (if they have been there a year or more).

Tenants can only be told to leave a Mountain View Rental Property under the following circumstances:

1.      Failure to pay rent or other breach of lease
2.      Continuing failure to give landlord access
3.      Repairs that will last over 30 days that are needed for code upgrades or health and safety reasons. NOTE: COSMETIC REPAIRS ARE NOT INCLUDED IN THIS EXEMPTION. This would include a kitchen or bath re-model to make the property more valuable.
4.      Owner or family member going to occupy the entire property
5.      Withdrawal from rental market with 120 day notice to tenant, unless over 62, disabled, or a tenant for 5 years or more. In these circumstances you need 1 year notice.

The good thing is that single family homes, condos, and duplexes are exempt from both rent control and Mountain View Just Cause Eviction. If you are an Administrator of a Mountain View Probate Estate that has a four- plex or more units to sell Mountain View JUST CAUSE EVICTION rules will apply to the estate.

Some things you should NOT do before selling the building are:

1.      Try to evict the tenants because they make the building look messy.
2.      Try to evict the tenants because the property is dated and you want to upgrade it before putting it on the market.
3.      Raise the rents above the allowable rent increase so the CAP rate looks better and makes the property more valuable.

Some things you can do when you are selling a Mountain View Four-Plex  or larger building in Probate.

1.      Paint the exterior
2.      Make sure the tenants do not leave personal property outside the building
3.      Upgrade the landscaping
4.      Give the tenants an incentive to keep their apartments clean and allow showings.

This law is new, and takes effect Dec 23rd. There is an emergency ordinance that was passed Nov 16th to keep landlords from evicting tenants in order to raise rents on vacant apartments before that date, so if you are reading this before Dec 23rd you are out of luck anyway.

Just remember the Mountain View rental market is strong, and even with rent control and Just Cause Eviction there will be buyers for your Mountain View Apartment in Probate so relax, hire a great real estate agent who knows Probate (like myself) and let the process work itself out.

If you have any questions about selling or buying Probate property in Santa Clara or San Mateo County please feel free to contact me.

Marcy Moyer

Keller Williams Realty

Specializing in Probate and Trust Sales

650-619-9285

marcy@marcymoyer.com

www.marcymoyer.com

Its been about 5 years since I started in this REO indurstry.  Progressively, the game has changed and things have become harder and harder to deal with on a small level.  I have 18 employees and 20 sales agents, so we get it all done here.  But now, during the same time every year, we have these 2-3 weeks of nothingness.  What I don't understand is why there is a moratorium?  Listen, I have a heart, and I understand people do fall onto bad times, but c'mon.  You took out a mortgage a few years ago, that you, your wife, your children, you parents, friends, etc all knew you couldn't afford.  But, it was the "american Dream" so you did it and never looked back, until you couldn't make a payment anymore!  IF you are a tenant of a foreclosed property, I truly feel for you, and I will do anything I can to help you out during these times.  I have tenants all the time who tell me they have been making their payments for 2 years and they cant understand how this happened.  You DESERVE CASH FOR KEYS.  

So now what, the banks out the 300k they gave you, your living in a house that you don't pay for, the bank is paying your taxes and utilities, and you cant even leave the house in good shape when you leave!  Show some pride and be amicable and get out when you stop paying!  There is no reason a bank should have to pay you a Cash for Keys of even a dollar!  You should just leave!  Lets think about this logically, I buy a car for 50,000.  I pay 5,000 up front and i'm left with a payment of about 1,000 a month.  If I stop paying for the car, does the car company come to my house and offer to give me THOUSANDS of dollars to give them the car back?  No, they hire a tow truck company, and come take the thing off my driveway!!

On top of all the ridiculousness of people living in houses that they cant afford, I am a born and bred New Yorker.  In this lovely state, we are referred to as an "Attorney State" and a "Landlord State".  So, on average, it takes about TWO YEARS, yes TWO YEARS, to get a foreclosure completed here.  So thats TWO YEARS of not making a payment to the bank, before they can even have the DEED for the property!!!  Then if I still don't want to leave, guess what?  I can usually stay another 1-3 years while the LANDLORD (The foreclosing bank) tried to EVICT me!!!  So in essence, I can live in a house, with NO EXPENSE, for 3-5 years!  Why on EARTH does it take this long?  And then, to top it all off, the banks are nice enough to stop "evicting" people during Thanksgiving, and this year between December 20th-January 3rd.  Now, although it seems like the "right thing to do", if the eviction of a homeowner happens to fall during that time, let them go live back home with their parents until they can afford to move out, OR use the past 3-5 years of mortgage, tax, utility payments that you have NOT made, and go rent a place you can ACTUALLY AFFORD!!!

I guess I would really just like to see the 7.5 million houses that are in the backlog (The gloomy shadow inventory) come to market.  Maybe we can actually stabalize the housing prices if we sell off the homes we need to in order for the market to correct itself.  :)