I own an manage 35 apartment units outside of Yuma, AZ. Long ago I owned and managed units in San Diego. The contrast between AZ and CA laws regarding tenant-landlord relations is huge. This month I went to court against a non-paying tenant and won, as happens in perhaps 90% of evictions in both CA and AZ.
The big difference is how long it took. In AZ, we can serve a 5-day notice to quit or pay (In CA, it is 3 days) any time after the 1st of the month. If the tenant does not file an answer–and they almost never do here in AZ–then we get a court date for exactly one week later. At court the tenant seldom shows up, and when they do they invariably lose if the owner has done all the right things.
Why is this good for tenants? Because owners know how fast and easy it is to evict a bad tenant, so we charge much lower security deposits (mine is $300). That benefits the 90% of tenants who pay promptly and give us no reason to evict them. It even helps the 10% of tenants who are high risk. They also have a lower security deposit to move in. Plus, we are more likely to take a chance on the questionable ones. In CA, such applicants would have a harder time finding an apartment.
This seems to be another area where government hurts the very people it pretends to help–by ignoring incentives and not understanding how markets work.
I should add that the Marshall can do the lockout 5 business days after the court date, which translates to 7 days because of weekends. So, potentially in AZ the lockout can occur on the 19th of the month (5 + 7 + 7).
Any Pigg landlords know what the time period is in CA?
A higher security deposit has helped me get tenants out without ever having to do an eviction. Not to say it can always prevent it. I also always tell tenants in the final steps of screening that I don’t require any extended notice for them and I will prorate rent back if they want to leave and that I will process their deposit refund within days of their leaving, giving me a written release, and giving me the keys.
Twice I have had tenants that I wanted out, both times with people living there not on the rental contract. I gave them the chance to give notice on their terms, prorated rent back and gave them the security deposit back very quickly, minus legally and ethically billable items. They were motivated for all this by the security deposit and the rebate of prorated rent.
I think psychologically it works well on tenants if they know they can leave when they want to with more money.
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