The Property Management Shop
by Mark Wilson
Q. I own a 13-unit building in the Haight. A couple of years ago, I rented a two-bedroom apartment to a pair of roommates. Now virtually every time that I go to the property, I am overcome with marijuana smoke in the common areas. It is painfully obvious to me from where the marijuana smoke is emanating. I’m not interested in running a “Rastafarian den.” What should I do?
A. Tom Berrenger stared in the 1986 Oliver Stone movie, Platoon, and he played the role of Sergeant Barnes. If you have not yet seen this movie, I recommend that you rent it. There is a scene focused on some enlisted men who get stoned in a bomb shelter. Sergeant Barnes, the antagonist, enters the haze of marijuana smoke and exclaims, “You all smoke that sh--, so you can escape reality? Well, I am reality.” Later in the movie, Sergeant Barnes pontificates, “When the machine breaks down, we break down… and I can’t allow that to happen.” I think Sergeant Barnes would have made one heck of a property manager.
Let’s get back to your little problem. Begin by sending a letter with a self-addressed envelope to each and every tenant at the property. The letter must be addressed to all tenants. The letter should indicate that you have noticed heavy marijuana smoke in the common areas. You should remind all the tenants that such behavior is a material breach of their rental agreement, the House Rules, the law and the Addendum for Drug-free Housing. If you are not currently using the Addendum for Drug-free Housing as an attachment to each of your rental agreements, you should call the San Francisco Apartment Association (SFAA) and purchase some copies. In your letter, ask the tenants for their opinions about the possible source of the marijuana smoke. Also invite them to put these opinions in writing and mail them to you in the self-addressed stamped envelope that you will attach to each letter.
This action will have two consequences. First, it will put everybody in the building on notice about the apparent drug transgressions occurring at the property and the management’s complete lack of tolerance for such behavior. Second, you will begin to accumulate third-party evidence about who is causing the problem. Remember, your particular opinion regarding the source of the marijuana smoke is worthless. If you are going to pursue this issue, you will need third-party collaboration, based on letters of complaint from other tenants. This approach is usually enough to encourage the offending party to cease and desist from this Rastafarian action. I would drop the issue if you do not get any letters of complaints from the other tenants. Just because a little bit of marijuana smoke bothers you, does not necessarily mean that it is bothering your tenants. What is the purpose of pursuing this issue if it is not bothering any of your tenants?
If the problem still persists, then send a second letter to all your tenants. These letters should contain magnetic business cards that the tenants can place on their refrigerators. You can buy magnetic cards at any office supply store. The card should have the name and nonemergency phone number of the local police station. You can type “Call for Drug Problems” on the top of the card. In this second letter, encourage the tenants—all of them—to call the local police station if and when they are inundated with marijuana smoke. You can even meet with your local police station captain and give him/her a front door key to your building. Also provide the police with an authorization to enter the property if and when they receive complaint calls from the tenants. Tell the tenants that their calls to the police are confidential, and that they will not need to meet the police just because the police have a key. This procedure will give the tenants something they can actually do to help solve the problem. It will also clearly indicate that you are doing everything that you can reasonably do to fix the problem. Believe me, the smoking tenants will be intimidated by the magnetic cards and the fact that they are the subject of your rapidly escalating witch hunt.
If the problem persists after you have implemented all these strategies, serve the offending tenants with a Three-Day Notice to Perform Conditions and/or Covenants or Quit. This is a nifty little form that I use constantly and is available for purchase from SFAA. If the offending tenants still do not toe the line after service of this notice, and you have received at least two letters of complaint and confirmation from other tenants who are willing to testify in court, then hire an attorney and proceed with the eviction of these two tenants. Oh, and before I forget, can I have the offending tenants’ phone number?
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. Marc Wilson has been managing and selling San Francisco apartment buildings for almost 20 years. Please send your questions concerning property management issues to Marc Wilson at 1699 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94109. He can be reached at 415-229-1275. Copyright © 2004 by the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.