Legal Corner Q & A

Delivering the Rent

by Various Authors

Q. I live in a property that I own and manage. Soon I will be moving 30 miles away and am concerned about two things: (1) the law regarding office hours and providing an address at which tenants can pay rent and request service, and (2) how to collect rent. Can I use my new home address for office hours if it is not in San Francisco? Do I request that tenants mail me rent, and if so, how is rent determined to be on time or late?

A. California's Civil Code Section 1962 provides that any owner of a residential rental unit must disclose in the rental agreement: (1) the name, telephone number, and usual street address at which personal service may be effected of each person who is authorized to manage the premises; and (2) the name of an owner of the premises or a person who is authorized to act for and on behalf of the owner for the purpose of service of process and for the purpose of receiving and receipting for all notices and demands. In addition, the rental agreement must also provide the name, telephone number, and address of the person or entity to whom rent payments are to be made. If rent payments are made personally, the usual days and hours that the person will be available to receive the payments shall also be disclosed.

Therefore, your new home 30 miles away from the property that you own and manage is perfectly acceptable as the usual street address at which personal service may be made, and to which rent can be delivered. (The code does not limit personal delivery to a particular distance from the rental property.)

You need only advise the tenants of this address in writing by modifying the rental agreement (include the address, days and hours that payment can be received). If there is only an oral rental agreement, then you must provide the foregoing information in a written statement within 15 days after making the agreement, and thereafter each year within 15 days of a request for it by the tenant. Section 1962.5 of the code does provide an alternative method of advising tenants if the information is not in the rental agreement: posting the information in printed or typewritten form in (1) two conspicuous places in a building that has no elevator or (2) in every elevator and one conspicuous spot for buildings that have them. If you don't want to give the address of your residence, you can utilize a mail-receiving company like Mailboxes Etc. Personal delivery of rent to such a company is permissible; their posted hours of operations should suffice for proper notification of when rent can be delivered. If you use a post office box, or some other address to which rent or notices cannot be personally delivered, then the notice or rent is deemed received by the owner on the date posted, if the tenant can show proof of mailing to the name and address provided by the owner.

If rent is due on the first day of the month, and the tenants want to mail it rather than personally deliver it 30 miles away, you should advise them to put the check in the mail a few days before the first, so it is received by the due date. (You may agree not to deposit it before the due date.) When rent is mailed, it generally doesn't matter whether it is going 30 feet, 30 blocks, or 30 miles; it's all the same delivery time, and the tenants' obligation, if personal delivery is possible, is to get the rent there on time (the fact is, unpleasant as they may find it, if they don't mail it on time, they can drive the 30 miles to deliver it). As far as service requests, for nonemergencies there is no problem in mailing them 30 miles; and for emergencies you should provide the tenants with a phone number where they can call you or a representative to get immediate attention.

In short, the move is no big deal—unless of course the tenants have become used to slipping the rent check under the door to your unit, in which case you may have to overcome their laziness and inertia with detailed instructions followed by rigid enforcement of such remedies as late fees. (With the latter, perhaps after a short break-in period if you are so inclined—be sure though to make it clear in writing that by such temporary leniency you are not waiving your overall right to timely receipt of rent.)
– Saul M. Ferster

Q. Is the landlord responsible for tracking down a tenant who leaves no forwarding address and no phone number in order to give an accounting for the security deposit within the 21-day prescribed timetable?

A. After the tenant vacates, the landlord has 21 calendar days to provide the tenant, by personal delivery or postage prepaid first-class mail, with a copy of an itemized statement indicating the basis for and amount of any security deposit held and the disposition of that part of the security deposit not being returned. In addition, any refund must be enclosed. The law was recently amended to require the landlord to provide copies of �supporting documents� showing charges incurred and deducted by the landlord for repairing and/or cleaning the unit. The landlord can now even charge for his or her own time cleaning and repairing at a reasonable rate for those services. The landlord must then provide a statement describing the work performed and the rate charged. When the work is done by someone else, a copy of the invoice must be submitted to the tenant, and the invoicing must contain the name and address of the service provider. This itemization requirement applies unless the combined deductions for repair and cleaning do not exceed $125 or the tenant has waived his or her right to receive documentation in a signed writing.

The law requires that any mailing of the security deposit refund and itemization be sent to an address provided by the tenant. If no address has been provided, the owner must mail it to the vacated unit. In most cases, a change of address form has been filed with the post office, so the tenant will receive the letter. It is also recommended that a copy of the itemization statement be sent to any known work address.
– David Wasserman

Q. Our tenants are responsible for their own PG&E bills. We intend to replace the gas water heaters in the building with electric ones. What are our obligations if the tenants' utility bills increase as a result of the change?

A. The change in water heaters, from gas to electric, will not relieve your tenants of their obligations to pay for their own PG&E bills. However, if the change causes the tenant to pay more, you may have a problem.
I doubt if you need to give notice to the tenant of the change in type of water heaters. Your only obligation is to provide some type of hot water heater. Changing the type of hot water heater isn't a change in the terms of the tenancy that would require a 30-day notice. Hot water is still hot water.

Your tenants may claim that there has been a decrease in housing services without a corresponding reduction in rent. These claims are presented to the San Francisco Rent Board by way of a tenant petition. Your tenant must prove to the Rent Board that there has been a decrease in services. This may be difficult unless there is less hot water due to the change in the type of hot water heaters.

Logically, your tenants must also prove that their PG&E bills were higher as a result of the change in the type of hot water heaters. This may be very difficult for them to prove. You could always argue that usage and rates caused the increase, not the hot water heater.

Your best argument to the Rent Board is that the service you agreed to provide is �hot water�—you never agreed to provide a gas device. Unless the rental agreement says �landlord to provide a gas hot water heater,� you should prevail on a tenant petition for a decrease in housing services.

You could also argue that a landlord shouldn't have to incur indirect costs of upgrading or improving the rental property. An analogy can be made to the Golden Gateway case where the court ruled that the San Francisco Rent Board couldn't impose a rent reduction for the time that a deck was out of commission due to time-consuming repairs. It is reasonable for a tenant to incur some of the indirect costs of building improvements.
– Clifford E. Fried

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. The information contained in this article is general in nature. Consult the advice of an attorney for any specific problem. Saul M. Ferster can be reached at 415-863-2678. David Wasserman is with Wasserman-Stern, 415-567-9600, www.wassermanstern.com. Clifford E. Fried is with Wiegel & Fried, LLP 415-552-8230. Copyright © 2005 by the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.