Guest removal from a house that I own

[Too generous]

The house is in California .
I have been letting a Friend and Her young adult Son live in a house that I own . It has been about three years now . I do not charge Them rent , and have no written or verbal agreement with them regarding the duration of Their stay there, or any payment for rent . I originally let Them stay there for free to help Them ,because They were both unemployed. I even payed the utility bills Until a few months ago , but now that They both have jobs , I have Them pay the utility bills Themselves. They still pay no rent , and I have not asked for any rent .
Now I need to sell the house , and informed Them of this. The Woman at first said that I was not giving Her enough notice , although no time limit was given. She claimed that I once told Her that I would give Her a 6 month advance notice before asking Her to move , which I did not ever say that. Now They are very angry at Me , and will not talk with Me . They do not respond to text messages either. I have a realtor waiting to enter the property and start the process to put the house on the market. At first , I was going to be considerate of Them and try to schedule appointments and such at Their convenience, but now that They will not respond to Me , I’m ready to give Them notice to leave . Since They will not respond to Me , what ways can I legally give Them notices to both enter the property , and to tell them to vacate the premises?

 

[LdiJ]

The house is in California .
I have been letting a Friend and Her young adult Son live in a house that I own . It has been about three years now . I do not charge Them rent , and have no written or verbal agreement with them regarding the duration of Their stay there, or any payment for rent . I originally let Them stay there for free to help Them ,because They were both unemployed. I even payed the utility bills Until a few months ago , but now that They both have jobs , I have Them pay the utility bills Themselves. They still pay no rent , and I have not asked for any rent .
Now I need to sell the house , and informed Them of this. The Woman at first said that I was not giving Her enough notice , although no time limit was given. She claimed that I once told Her that I would give Her a 6 month advance notice before asking Her to move , which I did not ever say that. Now They are very angry at Me , and will not talk with Me . They do not respond to text messages either. I have a realtor waiting to enter the property and start the process to put the house on the market. At first , I was going to be considerate of Them and try to schedule appointments and such at Their convenience, but now that They will not respond to Me , I’m ready to give Them notice to leave . Since They will not respond to Me , what ways can I legally give Them notices to both enter the property , and to tell them to vacate the premises?

Because they have lived there more than a year I believe that you have to give them 60 days notice. You simply put it in writing and give it to them. Same thing about the realtor. You give them notice in writing that the realtor will be entering the property.

 

[xylene]

No matter how you protest, they are legally tenants and have tenant's rights.

Honestly you should consider to hire a lawyer to assist you in getting them out.

 

[FarmerJ]

The notice that you send out , if her son is a adult now you must make one out to him as well, Make extra copies and consider sending via two ways say confirmed mail delivery and certificate of mailing or say via fed ex, TO each of them ( Yes four notices ) So this way in court if they claimed they didn't get notice to a judge you can show the judge that you sent to them EACH two copies via different methods of delivery , BTW 60 days is all you must give since they have lived there more than one year and 60 days is actually plenty of time for two working adults who do not pay rent to come up with money to move . ( your state govt web page links for landlord tenant should give you enough information as to what the notice must include over and above your name , the address of the home they rent from you and your mailing address. that notice can be very short and to the point, Date, To Jane Doe, this is your notice to vacate 12345 Dracula drive Darkcastle drive (zip & state BY ( date ) sign it . Do consider going say as much as 62 days so there are at least two days to allow for delivery . If they wont leave then take them to court by filing for a eviction based on proper notice being given to vacate and they did not leave.

 

[adjusterjack]

In addition to FarmerJ's mailing suggestions, I suggest you take a witness with you to the house and hand them the notices personally.

I also suggest you actively inspect the house frequently.

Now that you have angry deadbeats living there, don't be surprised if you end up with a severely damaged property.

 

[FarmerJ]

I don't know that Id call them deadbeats BUT I would suggest it appears they have grown a inflated sense of self entitlement living there so long with out paying rent , I do suggest that AdjusterJ is right about damage. BE surprised if you get it back in reasonably clean condition, Don't be surprised if you find a lot of actual damage and BTW just because you didn't have a written lease with them doesn't mean you cant sue them for physical damage, and cleaning as well as any extra trash disposal fees in small claims court.

 

[Too generous]

Thanks Everyone
I was able to serve the Son with a 60 day eviction notice in Person today . He was upset but accepted it . I included both the Mom’s and His name on the notice . I also videotaped the entire inside and outside of the house to show it’s current condition in case They do any damage . The Son was not aggressive and did talk with Me for a few minutes .The Mom was not there , but I’m guessing that She would have been very aggressive .
The Mom then texted Me to never bother Them again by phone or text , and She informed Me that I can only enter the property at Her convenience.
I replied back that I only need to give a 24 hr notice before entering the property . I will continue to text as needed .

 

[STEPHAN]

I hope you did not call it eviction note.

Do not text her. Use proper paper notices.

 

[FarmerJ]

Do not be surprised or shocked if they check into the validity of the notice since you only made one notice , If one was a minor then no notice had to be given to the minor but as adults they are not married , they are roommates and as roommates they are not legally co joined at the hip or via a marriage license so both would be entitled to their OWN notices , You seem to have forgotten your in California and so are your tenants and California law is so tenant friendly its not funny and I wouldn't be surprised if the tenants claimed your notice wasn't proper to a court and you could find your self starting from scratch and having to do it all over again.

 

[adjusterjack]

I was able to serve the Son with a 60 day eviction notice in Person today . He was upset but accepted it . I included both the Mom’s and His name on the notice .

Again I agree with FarmerJ. You may think the notice suggestions are overkill but you need to err on the side of caution so you can prove proper notice in court if they try to deny it. Make sure you follow up immediately by mail separately to each of them.