San Rafael—The massive layoffs in Marin County due to the Covid 19 Shelter in Place orders by both the County and the State of California have resulted in a large percentage of tenants that can’t pay the rent this month.

Tenants cannot be evicted in California for up to 150 days as per two executive orders issued by Governor Newsom in the past two weeks. Landlords are contacting me with questions about how to deal with this situation, as their mortgages are due as well as property taxes.

I have turned to Melissa Prandi at Prandi Property Management in San Rafael and her able crew to discuss the issues and see how they are handling the requests from tenants to defer rents this month. They are telling me that some owners would like a payment plan to back up any temporary rent forgiveness and other owners are offering a 3 month rent discount that does not need to be repaid.

What ever is decided between tenant and landlord needs to be in writing and part of a process that Prandi has put in place. Here are the steps they are taking with the tenants that reside in properties that they are currently managing:

Documentation in writing from the tenant is required–

  • A suggested response to the tenant when a response comes in: Thank you for reaching out. We understand these are challenging times for so many in our community. Please send us the amount of the rent reduction requested, the number of months you need it, and your repayment plan. At this point the tenant would need to provide evidence of layoff, what tenant’s earnings were, and how much in reserves they have in a verified bank account.
  • If the owner and tenant can reach an agreement then a rent deferment addendum would be provided for tenant and landlord to sign. All documents to verify hardship would need to be reviewed and approved by landlord prior to signing the rent deferment agreement.

Prandi is also providing a resource list to tenants for available financial help from local and federal government and various non profit groups.

I am attaching the forms used by Prandi, which can be modified by you, and used to deal with the situation that you may be having with your tenants.

Thank you to Prandi Property Management, Melissa and Matt, for providing me with this information. If you have any more detailed questions please contact Matt Prandi-Borries, Vice President for Business Development, at 415-455-1373 or email him at matt@prandiprop.com .