Is there a quick and easy legal way for the safety of tenants to be guaranteed in this situation?

Question

This takes place in California. A boarding house is shared between 4 people, which are 3 tenants who have leases, and one homeowner.

The homeowner, 75, has been diagnosed with dementia 2 years ago but she was able to live and function normally in the house for most of that time.

The homeowner has 2 friends who live out of town and have legal power of attorney, to help manage leases, expenses and rents, but nobody has medical power of attorney over her. She has no direct family, except an estranged daughter, but they don't talk.

During the course of last week, the homeowner's mental health has suddenly extremely deteriorated, and she started physically assaulting tenants - not recognizing them anymore, and thinking they are intruders in her house. She attacked a 65 year old tenant with a serious illness, and tried to strangulate her.

Police have come, and refused to do a 72 Hour Mental Health Unvoluntary Hold because they said in people with Dementia, aggressivity is usually a sign of a UTI and said it was therefore due to general health, not mental health. She behaves aggressively around her tenants that she accuses of occupying her house illegally, but is nice to the police and medics.

She was taken to her G.P., who said she has advanced dementia, and sent her home. She now has an appointment with a neurologist, but only in 2 weeks, during which the 3 tenants do not feel safe being in the house with her, and during which she will not be medically supervised by anyone. She also cannot take proper care of herself anymore.

Is there a quick and legal way for the tenants of this house to be safe in the house again, or a recourse to prevent violence from happening or escalating dangerously until she can be admitted in a proper medical facility?

Answer 1

The tenants have a right to the "quiet enjoyment" of the house, but the only way to enforce that is to sue the landlord, and the probable remedy is money damages, with an injunction possible. Neither of those really solves the problem here.

The California Tenants Guide notes, onpages 63-4, the "Special rights of tenants who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, human trafficking, or elder/dependent adult abuse." These special rights allow a tenant who is a victim to move out on 14 days notes without penalty, rather than a longer period that would otherwise be required. But here the tenants, it seems don't really want to move out, they want the landlord to move into an appropriate care facility. It is also not clear to me if this provision would apply when the aggressor is also the landlord.

There is no simple way for the tenants to force this. They could, as interested parties, file a petition witj the proper court claiming that the landlord is incompetent to manager her own affairs, is a danger to herself and/or others, and is in need of a guardian. But such a petition is unlikely to go anywhere unless someone is wiling and able to act as a guardian, someone who would be acceptable to the court. One of th tenants would probably not be acceptable, even if one was willing.

One option is to keep calling 911 on every violent outburst, and to document the violence on cell-phone videos, or in any other way possible. This might eventually lead to the police or other authority intervening in s helpful way, but that is far from assured.

Answer 2

Is there a quick and legal way for the tenants of this house to be safe in the house again, or a recourse to prevent violence from happening or escalating dangerously until she can be admitted in a proper medical facility?

Call the POA agents, and explain that there is a crisis and that they need to get an emergency guardianship.

While not guaranteed to be successful, there is a good chance that they will do so. An emergency guardianship can be put in place in a few days to a week.