Week 7 Pacific Heights: What are landlord’s rights?

There is no better idea in the world to have someone else pay the mortgage, or a portion of the mortgage, on your house. On the other hand, we all have had roommates in past that have just been the biggest pain in the ass, and are impossible to deal with. The major difference between your pain in the butt roommate and a tenant that has leased out a portion of your property is that they have certain rights that you must abide by. In the movie Pacific Heights, the tenant that moves in, turns out to be the worst possible tenant that could ever have moved in. In the movie, the tenant simple bullies his way into the property without ever filling out an application, or giving any kind of deposit. Soon thereafter the tenant changes the locks on the apartment, and calls the cops when he is threatened by the landlord. At this point in the movie we start to deviate from what rights the landlord has in reality and what is portrayed in the film. It is true that the landlord cannot simple just kick out his tenant based on his actions, however, since no deposit was given or formal application was ever filled out the landlord should be able to legally kick his tenant out. This however, did not happen in the movie. As the story goes on, the tenant continues to deliberately cause harm to the property as well as be excessively loud during the late hours of the night. In this particular situation, the landlord lives in the same building and the tenants. Legally the landlord has to provide a peaceful environment for is tenants to live in. This is a two way street however, the tenants must also abide by the same sound rules since the landlord lives there as well. This was also conveniently left out of the film.