My landlord told me to stop brewing!

Williams 728
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Call his bluff. You pay your rent on time I would assume and are otherwise not a problem. This qualifies you as a very desirable tenant. He would very much not want to lose you if he is the owner of the property. Schmooze him a little and invite him over to see how you brew. Letting him see what you are actually doing should make the issue disappear. Make it as easy as possible for him to change his position without appearing stupid. Sometimes people like that will have an ego problem that won't let them admit they made a hasty judgment and were wrong. Their stubbornness can be formidable and if you can't charm a way around that you may have no alternative but to find somewhere else to live. Been there and done that, as they say and more than once too.
 
Danaldor said:
He should be happy, at least you sanitize the kitchen every brew day.
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I tell my wife that... Anything I touch during a brew day is immeasurably cleaner than before I touched it.

Even when I soak a Better Bottle in Oxyclean, I dump it out in the kitchen sink and let it sit there for a bit. The stainless sink looks fantastic when I'm done.
 
DubbelDach said:
I tell my wife that... Anything I touch during a brew day is immeasurably cleaner than before I touched it.

Even when I soak a Better Bottle in Oxyclean, I dump it out in the kitchen sink and let it sit there for a bit. The stainless sink looks fantastic when I'm done.
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My wife doesn't so much enjoy my brewing in the kitchen. We have 2-3 little rings and one LARGE oval burnt into our relatively new counter tops. Concentrated Starsan defeats laminate counter tops every time :(
 
I really do not think he has the right to tell you that you can't brew. That being said, he could make your life difficult even though you are in the right.

Renters have rights too.
 
IrregularPulse said:
My wife doesn't so much enjoy my brewing in the kitchen. We have 2-3 little rings and one LARGE oval burnt into our relatively new counter tops. Concentrated Starsan defeats laminate counter tops every time :(
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off topic, but I'm there with you. My house had BLACK laminate counters when I moved in. (do NOT do this! one grain of salt shows up!) Drips down the side of the bottle have definitely ruined this counter's appearance!

Back on - +1 for the invite to the landlord. Good luck!
 
Unless it's illeagal in your jurisdiction or the landlord has a clause in the contract, he has no legal recourse to prevent you from brewing, frying a turkey, or boiling lobster on the property.
 
He has no legal leg to stand on. The clause which states you can be evicted for hazardous things is very vague. I'd just ignore him. If he brings it up again, discuss the fact that it is NOT dangerous, unlike making liquor. It's just boiling water, like a big pot of spaghetti. There are NO combustibles involved.

If he does an inspection and finds carboys, just tell him that you have had to start brewing at a friends house. Nope, that big pot boiling on the stove is just soup. Barley soup. I like it sweet.
 
Just tell him that you stopped brewing. If he ever stops in and sees your equipment, just tell him they are gifts for a friend, or you are in the process of selling it.

"What about the full one?" - that was full before you stopped brewing.
 
What he doesn't know won't hurt him - keep brewing and next time you bring a carboy into the house put it in an appliance box.
 
Hey Alex -

First, I'm a landlord. I have owned over 20 rental properties over time. I may not know Calif laws, but I sure as hell know Colorado. Having said that, I can probably help, but need more info. Is this a house, apartment, condo? Is the landlord a large company, individual owner, or property management firm? If an individual, how old is he? How big is the place?

Here's the thing. I've had great residents that I'd bend over backwards for. I've had others, I'd find the first thing I possibly could to hold over them to kick their butts out. Do you pay on time? Ever been a problem?

Give me some more info and maybe I can give you some decent advice.

The first, and best piece of advice I can give you is don't start a fight. All the suggestions of 'screw him', 'just do it', etc will just get you kicked out.
 
What I would do (and don't consider this advice, because I don't pretend to say that this is the BEST course of action, just what my lazy-a$$ would do).

Nothing.

I would continue to brew, and just be a little discrete when you're carrying precarious looking equipment in and out of the apartment. If you have the opportunity to talk to him about it, do so, but I personally wouldn't go out of my way. You know it's not dangerous, and you know you're not being irresponsible. I live in a shared living environment to, with condos next to and below me. My biggest concern is bottle bombs, and spilling 5 gallons of wort/beer somewhere, because I fear it would drip down in to my neighbor's place. So I'm extra careful in those respects, and try to avoid using carboys (unless my pipeline is full).

Plus, I'm no legal expert, but I'm going to GUESS that until he issues you a request to stop in writing, there is no legal recourse he can take. If he does do that, then maybe you need to explore a few more proactive measures (see all entries above).

Good luck!
 
This sounds like a fussy neighbor mixed with an uneducated landlord. I would make a large batch of beer and then make up a few invites for a BBQ and invite the landlord and neighbors over, *sigh* and their kids too.
Invest in some polish sausage or even better brats, precoook them in beer and have all the fixings for them. Server hot dogs for the kids. Make up a batch of dry-ice-rootbeer (it is made in a cooler) for the kids and serve a few of your home brews around to the adults. Then tell them all that part of the reason for the BBQ is not only to promote friendship and well being but that you actually want to show them the process of home brewing to put any fears aside.
Then do it! right in front of them, show them every step of the process and answer any questions they have. Always be polite even if they are not, the saying "kill them with kindness" applies here.

EXAMPLE: The landlord voices a concern over a carboy exploding and making a big mess. You could offer to place the carboy in a water proof plastic tub (half of a plastic 55 gal. drum) and use towels, while smiling and asking them if they have the same concerns for a 55 gallon fish tanks? since that would be the equivalent of 10 carboys and the carboys glass is thicker...

This is what I would do and if that did not work I would simply start looking for a new place to rent. Life is too short for undo stress. Remember no problem is permanent except death.

GL
 
Just tell your landlord and neighbors that you are going to start cooking indian food instead. They will beg you to continue brewing.
 
DRoyLenz said:
What I would do (and don't consider this advice, because I don't pretend to say that this is the BEST course of action, just what my lazy-a$$ would do).

Nothing.

I would continue to brew, and just be a little discrete when you're carrying precarious looking equipment in and out of the apartment. If you have the opportunity to talk to him about it, do so, but I personally wouldn't go out of my way. You know it's not dangerous, and you know you're not being irresponsible. I live in a shared living environment to, with condos next to and below me. My biggest concern is bottle bombs, and spilling 5 gallons of wort/beer somewhere, because I fear it would drip down in to my neighbor's place. So I'm extra careful in those respects, and try to avoid using carboys (unless my pipeline is full).

Plus, I'm no legal expert, but I'm going to GUESS that until he issues you a request to stop in writing, there is no legal recourse he can take. If he does do that, then maybe you need to explore a few more proactive measures (see all entries above).

Good luck!
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This is what I'd do too - maybe do it at times you think he's less likely to come by the house.

My landlords in the past have ranged from complete ******** to really nice guys - only you know how much you can get away with. But at the end of the day, nobody wants to get lawyers involved in something this stupid - just be quiet about it and don't make a fuss.
 
ArtVandelay said:
Just tell your landlord and neighbors that you are going to start cooking indian food instead. They will beg you to continue brewing.
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Hey, I love Indian food (including the smell)!

Also, I too am in the rental business and the best thing you could do is try and have a conversation with the guy. If he's a good guy, he'll understand. If he's a prick, he'll kick you out if you continue to brew. It's really a case by case thing.
 
BrokenBrew said:
Is this a house, apartment, condo?
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The property is an apartment complex with brobably about 50-60 apartments.

Is the landlord a large company, individual owner, or property management firm? If an individual, how old is he? How big is the place?
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He is not technically the landlord come to think of it, he is the property manager. The property is owned by a couple people that inherited it but made it into a company afaik. They own other properties too. He is at least in his 70s.

Here's the thing. I've had great residents that I'd bend over backwards for. I've had others, I'd find the first thing I possibly could to hold over them to kick their butts out. Do you pay on time? Ever been a problem?
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I always pay rent on time. In addition I've never had a problem or anything been done against me. The worst thing that has happened is we were on balcony at 3 AM and another guy comes out from a few apartments down and goes "It's 3 AM. STFU". I don't think he filed a complaint though.
 
BlueSunshine said:
Also, I too am in the rental business and the best thing you could do is try and have a conversation with the guy. If he's a good guy, he'll understand. If he's a prick, he'll kick you out if you continue to brew. It's really a case by case thing.
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I don't know the laws in your state, but in most of the states I've lived in, its pretty much impossible to kick a tenant out who pays every month.
 
Get renter's insurance, if you don't have it already, and you really should :)

and try to make sure it covers any "damage" your brewing might cause- maybe that will appease him.
 
deviousalex said:
The property is an apartment complex with brobably about 50-60 apartments.

He is not technically the landlord come to think of it, he is the property manager. He is at least in his 70s.

I always pay rent on time.
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Thanks for the info. Being an apartment complex with an on-site manager makes it easier and harder.

Easier:
- The laws in CA favor tenants. Heavily. Damn liberals. :D It'd be difficult to evict someone like you.
- Vacancies are up. If you're paying in full on time and have had no problems it's unlikely they'll push it.
- What you're doing is no more hazardous than making soup. I doubt a judge would see different.

Harder:
- They guy's just doing his job. He's told not to let anyone do anything that could 'blow up', and he doesn't really have a personal stake on keeping you in the apt.
- He's old. Damn old people. :D Joking aside, as people get older they get less flexible and what they think is what's true - dadgummit!

Here's what I would do. First, ignore him, and see if he brings it up again. There's a good likelihood he won't.

If he mentions it again, talk to the guy. Ask him why he thinks it's dangerous and why you're going to blow the place up. If you can nicely get him to see that what you're doing is pretty much like making soup, then you won't have any more hassles. Hell, bring him some homebrew as a peace offering.

If the old fart won't budge, do what most of the people here have said. If he comes into the apartment without giving you notice then write a certified letter asking that he give you 24 hours notice, and requiring your presence. Make sure on that day to not be brewing, and have your carboys in a locked cabinet or a box. Landlords are NOT allowed to go through your stuff.

Remember that CA laws are in your favor, both for homebrewing and tenant/landlord laws. The problem you might face is a day in court, but if you have the time, you can easily defend yourself, and it's likely you'd win.

Last, please keep in mind that I'm not an attorney so take what I've said with a grain of salt. Take a look at this: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/catenant.pdf. It outlines CA laws.

Best of luck. Feel free to PM me anytime if you want.

Scott
 
check your local tenant landlord act. almost anywhere you are unless you risk real damage to the place or persons, doing sumtin illegal or makin too much noise(which homebrewing does none of these in most cases) then he is just harassing you. if this is the case make sure your point is proven and if he tries something you can take him to court
 
BrokenBrew said:
Thanks for the info. Being an apartment complex with an on-site manager makes it easier and harder.

Easier:
- The laws in CA favor tenants. Heavily. Damn liberals. :D It'd be difficult to evict someone like you.
- Vacancies are up. If you're paying in full on time and have had no problems it's unlikely they'll push it.
- What you're doing is no more hazardous than making soup. I doubt a judge would see different.

Harder:
- They guy's just doing his job. He's told not to let anyone do anything that could 'blow up', and he doesn't really have a personal stake on keeping you in the apt.
- He's old. Damn old people. :D Joking aside, as people get older they get less flexible and what they think is what's true - dadgummit!

Here's what I would do. First, ignore him, and see if he brings it up again. There's a good likelihood he won't.

If he mentions it again, talk to the guy. Ask him why he thinks it's dangerous and why you're going to blow the place up. If you can nicely get him to see that what you're doing is pretty much like making soup, then you won't have any more hassles. Hell, bring him some homebrew as a peace offering.

If the old fart won't budge, do what most of the people here have said. If he comes into the apartment without giving you notice then write a certified letter asking that he give you 24 hours notice, and requiring your presence. Make sure on that day to not be brewing, and have your carboys in a locked cabinet or a box. Landlords are NOT allowed to go through your stuff.

Remember that CA laws are in your favor, both for homebrewing and tenant/landlord laws. The problem you might face is a day in court, but if you have the time, you can easily defend yourself, and it's likely you'd win.

Last, please keep in mind that I'm not an attorney so take what I've said with a grain of salt. Take a look at this: http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/landlordbook/catenant.pdf. It outlines CA laws.

Best of luck. Feel free to PM me anytime if you want.

Scott
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+1

You will be fine. As most have said, keep brewing knowing you will get notice before anyone comes into your apartment. Also as above, if he mentions it again, educate him and be nice. You will be fine.
 
If I were in that situation, I'd pretty much just ignore it and go about my day. He has no way to know if you're brewing, and he'll probably forget about it in a week anyhow. If he asks you about it later, just say you haven't been doing it.
 
I think that the best way to handle it would be to invite him around for one of your (already brewed) homebrews and just explain the whole process to him, to be fair to the guy it is probably just his ignorance that causes him to see it dangerous and most likely has no understanding of how homebrewing beer differs from either distilling or even operating a meth lab. Just remember that it is always good to get on with the landlord whenever possible and if hes a reasonable enough guy he should at least accept a beer and a chat and maybe a referal to this forum or another site to better understand why it is completely safe for him to allow you to homebrew. Who knows you might end up with a brewing buddy but if the softly softly approach fails feel free to tell him that he is an idiot and doesnt know what he is talking about. :rockin:

PS: I rent and I never even considered what my landlords would think to my brewing tbh. THe live right next door too but the guy used to do a few of the kits so he understands it a lot better, Im just lucky I guess. Good luck sorting out the issue.
 
Yeah I don't understand why people think homebrewing produces explosions. I told buddy that I was brewing some beer and he said he hoped I didn't "blow up my house" Its bizzaire.

I could understand why a landlord wouldn't want you to run a 185,000 btu burner on the deck or something, but if you are stovetop brewing, I don't see how that is any different than cooking a big soup....
 
Newton said:
Yeah I don't understand why people think homebrewing produces explosions. I told buddy that I was brewing some beer and he said he hoped I didn't "blow up my house" Its bizzaire.
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people equate brewing with moonshine. and there are plenty of urban legends of some hillbilly blowing up his still. same with the occasional brewery/distillery burning down. there is also the fact that alcohol is flammable.... in high enough concentrations ..... higher than what you will ever get in any homebrew. allot of people don't realize/know this. also they don't realize/know there is no alcohol in wort.

i suppose you could technically blow up a propane tank. but as a recent episode of Mythbusters showed you have to disable several safety features to do it. your standard working propane tank turns into a flame thrower when over heated. but really by that point you have bigger problems, like a house burning down.
 
Teromous said:
To me it looks like you really only have 3 choices.

1. Change his mind.
2. Listen to him, and stop.
3. Don't stop, and he evicts you giving you advance notice.
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Landlords, in most states, can't evict you without going through a ton of crap, including getting a court order.

In fact, if he did evict you over this, you'd have grounds to seek damages for retribution.
 
iron_city_ap said:
Next time he stops by, tell him you are watching a 'lost' episode of Matlock on TV, and NO, he can't come in.
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abe.gif



MAT-LOCK!!!
 
Boondoggie said:
Why?

Landlord can tell you not to do otherwise legal things with your apartment, like smoking and owning pets... how is this any different?
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Yeah, in the lease. They couldn't come to you 6 months into your year long lease and tell you that now you can't have a dog all of a sudden.

Renters have rights too. More than most people think.
 

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