Locks Were Changed but Neither the Tenant nor Landlord Knows Why

[MaSch]

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: CA

We are the landlords and we are a week and a few days away from having the sheriff complete the eviction of our tenant.

The tenant contacted us asking why we have changed the locks. We told the tenant that we have done nothing to the locks.

That evening, we visited the unit to discover that the locks have indeed have been change without us knowing. We spoke with the neighbor who saw the sheriff earlier that day post the eviction notice to the door (which was later removed from the door by the tenant we assume) then later saw locksmith who changed the locks.

We have spoken with both the local police and the sheriff who told us that they had nothing to do with the locks be changed.

We are finding it hard to believe that a third party changed the locks without notifying us (the landlords) or the tenant. We are under the assumption that the tenant is lying to us about changing the locks and is trying to scheme against us.

If the tenant truely is not involed then we don't know how to proceed; do we wait for whoever put the new locks on the unit to contact us, should we wait until we get some sort of offical person directs us on what to do or do we go through the expense of replacing the locks only to do it again in another week?

[aaron]

Did the neighbor note the identity of the locksmith? Somebody called in the locksmith, and somebody paid for the service.

[MaSch]

no she didnt recall who did the locksmithing.

[aaron]

Who presently has keys?

[MaSch]

The tenant and us both have keys to the old locks, but whoever has keys to new locks has not revealed themselves us and supposedly not to the tenant either.

[Mr. Knowitall]

You may, then, be dealing with a tenant who plans to accuse you of illegally locking him out. Why haven't you yet called a locksmith of your own such that you can regain access to the rental? Did the tenants indicate that they're okay with being locked out?

[MaSch]

We haven't called a locksmith yet because we never dealt with something like this before and we want to have a level of certainly that what we are doing is the correct thing before we preceed.

As for the tenat he called us thurday (6/9/11) around 5 pm (I didnt speak with him personally he has started avoiding me) and told us that the locks were changed. At 6 pm I was at the rental, the tenant had left knowing that I was on my way down, I confirmed the were changed and I spoke with the neighbor who told what she saw. I sent a text message to the tenant around 7 pm that I would investagate who may have changed the locks and that I would not try to enter the rental until I had a better understanding of what is happening.

Friday (6/10/11) I spoke with the local Police who confirmed that they had no part in the lock being change. I spoke to with the Sheriff and they also confirmed that they had not done anything with the locks even accidently. I was directed by the sheriff to call Inland Landlord Tenant Board to see if they had any advice on how to proceed - I left multiple messages with them and they have yet to call me back. Again, round 7 pm Friday evening, I sent a text message to the tenant of what little bit I was able to find. After I sent the text message I joined this site and posted this tread with hopes that someone may have gone through this before and has some advice for me.

As of this moment, the tenant sent no reply back either by text message or phone call and now has been silent for 24 hours. Other than the Thurday afternoon call about the locks the tenant has not made no futher indication of wanting to get back into the rental.

Another concern I thought of yesterday evening is that the tenant is nearing their eviction date of 6/22/11 and has 5 days prior to the 6/22 to move out before we (the landlord) can change the locks. Now if the tenant cannot get into the rental during those 5 days because of the mystery lock then we (the landlord) may have a potential problem.

[Mr. Knowitall]

I suggest calling locksmiths until you figure out how this happened. Again, you may be dealing with a tenant who plans to accuse you of illegally locking him out.

I do not know why you are sitting on your hands in relation to regaining access to your own property.

[MaSch]

I went a head and had the locks changed today. I contacted the tenant via a text message telling him where to find the new key and that I had the locks changed.

On a side-note, the locksmith was concerned about the tenant being inside since I couldn't confirm whether they were there or not so he asked me enter the rental to make sure everything was safe before he finished changing the locks. What I found lying on the kithen counter was the remnants of the old locks out in the open. Least I now have an idea of where the new mystery lock came from and who put it in. So I took some photoes of the remnants old locks and left them there. I hope the tenant realizes what I saw and doesn't plan to do anything more to us or the rental before their eviction date.