Apartment and Rental Properties - Costly driveway repair of 5 unit building. :wall:

My "mother in law" owns a 5 unit apartment complex in California. 2 years ago, she was strongly urged to invest in the property by a "less than honest" real estate agent, therefore being unaware to the extent of disrepair the property was in. She has no one, that she trusts, available to help her manage her property while she tries to manage her life. I am basically the only one she trusts, and I am learning as I go along...
So, here's my question:
The driveway/parking area for the building is full of cracks, holes, and uneven pavement. There are only 4 covered stalls, and enough space for one vehicle to park along the fence. The cement has started to crumble due to the fact that tenants are constantly parking more vehicles than the area can hold.I try to be considerate by "looking the other way" when tenants park a 2nd car behind the 1st car, due to the fact that there is only parking on one side of the street, and they ticket between the hours of 10am-6pm, monday through Saturday.However, it is not uncommon for those same tenants to park a 3rd car in the driveway, when they think I'm not around. I've explained to the tenants, already, that we absolutely cannot afford to repair the sad driveway we have, so PLEASE help take care of it, by stopping the abuse.
Unfortunately, the insurance company has now stepped in, and has stated that the driveway must be repaired sooner, rather than later... Since we cannot afford the repairs, I would like to pass on part of the cost to the tenants, by giving them notice and dividing the payments up equally over the next few months. Another thing I should mention is... 2 out of the 5 units are currently vacant and being repaired, units 3 and 4 have been occupied by the same families for 30+ years (p.s. exceeding the suggested occupancy limit in one of those units) The 5th unit has had the same tenant for about 7 years, and she thinks she's immune to annual rent increases, parking restrictions, trash removal, and unapproved pets or roommates. :wall:
Since all the people that currently reside in the building, have been there much longer than my friend has owned it, I think it's only fair that they feel the pain that their abuse has caused. They all have nice cars, and I can't even afford to own/purchase a vehicle of my own.I can't even afford to pay my phone bill, because what little money I had, I have put into the cost of repairs and maintenance for this building. I am only able to go online, because the neighbors in the house next door, have been kind enough to allow me access to their signal. All these tenants have digital cable or satellite, and I can only receive one channel on my television. So you can see why I think it's only fair that the costly driveway repair be passed on to the tenants.
I just need to know if it's legal..... Thank You! GI2

I'll let one of the landlord experts answer to the legality, but from my layman's point of view I see nothing wrong with raising the rent as needed. Just don't price yourself out of tenants. As long as the rent does not go above what can be had for a similar price I don't see a problem.

Now for a managerial opinion. The inmates have taken over the asylum. Forgive my bluntness, but you appear to be letting tenants walk all over you and the reason they do it is because they have been doing it for a while and know they can get away with it.

As to the bottom line, are you prepared for eviction proceedings?

One of the landlord-types like slumlordfrank should be weighing in with an opinion, too.

You can raise the rent. I'm pretty sure you can't directly bill them for the driveway.

Welcome to being a landlord.

Just like a condo, fee's or rent increases for maintenance and improvements....except these folks probably have leases. You can't do anything until those expire. (I may have missed info on that situation)

More importantly...why are you spending money on this fiasco?

It's your (ah-hem) "M-i-L's" problem. Get rid of it, eat the loss.

That said, post signs, find a towing company, let the tenants know un-authorized vehicles will be towed. Let them pay the $100 or more, to get their cars back. Bet it only happens once.

If you've looked the other way on occupancy, well they prob have a case there.

Don't complain about your own financial situation, you let that happen (and so have I, so don't get haughty), it's not the tenants problem.

Finally...2 out of 5 vacant units is a money losing situation, any way you look at it.

Is this a business (it should be) or a charity home?