Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: 3 day pay or quit

You did everything wrong. You should have looked for legal advice before withholding rent.

Late fees are not permitted, unless you have already agreed to them in your lease.

I assume the carpet was damaged by the overflow. You may have to fight that out in front of a judge.

After 3 days, the landlord must file an unlawful detainer (eviction).

You cannot be evicted by the sheriff at this point.

You probably need a landlord tenant lawyer to write a letter (at least) to your landlord.

Good luck!

Re: 3 day pay or quit

I am sorry to hear about your problems. Mr. Bennett is correct that you did not have a right to withhold rent, and therefore, you may be evicted if you don't act quickly. The three day notice is probably defective if he included all of these other charges on the same notice. Even still, you don't want to have an unlawful detainer lawsuit filed against you, and have to go fight it in court. First, you'll have a hard time renting in the future. Second, it does adversely affect your credit, and third, there is uncertainty in litgation - even with a defective notice, you could still lose at at trial and be evicted at the end of the unlawful detainer.

Why can't you come up with the $1,900 for rent - it seems to me that if you are only withholding the rent because of the toilet problem, you should have it in the bank. If you can't afford the apartment, then you need to consider finding a new apartment you can afford and move out as soon as possible. The toilet doesn't give you any reason to avoid paying rent on the apartment.

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