Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Apartment rent

You can argue that they breached the contract by not providing a reasonably liveable [warranty of habitability] unit [constructive eviction]; you would be able to move out immediately without having to pay any rent for the time after you turn in the keys. But unless you are in a City with rent control that provides for moving expenses, you are not automatically entitled to moving expenses. You could sue in Small Claims court alleging those as damages, but the Judge may very well find there is no such right of recovery as eventually you would incur the expenses when you moved out under normal circumstances [your argument is that it is one additional move]. You also are allowed, after giving reasonable notice, to spend up to one month's rent to attempt to repair the problem; you can deduct from that single month the amount you spent, up to the amount of rent for that month.