Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

I am the caregiver for a paraplegic Vietnam vet. Last year he got stiffed in one of those cash for keys scams,so he had to find a new house to rent.he did that in November of 2012. He seemed to have gotten a good deal on a three bedroom two bankofamerica with a detached garage for 895.00 a month. So I helped to move him in, he had to go in for his yearly assessment for his vs benefits so I stayed at his house with his service dogs while he spent the week at the vs. Well the house I found was not turning into being such a great deal for the first two weeks we had only a fireplace to heat a 1600square ft house. Finally after the month ended the owner sent up his repairman to make the heater operable,then in the month that followed he had no running water for two weeks because of the septic being clogged with a hairball the size of a small child. He was forced to rent a room for the week so he n his dogs would have water.he was never reimbursed for this although he did write it out on a letter with the following months rent payment. But wait it goes on in Feb.of2013 I came in to work to find him sitting freezing cold in his chair with water up to his ankles and the dogs and cat on the backs of the furniture because apparently the owner had not weatherproofed the pipes in the laundry room and one of the fittings froze and burst. This time I called the property management people over four times I called the owner, nobody came by to look at the pipes nobody sent a plumber nothing. I ended up spending my Valentine's day using my household carpet cleaner to extract all the water I possibly could and we had run up the gas bill having to keep the heater running full blast the entire weekend. After that I went around the house and one by one with the man I caregiver for we went through and made a list of things wrong in the house. Just as an example one of the things which is still not fixed is that the master bathroom has two doors one leading to the dining room the other leads outside well the door going outside is about four inches to short which allows for a very icy breeze to Florida in and its so large that mice and leaves from outside walk n blow right on in. I finally went down to Lowe's and bought some foam insulation to try and seal it up and deducted it from the next month's rent.by the end of February he had to be hospitalized with pneumonia I believe from the lack of heat and the flooding he had to sit in til I got to work that day. In the time he was hospitalized its been a circus of repairs that I have to either do myself or pay a local handyman to do. Now I was recently told that whoever plumbed in the laundry room did it illegally and the wAter runoff from it over a year and two months time has completely saturated the ground and now not only is the foundation cracked through but the house is no doubt filling with mild as the weather warms and cools. He is afraid he will be kicked out in the street with no place to go but I am telling him thAt he could be in more long-term danger if he doesn't seek smirking of help. He just wants a house and yard of comparable size with the same size with the same amenities, but on a fixed income he is very limited on money and must watch where he spends each penny. Please if you know anyplace that can help him or if anyone can give me me any advice he needs to find a new place asap for his health and mine as I work there eight to ten hours a day everyday. I would really appreciate it I don't know a whole lot about the law but I know that this is not right. And by the way we live in Apple Valley California.


Asked on 1/10/14, 7:07 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Armen Tashjian Law Offices of Armen M. Tashjian

He should file a complaint with your local housing authority and health department to force the landlord to make the house habitable.

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Answered on 1/11/14, 12:19 pm


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