Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Estoppel Certificate

I totally agree with Mr. Shers' answer, so I won't duplicate discussion of the estoppel certificate.

What disturbs me (if I were your attorney) would be the rest of your statement. You have described major code violations, where you have had all sorts of remedies for several years (water leak, soaked rugs, removal of drywall, linoleum damage, mold, heater malfunctioning, etc). Why haven't you done something about making repairs yourself, or getting landlord to repair these problems? Why would you care about the lease....you have atrocious and illegal living conditions. If I were you, the best course of action would be to have an attorney write your landlord, and demand that he makes repairs under the Housing Code. Because, you seem to be a bit of a "worry wart", be aware that if you complain, the landlord cannot "retaliate" by evicting you for a period of 6 months. If I missed something here, or you have anything to add, don't hesitate to e-mail or call me. I think your best course of action is to have an attorney write a very strong letter to your landlord. Good luck!

Re: Estoppel Certificate

Estoppel is when you are not allowed to raise a defense to a claim against you because of something you did or not make a claim against someone for the same reason. I do not see how there could be any claim of estoppel here. Tell the landlord that you have been informed that such a certificate would be, according to the legal advise you got through a web site, not binding on anyone but a judge would probably be upset with him for trying to get such a misleading, incorrect document signed.

Also point out to him that what he is really talking about is a walk through that occur just before the tenant leaves in order to see if their is any damage the tenant must clean up or pay for. So it is premature to ask for such a document, as who knows what might happen in the future.