Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

As I told you before, your legal right is to pro-rate rent for the days you were without hot water. You have no right to hotel reimbursement. Your total entitlement to compensation is the daily pro-rated rent times the number of days without hot water - period. It doesn't matter what you call it.

If the pro-rata rent is $50/day, and the hotel cost you $100/day, it makes no difference; you get to deduct $300 for six days. If you want to call it $200 for hotel and $100 for the other days, fine. But a court is going to call it $300 for six days. If the hotel cost you $150/night and the pro-rata rent is $50/day you still get $300 for six days.

So multiply your daily pro-rata rent by the number of days you were without hot water, withhold that amount. Ask it as many different ways as you want - that is the only correct answer you will get.

If you and your landlord want to use a different calculation or call it reimbursement for hotel or inconvenience or whatever else you may want to label it, or if you want to agree on a different amount, you are free to do so. But if you don't agree and it winds up in court the outcome will always be the same: What is your pro-rated daily rent times six days? That's what you get. Did you get/withhold less? Landlord owes you money. Did you withhold more? Landlord gets to evict you. End of story.