Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

My husband and I recently had a toilet clogged in our House (rental) It took three weeks to have the property manager to send someone to repair. We were then directed by property manager to send landlord copy of the receipt with cost deducted from rent check. When landlord received receipt it said there was a piece of plastic clogging the toilet and now they are saying it was our responsibility to pay for it. It says in the lease all repairs are responsibility of tenant but all the laws I have been looking up say that it is the responsibility of the landlord if it affects "habitability". We just need to know if we have to pay for the repairs or if it should be the landlords responsibility.


Asked on 2/12/10, 7:29 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

The landlord is responsible for making repairs that affect habitability, but "responsible" and "has to bear the expense of" are not always the same thing. A tenant cannot cause the need for repairs that affect habitability and then get away with not paying for it. In that case the landlord must see to it that the repair is made, but can charge the tenant for it. Also, you say "a toilet" was clogged, not "the toilet," which coupled with you putting up with it for three weeks seems to mean you have more than one toilet in your unit. If so, having one of the toilets out of service does not even make the unit unhabitable in the first place.

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Answered on 2/17/10, 7:54 am


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