Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Illegal evicition and dispossal of personal items

In 5/07, I had lived in an apartment for 4 years. There was a mold problem & discoloration of the walls/ceiling, that I had addressed to the landlord for +1 year that he did nothing about. One night I walked in, it was hot, humid, & had a horrid smell. Part of the ceiling had fallen & there was water damage through out. It showed that there was mold in most of the rooms of the apt. but it was painted over, & that was the discoloration. I called the landlord immediately & he said he was aware of it, that it was caused by my upstairs neighbor. That night I stayed there, the following day, I went back to my apartment & there were machines that had to stay on, as well as our carpets, parts of the walls and ceilings were ripped up, it was inhabitable, that night I went to a hotel, the next day I packed up some stuff to take to a friends due to the fact that they had to leave the doors & windows open. The 3rd day I called code enforcement out due to the mold, so it would be fixed. Later that day code enforcement came out & put a notice on the window. That day my landlord told me I was evicted, even thought it was not my fault & we had no problems prior to this occurrence, the following day I went to my apartment and my stuff was gone


Asked on 10/12/07, 5:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Robert L. Bennett Law offices of Robert L. Bennett

Re: Illegal evicition and dispossal of personal items

This eviction was totally illegal, as was the removal of your "stuff".

On top of that, you can also bring an action for return of some of your rent, because of the lack of habitability.

You need to file in Small Claims Court, and perhaps retain a lawyer to advise you (lawyers cannot represent clients in Small Claims Court).

If you need more, please feel free to e-mail, or call, my office.

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Answered on 10/13/07, 10:17 am


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