Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

My old landlord served me UD on Sept. 10. I had moved out Sept. 6 but I was living there when he filed his motion with the courts on August 29 so I responded to the complaint with an answer within 5 days.on sept. 16. We went to court on October 20 at which time the judge moved the case to limited civil as per C.C.P. section 1952.3. for December 2.

I have not received an amended complaint denying property to be an issue from landlord and I want to file a cross-complaint due to breach of implied habitability, withholding security deposit (never gave me copies of receipts and I have requested them), violation of quiet enjoyment, violation of 24 Code of Federal Regulations sec 35.92(b)(1 )

Most recently, I realized his complaint was incorrect in $ amount, it included rent more than 1 year old and would like to ask his side to be dropped completely .

Is it too late to ask to drop his case in a cross-complaint based upon the 2 items I recently discovered above?

One of the habitability issues is he didn't take care of the pool and it turned green and then sat for too long and it started to become a West nile virus breeding ground of mosquitoes. Will that work?

In November 2013 I notified him my garage door would open randomly on its own. I had to lose access to my garage and keep it locked internally all the time. Can't find laws about maintaining garage door openers but that is a lock on a door. In April, he led me to believe he had fixed the door but when I woke up to people in my garage, I knew he was lying.

How can I proceed?


Asked on 11/10/14, 3:15 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

None of the issues you mention rise to the level of habitability. If you are going to do this yourself, I suggest you get into a public law library and look at some of the landlord tenant guides, including the ones by Nolo Press and even The Rutter Group.

The fact that the complaint sought rent for more than one year would have subject a UD complaint seeking possession subject to demurrer, but that is irrelevant now that the case has been converted to a regular limited civil case. The landlord's case against you is for unpaid rent, and a regular case can seek rent from more than a year ago now.

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Answered on 11/11/14, 8:48 am


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