Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
I have given my landlord a written 30 day notice and will be moving out by 07/31/2011, 6 weeks before my year lease is up. We have had numerous issues for the entire time we have been ther. listed below are some details. Can we get our deposit back and can we leagally get out of this lease. He has now filed bankruptcy as well as putting the house for sale.
Per rental agreement, Gardner included on weekly basis.
We have emails/texts, asking for lawn service time after time. Many times overgrown and awful.
o
o Heat � not one working heat unit in the house. Many mornings 50 degrees. We ran space heaters a lot to keep the chill at bay. One month, electric bill was $500 vs. avg of $100 per month. We asked Matt to fix, he said can�t afford it. He said he would put insulation in to help. That took another 3 weeks and bugging him to come out. I think it was 6 weeks and only did half of the house. Jan 6th � Feb 12th.
o Bug/ant service. Per email from Matt, agreed to have monthly service. Happened once.
o Rats � we told him there were rats on both sides of the house in the attic. He confirmed this when he crawled up there to look at insulation. He said he would set traps and get that taken care of. Never happened and they are still present.
o Trash � he has outstanding will with EDCO � trash service � so rather than pay the bill so we could get service, has his �worker� come to take trash out weekly � Thursdays. Again, many emails and texts requesting trash be taken out. It would go many times 2 weeks + before trash was taken. Overflowing, and covered with ants.
� Leaks in house � showed him where water was leaking on one side of the house � flooded area. Also in closet of master bedroom, ruined shoe cabinet and also had mold on it. When told and shown to Matt, �yeah, we will fix that�. Never happened. When told about mold on shoe cabinet �put a fan on so it can dry and use bleach and water to clean�.
� Plumbing � 6 days without a working toilet in the boys bathroom, due to backed up septic tank, removed lid of tank.
� Hot Water heater � 7 days to fix. 7 day without being able to do dishes, run the dish washer, do laundry or for the boys to use their shower.
� Never sealed up around existing/non-working furnace unit where water and draft comes in on the boys side of the house. Notified him of water in the house in December � never fixed.
� Never graded the driveway as promised.
� Matt�s office landlord coming to the house and leaving notes on the window telling Matt to get his stuff out of his office.
Rancehand and 2 other men were at the house at 5:45am today � That is not allowed, outside of normal reasonable hours.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You should be able to successfully argue "constructive eviction", that is the numerous health and safety code violations caused you to have to leave. You are entitled to your security deposit back but he is a deadbeat in bankruptcy and your are one of probably many unsecured creditors who might get back small small percentage of the debt. contact the bankruptcy trustee and find out what the situation is and whether you can or is it worthwhile to join in as a creditor.
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