Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Hello,

I live in Alhambra, CA. My husband and I moved into our apartment in July of 2010; it is fairly large, with 2 bedrooms and 2 bahtrooms, and has central heating/air conditioning. In late February/early March of this year, the heating stopped working. We told the landlord, and he sent a technician out to look at it. The technician said it was unsafe, and not to use it; the entire heating/AC unit needed replacement, because it is so old that the replacement part needed isn't made anymore. The landlord said that he didn't want to replace it because the AC still worked, so it didn't make sense to replace a unit that still half works. (!)

He offered to pay for a couple space heaters for us. We didn't take him up on it because at that point we had already borrowed space heaters from friends, and Spring was coming soon so we wouldn't need them for long.

It is now November 2011, and getting cold again. We asked him again about fixing the central heating unit, and he reiterated the offer to pay for space heaters - up to $100 total. At this time we have not done so, still using the borrowed heaters as necessary.

1) Does the offer to buy electric space heaters fulfil his obligation under CA civil code 1941.1 (d) to provide "Heating facilities that conform with applicable law at the

time of installation, maintained in good working order"? If so, does he need to provide enough heaters to heat the entire apartment, or only one (it's hard to find good, safe space heaters for under $100!)

2) If not, and if we press him too hard or complain to the authorities, can he raise our rent in response, and/or evict us from the apartment? Of course, now that he knows the heating doesn't work, he can't legally rent it to anyone else - but I wouldn't put it past him to pretend he doesn't know. I would really rather not have to move, and we can't afford a rent increase.


Asked on 11/15/11, 2:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

A space heater does not comply with the State law that the whole unit has to be able to be heated. Since the law does not state how the heat should be produced, using a space or other type of heater probably is ok but the landlord has to provide enough for all the rooms to be heated. To protect again eviction, report the situation to the local health authority as that will give you a 6 month period during which any eviction would be assumed to be because of your legally reporting the violation. But if you are on as month to month rental, and increase in the rent intention to evict you would be illegal but even if the presumption applies a 5% raise can be reasonably explained as the cost of inflation.

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Answered on 11/18/11, 2:23 pm


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