Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Tenant rights to central air

Are you in a rent control city? You would be entitled to a 5 day reduction in your rent; hardly worth the time and money you would spend and the trouble you would cause your family with the landlord.

Otherwise, you are probably out of lucky. Your problem occurred Thursday or Friday, Sunday and perhaps Saturday there would be no workers available, and a three day delay because a crane is not available [most are being used in China and the very rich areas of the Middle East, so it is not surprising none willbe available for several days]. Apparently there are no vacant units in your building and you do not have a right to move to another place. Her behavior does not seem unreasonable.

Incidentially, who pays for the electricity to run the A.C and was anyone responsible for it not working? You would have a difficult time convincing a judge that her actions werre unreasonable. By the way, I assume that you must rely upon some other temperature unit for the wine, asd you would not be running the A.C. when it is 68 degrees but I belief you have to keep the wine well below that level.

Re: Tenant rights to central air

You could make demand on her for a rental abatement (credit) for the time that you had no AC. When she refuses, you sue her.

You should not withhold the amount from the rent; you cannot simply make your own deduction. A court order is required.

Perhaps fix it yourself or obtain a portable AC unit yourself; pay for it yourself; bill the landlord for the actual cost out of your pocket; when she refuses to pay, sue her in Small Claims court.

But why bother? A lot of work for little money.

And don't expect to ever have a good relationship with your landlord after that point.

An observation: If the wine is storage quality wine, lack of AC would have nothing to do with it, because it would be in a wine refrigerator.

Re: Tenant rights to central air

I agree with my colleagues.

No matter how inconvenient, I don't think your landlord is being unreasonable.

You may be able to get the rent "abatement" if, and when, you sue.

I, also, have dogs and wine. The dog will drink a lot of water, but this will not harm him/her. Ditto the wine (and it is supposed to hit 114 today where I live).

I think you are being unreasonable.