Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Tenant/landlord dispute

California Civil Code � 890 defines "rent skimming." Outside of the legal context, rent skimming as a generic term means taking rent from a property and not paying the bills associated with the property (like a mortgage, etc...). Unfortunately, in the legal context, and under � 890, the definition of actionable rent skimming is very narrow, and probably does not fit the situation in which you find yourself.

A landlord is considered to have skimmed rent where either, (1) taking rent and not first paying the mortgage WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR after acquiring the property, or (2) taking rent from tenants in a property the landlord DOES NOT ACTUALLY OWN and without the consent of the actual owner of the property. So, unless your landlord has owned this property less than one year, he or she is probably not liable for having skimmed rent. As such, your failure to pay rent is probably not excusable on the basis that the landlord has not been paying the mortgage.

There are all sorts of great remedies available to tenants in cases of rent skimming, but again, unless the landlord has owned the property less than one year, you don't have standing to assert a defense or affirmative action for rent skimming. All of that being said, there is no harm in your attempting to assert this as a defense - you might get a sympathetic judge or commissioner who might give you a break. Would have been much better to consult with an attorney before you decided to stop paying rent on the assumption that his loss of the property in a foreclosure was a defense to not paying rent.

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