Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: Unlawful Detainer

I cannot add anything to my colleagues' excellent dissection of your UD and other areas of dispute.

Whether you want to live there, or not, is immaterial to the UD, however.

Follow the advice of Mr. Cohen and Mr. Shers.

Re: Unlawful Detainer

I must be missing something. If the notice of change of terms is a 60-day notice and was given to you by the landlord (or its agent) on 11/14, by its own terms it cannot take effect before 1/13/08. How could you owe any money if you've fully paid according to the terms on the rental agreement?

Of course, I assume it was given to you by the landlord or its agent. If given to you by a roommate or some other resident of your rental unit, that's a different story. It sounds like you might have a good defense.

As far as whether a landlord would sue for that kind of money, it sounds like the landlord wants you out for some reason -- probably for complaining about the refrigerator. It really makes no sense for a landlord to sue for that small amount, since filing a lawsuit costs more than that. Something else is going on. Call the landlord and try to work something out.

Re: Unlawful Detainer

Whether or not it is normal does not really matter because it is happening to you and it being abnormal does not change the legal situation. I assume that you do owe some money [whether or not as to repair dispute]and you ere personally served with the UD, so there would be no grounds for vacating the UD. The landlord would lose in court if you have given him notice of the problem with the landlord not acting to repair the problem within a reasonable time, and your notifying the landlord that you would deduct that amount and actually using it to make the repairs and not just pocketing it as your determination of what would be a fair rent reduction [that would be self help, letting you decide by yourself what the damages are].

The easy way to make the UD go away is to pay the unpaid amount of rent, which is a lot cheaper than going to court or mediation over the matter. The 60 day notice is not related to the UD; it is given as to a change in the terms of the lease but does not forgive any violation of the lease as to rent that is owed. If you want to stay there, you have to make peace with the landlord. Unless your unit is covered by some local rent control ordinance, or there are not many rents available to replace you, your landlord will likely kick you out by simply not renewing your lease or giving you a thirty day notice if you have no more than a month to month tenancy. If, aside from this one rent deduction, you have been a good tenant paying on time and not damaging the property or disturbing your neighbors, point that out to the landlord and ask him to calculate the likelihood that he can find within a month a tenant that is equal to or better than you.