Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
My wife and I have been renting a house for the last three years and it sits on an open acre on a busy main street. When we moved in I asked the owners for a perimeter fence 40 feet off the home and 6 feet tall just to keep unwanted people away from the home and for our safty, they ignored my request so I spent money out of my pocket and had an alarm installed. During this past three years we have had several incidents at the house. I have had to remove the knobs from my water faucets outside because I cought a vagrant using the water, some one tried to break in to my travel trailer thats sits next to the home. I have ran people off of the property when we have came home from work, I cought some one peeking threw one of our windows and few months ago someone tried to break in my back door while we were home having dinner, when I looked out the back sliding doors there was a guy standing at the door with a big cement rock in his hand wating for the door to open, so when I turned on the the all of the outside lights he ran off. Every accurence I would tell the property manager what happened he then tells me I will let the owners know, then its months later when I hear from the manager with no resolution from the owners. Granted its an older home and it has its problems but every time I call them to fix something they try to find the very cheapest way to have the repair done, (for example- the roofer they sent over called me at my office wanting to use my home electricity because he didn't want to swing a hammer and had no generator). I had to stay on them for over 2 years to get the shingles on the roof replaced because they were all blowing off. After evrything that has happened I called the manager again to let him know whats going on and we really would like a fence, the owners response was if I want a fence then go on a 2 year extended lease and pay 1 hundred dollars more a month then they will put up a fence. This was about a couple of months ago, since then my Father in law had a stroke and a heart attack and my Mother in law is losing her thoughts so now my wife and me are taking care of them at our home that we are renting, last night some one tried to force entry into my home, now my front door is broken and needs to be replaced along with the door frame. We did call 911 and had a response but during the 911 call the the response turned into a jurisdictional debate before we seen any officers at the door and the perp got away. We own a company and would move but the winter months is our slow time and now we are taking care of my in laws and just can't afford to move at this time. Since the beginning I have had to hound the owners to get things fixed and done right, most of the repairs I have had to do myself because they don't want to spend any money, but mainly I just wanted a fence for our safty and privacy. Last night could have turned into a loss of life but the worst of it is the owners are slum lords and wanted us to pay for the fence. I know when I call them today this is going to turn into a debate over fixing the front door and installing security doors on the front and rear of the home. Is there any legal action I can take against the owners of the property due to the severity of the situation that happened last night? we almost had to send my Father in law back to the hospital because of it.
1 Answer from Attorneys
The landlord probably does not have to erect a fence. Even if he might have to, the cost of suing in Superior Court [$20 filing fee] for injunctive relief is probably not worth it. It sounds like you need to move to another place.