Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

winter is coming and no heater

The owner of the building I live has owned the building since 7/05 I have requested that my heater be fixed since 8/05 with one of 3 letters return receipt requested sent to the owner the other letters dated 12/05 and 4/07 along with numerous maintenace request and my heater is still not working along with the tattered carpeting and faulty electrical wiring. My rent has been raised $315.00 in that time. I am going to send anouther letter to inform them or the repairs needed and to let them know that I will be witholding my rent if these much needed repairs are done. I know that the owner wil serve with an eviction What I am wondering is when I go to court and fight it for retaliation and the judge decides on how much rent I should pay considering the condition of the unit will I be able to get any credit for all this time I have paid full rent on the apartment when it needed repairs that they were aware of at the time but never made them. The Health Dept. washere in 1/06 and cited them with many violations and also the cities code enforcement was out here in 5/07 and cited them for the faulty electrical wiring also but theowner seems to be able to get away with not doing anything about it and the other tenants and myself refuse


Asked on 10/14/07, 8:07 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Robert F. Cohen Law Office of Robert F. Cohen

Re: winter is coming and no heater

Get the city/county departments out there again. Have the landlord cited again. That should protect you against retaliation. If you wish, you might consider having the heater repaired and deducting that amount from the rent since, I assume that where you live, it's a necessity (some places in CA don't really need heat!). If the lack of a heater makes the apartment uninhabitable, you probably would be within your rights to do so.

Also, you might talk with the city attorney's office about prosecuting the landlord as a slumlord.

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Answered on 10/14/07, 8:21 pm
Robert L. Bennett Law offices of Robert L. Bennett

Re: winter is coming and no heater

You have done everything right.

At this point, you can withhold rent, repair and deduct, move, sue the landlord for rent abatement, or get together with the other tenants for a "rent strike".

I agree with Mr. Cohen as to calling the officials in again.

Since you obviously are well versed on the law, I won't go into all the details, but, I would start with

a rent strike, if you can get other tenants to go along.

Please feel free to contact my office, either by e-mail or phone, if you need more help and/or advice.

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Answered on 10/15/07, 10:06 am


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