Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

apartment maintenance

Our apartment must have very old hot water pipe under the livingroom and the pipe had been broken three times in a year for unknown reason(pipe must be very old). The repair man had to dig big holes in the middle of our kitchen area and fix the pipe three time during past year.

Now we have same problem in teh same area and the management is very negligent to fix this problem. We had to move all the furniture and muds are all over the place in the living room for threee week.

we could not even cook for past three weeks in the kitchen because the kitchen area is very dusty and unhealthy. I asked several times to the management but they are too negligent. They keep promising to fix but we still have same problem. This happened

three times in a year already. Is there anyway we can get compensation for this ? What should I do to resolve this problem ? Do I need to hire the lawyer ?

I would like to prepare any possible legal procedure for this.

I would appreciate if you can give me an answer for my question as sson as posssible.

Thank you,


Asked on 2/27/02, 2:19 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Victor Hobbs Victor E. Hobbs

Re: apartment maintenance

Section 1942 of the Civil Code permits you to notify the landlord of the problem. Then have it fixed, and take the cost out of the rent. However, there are limits on this and you need to familiarize yourself with them. You also need to move. You've been in this place way too long. There was case law, that may have been codified by now, that allows you to with hold rent payments until the premises is made habitable by the landlord. This could bring on a lawsuit by the landlord that you may or may not win. However, there were agencies that collected the name of tenants that were sued by landlords. This information was then available to landlords. Which might jeopardize your chances of getting a new apartment when you move.

Read more
Answered on 2/27/02, 9:18 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Real Estate and Real Property questions and answers in California