Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: What should I do if I face a retaliatory eviction situation?

Probably not. Generally speaking, you are not entitled to deduct such expenses from your rent. The unit does not sound uninhabitable, and it is not clear if you made sufficient demand upon the landlord to cure the issues. Instead, it appears as if you unilterally made repairs and now want the landlord to pay. Unless you find a sympathetic judge, it is unlikely that the court will sympathize with you.

When you short paid February, you were most likely in breach of the lease at that point.

You don't indicate if/when the Landlord served a 3-Day to Pay or Quit. Presumably, this was done. If done before you tried to pay March, then the Landlord was probably justified in refusing the March payment because it was not payment in full.

To protect your credit rating, you should cut a deal with the Landlord now. Otherwise, you will be forced to go to fight the case in court. If you have just been served with a lawsuit, then you have five days to respond in proper legal format in court.

You should find yourself an attorney immediately.

Good luck.

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Re: What should I do if I face a retaliatory eviction situation?

I think the first question is whether you have a long-term lease with some time remaining or you are month-to-month. Since your rental could be terminated soon anyway, opposing might not be economic.

If you decide to fight the UD, note the very short response time on the summons, and be sure to file an answer stating your defenses within that time.

Answers and other court papers have strict format requirements, so I'd suggest using a local lawyer who does tenant matters at least as a coach if not under a full retainer basis.

There is some law and policy against retaliatory evictions which may be helpful; on the other hand, I'm not entirely sure your use of the pay-and-deduct law for the purposes mentioned was legally permissible.