Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California
Get out of my rental lease
I would liek to get out of my rental lease. My landlord has been a constant ''nag'' if you will. She cals me two hours before she wants to come over and get some things she left, etc... I had a huge aurgument with her regarding the 24 hour notice law. Anyway, I have a list of things listed below that I think are valid reasons to get out of my lease. Please help? :) Thanks
� Civil Code 1941.1 - Alleged drug house across the street. People park in FRONT of the rental and run across the street for about 5 minutes at a time. Sometimes they even block the driveway. I have verbally informed the landlord about this problem.
� Civil Code 1941.1 - Landlord failed to inform me about the loud music late at night from a neighbor. Neighbor consistently plays loud music into the night. Landlord was aware of this nuisance and occasionally called the police. Landlord informed me about this sometime in April.
� Health and Safety Code 17920.3 - Landlord said she was going to have a Pest Control company spray around the house. This never occurred.
� Health and Safety Code 17920.3 - Clothes dryer duct is plumbed into the garage with no ventilation. I cannot dry my clothes in the clothes dryer when the temperature is above 70.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Get out of my rental lease
Civil Code section 1941.1 does not address drug houses across the street or loud noise.
Health and Safety Code section 17920.3 addresses infestations of insects, but not breach of a promise to spray around the perimeter. Is there an infestation, and does it affect you?
I cannot say whether the dryer venting violates H&S Code 17920.3 or not. It might. Whether it is a ground to breach your lease is another matter. Is a working dryer part of your lease? Will the dryer work properly in the evenings? That's when the utilities want us to run dryers.
What 24-hour notice law? There is a law requiring reasonable notice in writing (Civil Code section 1954(d)(1), and that is what's required; the law does say that 24 hours' notice is preumptively sufficient, but that doesn't preclude 23 hours, or even two hours, from being "reasonable" in the circumstances.
I'm not saying that one or another of these problems wouldn't be a sufficient ground to get out of your lease, but it's somewhat likely they don't quite rise to that level, and there would be risk in breaching ("breaking") your lease, as the landlady might prevail in Small Claims Court. It would be better to negotiate a deal, or at least give her written notice to correct what you think are conditions making the place untenantable.
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