Unihabitable/Small Claims

[RunningOnEmpty]

What is the name of your state? California

My step-daugher, husband and three small children (1, 3, 5) rented a house on August 15 for $750 per month. About a week later, no hot water. The landlord brought them a hotplate and told them they could use that to heat water until he got it fixed. 30 days later, they are still without hot water and are having to go elsewhere to bath themselves, the children and do their laundry. They have also discovered a "hot" wire dangling from the ceiling. They call PG&E to take a look. PG&E shuts off the gas and leaves a paper stating "dangerous and uninhabitable." The kids gave this to their landlord. Still nothing is done. The rains begin and now the kids have water leaking through the ceiling into their kitchen. The landlord does nothing and they call code enforcement. They have now paid $1500 in rent, less $200 he returned for their inconvenience.

The landlord then temporarily relocates them to a smaller apartment in a nearby town (12 miles), despite the fact that he has more expensive rentals within the same city. He advises them they will not need to completely evacuate the original house, as repairs will be completed shortly. This relocation apartment is in a very seedy neighborhood and the neighbors tell her the handyman at this place is a convicted sex offender (child molester). She has repeatedly requested that the landlord not send this man to her apt. as she is not comfortable with him being around her kids, but the guy keeps showing up anyway. She tells me this apt. has mold, ****roaches, leaking plumbing and the toilet must be plunged with every flush. She said that today, even the plunger won't work. She calls the landlord to let him know and said he started screaming at her. The landlord is Iranian, so maybe it's a cultural thing, yelling at women. I don't know. He was much more polite when her husband got on the phone.

She's been in the relocation place for a couple of weeks now and is expected to pay the $550 rent for this place. She stopped by the original house to pick up some things and noticed shady-looking people at work outside. The handyman told her that the landlord was hiring "bums off the street" for $50 day to do the work. She said the workers looked like criminals. She's now worried about the security of her possessions left in the house.

She wanted to know if she should pay her November rent. I advised her to pay the rent and to immediately find another place to live. To take photos of all the problems with both places and to file in Small Claims to recover some or all of the rents/deposits, etc. she has paid to this man.

What will her chances of success be? Since he relocated her to another city, will she be able to claim the extra mileage for traveling to take her oldest child to kindergarten, all the kids to their doctor's appts. etc? For her husband to travel farther to work? Would a court award punitive damages for this type of case? The guy is obviously a slumlord and shouldn't be making them pay him for a house with no heat or hot water. His behavior has just been so wrong on so many levels.

Any suggestions or tips?What is the name of your state?

 

[Cvillecpm]

"Kids" need to follow the appropriate rent withholding procedures for CA - these are EASY to find and follow. They need to.....

Call the building inspector and meet them AT THE RENTED PROPERTY to document the condition. Keep documentation from PG&E and any other documentation that is available as well as photos....they need to move to a more suitable property AND start handling their OWN BUSINESS...

 

[RunningOnEmpty]

CVille-

They are handling their own affairs, but since they are very young (24), they sometimes will call to ask for the advice of the old folks. As your tag so cleverly states, "Age and experience ALWAYS trumps youth and enthusiasm." They know this.

I'm just hoping to gather some advice from those more knowledgeable/experienced about these matters, so I can point them in the right direction.

I have instructed her not to withhold rent, but to pay it. Then move and try to recover in Small Claims.

Your suggestion about having the building inspector meet them at the property to document the issues is a good one. Thank you.

 

[CA LL]

The LL is meeting the requirements to either abate the rent OR provide other temporary housing.

So..you are right..should NOT withhold the rent.

Are they fixed term lease or MTM. If MTM terminate the agreement giving proper notice/rent and move.

If fixed term lease have husband call and try and negotiate out of it. Worth a try.

 

[Cvillecpm]

Sorry * 24 with 3 kids is OLD ENOUGH TO DO THEIR OWN RESEARCH and learn for themselves.

They could have gone to Google and researched the rights and responsibilities OR Amazon and purchased a Nolo Press book on how to get out of the situation and NEVER GET INTO IT AGAIN....Every Tenant's Guide.....

 

[RunningOnEmpty]

Thanks, CA.

They signed no lease, just paid the man first/security and moved in. Would this constitue MTM?

Should they expect to recover any rent for the period of time without hot water and heat? (before they were relocated). We're talking about 60 days without hot water. The heat didn't really matter until late September/early October, as the weather was nice.

I find it absurd the man brought them a hotplate to heat water and made no effort to fix the problem until contacted by code enforcement.

 

[FarmerJ]

If the city inspections report said the original unit was condemned then they would possibly have a much easier time winning a claim against him in small claims court to have some of the rent money they paid returned to them. Pictures , inspections reports, the PGE findings all MIGHT help.

 

[RunningOnEmpty]

Thanks Farmer!

She tells me that the handyman at the original unit is being sympathetic and has told her that numerous other properties owned by the LL have actually been condemned.

Since she does have the document from P G & E which states "dangerous and uninhabitable," perhaps the inspector will condemn this one, as well. She said that despite two weeks gone by, not much in the way of repair has occurred. Hopefully, this will make for a good photo opportunity.

While the LL has provided her with temporary housing, as required, how long does he have to correct? The temporary housing provided is located in a nearby city, but not convenient for getting the oldest child to school each day. Driving 24 miles round trip twice a day, as opposed to walking creates a hardship. I'm not even sure that relocation ito a different city would considered reasonable. He did have other properties available within the same city, but more expensive rent. What do you think?

I feel badly for them, as they are a young, struggling family and the LL appears to be unscruipulous.

 

[RunningOnEmpty]

Thanks Farmer!

She tells me that the handyman at the original unit is being sympathetic and has told her that numerous other properties owned by this LL have actually been condemned.

Since she does have the document from P G & E which states "dangerous and uninhabitable," perhaps the inspector will condemn this one, as well. She said that despite two weeks gone by, not much in the way of repair has occurred. Hopefully, this will make for a good photo opportunity.

While the LL has provided her with temporary housing, as required, how long does he have to correct? The temporary housing provided is located in a nearby city, but not convenient for getting the oldest child to school each day. Driving 24 miles round trip twice a day, as opposed to walking creates a hardship. I'm not even sure that relocation ito a different city would considered reasonable. He did have other properties available within the same city, but more expensive rent. What do you think?

I feel badly for them, as they are a young, struggling family and the LL appears to be unscruipulous.

 

[BL]

Thanks Farmer!

She tells me that the handyman at the original unit is being sympathetic and has told her that numerous other properties owned by the LL have actually been condemned.

Since she does have the document from P G & E which states "dangerous and uninhabitable," perhaps the inspector will condemn this one, as well. She said that despite two weeks gone by, not much in the way of repair has occurred. Hopefully, this will make for a good photo opportunity.

While the LL has provided her with temporary housing, as required, how long does he have to correct? The temporary housing provided is located in a nearby city, but not convenient for getting the oldest child to school each day. Driving 24 miles round trip twice a day, as opposed to walking creates a hardship. I'm not even sure that relocation ito a different city would considered reasonable. He did have other properties available within the same city, but more expensive rent. What do you think?
I feel badly for them, as they are a young, struggling family and the LL appears to be unscruipulous.

I think they should have insisted on a property in the same city until their rental is repaired .

Since they accept the out of town rental , they can either wait , or give proper notice to vacate .

They need a City property code inspector in there to write up a report , which will give X amount of time for each repair .

If the heat and hot water are repaired within 3 days , they could possibly move back in there while the rest are completed .

Yes , they can ask the LL , or the court if need be for an amount for the time they went without heat/hot water .

I think a Judge would be sympathetic to a tenant put in their situation .

Now google the State's LL/tenant laws .

 

[FarmerJ]

Unless local code requires a plumber to do the install, a hot water heater can be replaced in 24 hours very easily. if its just a repair 72 hours is not unreasonable ( Draining the old tank can take more time than installing a new one I have installed electric hot water heater including running the wiring in less than 1 hour ) The city hall can tell the tenant if a licensed plumber and a permit are required to install a new one.

 

[RunningOnEmpty]

I'm not sure what the exact problem is. She told me that the handyman at the original property asked her husband to help him do some digging, that something had to be buried in the backyard, otherwise PG & E wouldn't be turning the gas back on. Hubby did so, hoping to help get the problem rectified more quickly.

As to her relocation apartment, she just informed me that she pulled up that handyman's photo/information on the Sex Offender Registry and that his crime was lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. Her LL is aware of this, as she questioned him about it when the neighbors informed her that the guy was a child molester. She has repeatedly requested the landlord not send this man to her apartment to do any work, but LL keeps sending him anyway. Can she refuse entry to the LL's pervert handyman without giving him reason to evict her?

 

[RunningOnEmpty]

She just called and informed me that she went to office to pay the rent. The office lady told her that LL is refusing to accept rent and giving her 30 days to get out. No mention of returning her deposit.

I guess this is a good thing, since she had already found a new, more suitable place and was planning to start moving tomorrow anyway.

The jerk is apparently evicting her for complaining about not having heat, hot water or a flushing toilet and for complaining about not wanting his convicted child molester employee in her relocation apartment.

 

[nuvola09]

I worked as an RA for the real estate company in my college for about a year.... that landlord is not evicting her. He's giving her 30 days notice, in accordance with CA law, to vacate the property. Eviction process takes much longer and has to go through the proper channels. It can take 3-6 months to properly evict someone, and CA standards for eviction are not "complaining" about slum-like conditions.

Basically, he's tired of them complaining and he's aware that he could have yet another property condemned because they are not willing to put up with the conditions. He doesn't want that to happen again, therefore he's getting them out ASAP.

As long as they have another place to live, they should moved out as soon as they are able, take as many photos as possible (35mm... I've been told digital pictures in CA are not admissible because of the ability to tamper) and keep all paperwork. Also, have all properties inspected by PG&E and the housing department, even the one they were moved to.

They need to be diligent about documenting millage and the general inconvenience because, you're right, they may be able to use that against him and be compensated.

Again, I'm not a professional, but watched our housing director evict students for non-payment or staying beyond their 30-day allowance time to move out. Its more complicated, and the landlord needs good reason to evict tenants.