[maaya-hime]

Hey, I have a very big concern regarding my rental unit and my landlord NOT doing any maintenance. I live in Ontario, CA, in a rental townhouse and not on any type of lease. Currently I have been living here for over a year and noticed throughout the months serious health and hazardous problems that need to be fixed ASAP. I have talked to my landlord on several occasions about these problems, taking him inside and showing him the problems and that they need to be fixed. Some of the current problems I have is extreme water damage above my shower and mold has covered half of my bathroom ceiling. Tiles just above the bathtub have broken through and water can easily slip through and down into the walls to the main floor [where it has leaked before and we plastered it]. There is also mold under the kitchen sink and numerous small problems throughout EACH room [8 rooms in total]. Also, there is NO carbon monoxide detector or proper working smoke alarms as well/

My landlord has told be almost every time that he was going to call his 'buddy' and will come back in a few days time to start working on some of the problems. And every time he never comes. We call him back and pretty much every time he just gives us an excuse like 'i was busy with other units,' 'i had some things to take care of,' 'i still have to see when my buddy is available,' etc... I will also add that my landlord does most of the maintenance work within our complex. He is NOT a licensed contractor, and most of his repairs are either not fully finished, or finished as a half job.

After everything was said and nothing was done, I decided to write a list of all the problems, made a copy and gave him the list of what needed to be fixed and highlighted the most urgent problems. I have also taken pictures of each problem on the list for visual proof.

What I want to know now is what I can do? I want to continue living in my home and have my problems fixed if anything. Is there any possible way to sue him for neglect and not abiding to his landlord responsibilities. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

[JudyKayTee]

Hey! Have you called the local Health Inspector and reported the conditions? Are they severe enough to warrant withholding some of your rent?

If you do either of these things you will probably be evicted.

If you leave the rental you can always sue in Small Claims Court for the return of some of your rent due to the conditions but in my area these suits are very seldom successful.

If the rental unit is this bad, you have to get out.

[excon]

I want to continue living in my home and have my problems fixed if anything. Is there any possible way to sue him for neglect and not abiding to his landlord responsibilities. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello m:

You're going to need to read California landlord/tenant law. We have a copy at the top of the real estate page on a sticky note... You need to follow the law EXACTLY as it's stated. I say that, because the way things are going, it looks like a JUDGE will eventually be viewing the goings on through the prism of the LAW.

In general, you'll be allowed to fix the things yourself and deduct the amounts from the rent.. That's only going to happen after he's had AMPLE time to fix things, and refuses...

You SAY that's already happened, but you can't PROVE it... So, you're going to need to DOCUMENT everything that happens from here on out. It's like you're going to be starting the process all over again... This time, WRITE him a letter, and send it certified, return receipt requested...

How many letters and how much time you need to allow him and that kind of stuff is in the law.

excon