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California Tenants' Rights
- Description
- Product Details
- About the Author
- Read an Excerpt
- What People are Saying
- Table of Contents
California tenants have many rights, especially those lucky enough to have rent control. But knowing and enforcing these rights can be difficult. Fortunately, California Tenants' Rights, the leading tenant guide for more than 45 years, provides all the information and key forms tenants need to:
- find a good rental in a competitive market
- understand the rules regarding service and support animals
- deal with a problem roommate or noisy neighbor
- stop landlord intrusions of privacy
- get the landlord to make repairs or deal with mold or bedbugs
- fight illegal discrimination, harassment, or retaliation
- break a lease with minimal liability
- respond to a late rent or termination notice
- get as much of the deposit back as possible, and
- fight an eviction, with line-by-line instructions on completing required forms.
With Downloadable Forms & Sample Letters
Download a lease and eviction defense forms, plus more than two dozen sample letters and emails inside the book.
ISBN-13: 9781413329674
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: NOLO
Publication Date: 07-26-2022
Pages: 416
Product Dimensions: 8.30(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.80(d)
Janet Portman is the Managing Editor at Nolo. She specializes in residential and commercial landlord/tenant law, legal issues related to courts, landlords and tenants, and neighbor disputes. She is the co-author of Every Landlord's Legal Guide, Every Landlord's Guide to Finding Great Tenants, Every Tenant's Legal Guide, Renters' Rights, Negotiate the Best Lease for Your Business, Leases & Rental Agreements, The California Landlord's Law Book: Rights and Responsibilities, and California Tenants' Rights. Ms. Portman received undergraduate and graduate degrees from Stanford University and a law degree from Santa Clara University. Before joining Nolo in 1994, she practiced law as a public defender. David Brown practices law in the Monterey, California area, where he has represented both landlords and tenants in hundreds of court cases -- most of which he felt could have been avoided if both sides were more fully informed about landlord/tenant law. Brown, a graduate of Stanford University (chemistry) and the University of Santa Clara Law School, also teaches law at the Monterey College of Law and is the author of Fight Your Ticket (CA version), Beat Your Ticket (the national version), The Landlord's Law Book, Vol. 1: Rights and Responsibilities; The Landlord's Law Book, Vol. 2: Evictions and co-author of How to Change Your Name in California and The Guardianship Book for California.
Introduction Everywhere in California, you are legally entitled to rental property that meets basic structural, health, and safety standards and is in good repair. But suppose a landlord comes up short? When landlords fail to take care of important maintenance, you may have the legal right to use the "big sticks" in a tenant's arsenal -- the rights to: This chapter describes your right to basic, important things, such as hot water, a floor that will not collapse under your feet, decent heat, and a roof that doesn't leak -- in other words, your right to a safe and livable home. It also provides practical advice on how to get a reluctant landlord to perform needed repairs (and how to get them done yourself, using the big sticks mentioned above, if the landlord refuses). Less important maintenance and repair issues -- such as unclogging kitchen drains or mowing the front lawn -- are covered in the next chapter. All landlords are legally required to offer livable premises when they originally rent a unit, and to maintain it in that condition throughout the rental term. In legal terminology, this promise of fit housing has the lofty-sounding name "the implied warranty of habitability." The word "implied" means that by virtue of offering a residential rental, the landlord is automatically promising you a fit place to live -- even if the landlord doesn't realize it. Importantly, you have the right to a habitable rental even if you've willingly moved into aplace that's clearly below habitability standards, or even if the lease or rental agreement you've signed states that the landlord doesn't have to provide a habitable unit. No California judge will accept these sleazy attempts to secure tenant "waivers," and none will uphold landlord "disclaimers." So far, your right to a livable rental probably sounds rather imprecise. What does a "fit and habitable" rental really mean? Fortunately, in California the landlord's responsibility to provide habitable housing is quite specific. The sections below give you chapter and verse from state law, building codes, and court decisions. Taken together, they form an impressive list of entitlements for tenants. The major California law defining habitable housing is Civil Code § 1941.1 and § 1941.3. According to these laws, at a minimum every rental must have: The State Housing Law, H&S § 17920.3, provides that the following problems render a rental unfit and substandard if they endanger you or the public: The state statutes quoted above dictate the minimum condition for rental premises to qualify as fit and habitable. The law also approaches the issue from another angle, labeling a rental "substandard" if it has any problem in "State Housing Law," above, that "endangers the life, limb, health, property, safety, or welfare of the public or the occupants." (H&S §17920.3, also known as the State Housing Law.) As you read through the list, in "State Housing Law," remember that only when these conditions endanger life, limb, and so on, will they legally create a substandard, unfit rental.Read an Excerpt
Your Basic Right to Livable Premises
Fit and Habitable: State Statutes
State Housing Law
When an unsafe condition exists through lack of, or improper location of, exits, additional exits may be required to be installed.
Fit and Habitable: No Risks to Health, Safety, or Property
"Every renter in California should know about [California Tenants' Rights]..." San Francisco Chronicle "Want to break a lease? The landlord won't make needed repairs? Want to get your deposit back when you move out? The answer to these and many other questions about the magic of renting are answered in detail in California Tenant's Rights." Oakland Tribune "Are you shopping for an apartment, or already renting one and wondering about repairs, your rights as a tenant or collecting a security or cleaning deposit when you move? Your legal rights and how to pursue them are spelled out in California Tenant's Rights." San Diego Union-Tribune What People are Saying About This
From the Publisher
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Some General Things You Should Know
Who Is Your Landlord?
Renters' Tax Credit
Lawyers
Typing Services
Legal Research
Mediation
2. Looking for a Place and Renting It
Get Organized
Learn About Rental Agreements
Fees and Deposits
Rental Applications and Credit Reports
How Landlords Must Handle Your Credit Information
How to Check a Place Over
How to Bargain for the Best Deal
Get All Promises in Writing
The Landlord-Tenant Checklist
Your Responsibilities as a Tenant
Cosigning Leases
3. Sharing a Home
Is It Legal to Live Together?
The Legal Obligations of Roommates to the Landlord
The Legal Obligations of Roommates to Each Other
Having a Friend Move In
Guests
4. All About Rent
When Is Rent Due?
Late Charges
Partial Rent Payments
Rent Increases
Rent Increase Notices
Rent Control and Eviction Protection
General Types of Rent Control Laws
Rent Control Board Hearings
What to Do If the Landlord Violates Rent Control Rules
Rent Control Laws
5. Discrimination
Forbidden Types of Discrimination
Legal Reasons to Discriminate
How to Tell If a Landlord Is Discriminating
What to Do About Discrimination
Sexual Harassment by Landlords or Managers
6. The Obnoxious Landlord and Your Right to Privacy
Your Landlord's Right of Entry
What to Do About a Landlord's Improper Entry
Other Types of Invasions of Privacy
7. Major Repairs & Maintenance
Your Basic Right to Livable Premises
Your Repair and Maintenance Responsibilities
Agreeing to Be Responsible for Repairs
How to Get Action From Your Landlord: The LightTouch
What to Do If the Landlord Won't Make Repairs
8. Minor Repairs & Maintenance
Minor Repairs: What Are They?
The Landlord's Responsibilities
Agreeing to Do Maintenance
Getting the Landlord to Make Minor Repairs
Making Minor Repairs Yourself
9. Alterations & Satellite Dishes
Improvements That Become Part of the Property
Improving Your Rental Without Enriching Your Landlord
Cable TV Access
Satellite Dishes and Other Antennas
10. Injuries on the Premises
What to Do If You're Injured
Is the Landlord Liable?
If You're at Fault, Too
How Much Money You're Entitled To
11. Environmental Hazards
Asbestos
Lead
Radon
Carbon Monoxide
Mold
12. Crime on the Premises
The Landlord's Basic Duty to Keep You Safe
Problems With Other Tenants
Illegal Activity on the Property and Nearby
Getting Results From the Landlord
Protecting Yourself
13. Breaking a Lease, Subleasing, and Other Leasing Problems
What Happens When the Lease Runs Out
Subleases and Assignments
Subleasing and Returning Later
How to Break a Lease
Belongings You Leave Behind
14. Security Deposits and Last Month's Rent
Amount of Deposit
Nonrefundable Deposits
What the Deposits May Be Used For
Landlord's Duty to Return Deposit
Effect of Sale of Premises on Security Deposits
May the Landlord Increase the Security Deposit?
Avoiding Deposit Problems
When the Landlord Won't Return Your Deposit
Rent Withholding as a Way to Get Deposits Back in Advance
Interest on Security Deposits
Last Month's Rent
When Your Landlord Demands More Money
15. Evictions
Illegal Self-Help Evictions
Illegal Retaliatory Evictions
Overview of Eviction Procedure
Tenancy Termination Notices
Your Options After a Three-Day or 30-, 60-, or 90 Served
The Eviction Lawsuit
Stopping an Eviction
Postponing an Eviction
Appeal From an Eviction
After the Lawsuit -- Eviction by the Sheriff or Marshal
16. Tenants Acting Together
Tenant Organizing
Setting Up a Tenants' Organization
Getting Information on the Landlord
Tactics
Negotiations
The Agreement
17. Renter's Insurance
18. Condominium Conversion
Legal Protection for Tenants
Changing the Law
A. Appendix
Forms to use when your tenancy begins
Landlord-Tenant Checklist
Fixed-Term Residential Lease
Month-to-Month Residential Rental Agreement
Forms to use during your tenancy
Notice to Repair
Notice of Rent Withholding
Collective Bargaining Agreement
Forms to use when fighting an eviction
Application for Waiver of Court Fees and Costs
Information Sheet on Waiver of Court Fees and Costs
Order on Application for Waiver of Additional Court Fees and Costs
Prejudgment Claim to Right of Possession
Blank Numbered Legal Paper
Blank Numbered Legal Paper With Superior Court heading
Proof of Service by Mail
Demurrer
Points and Authorities in Support of Demurrer
Notice of Hearing on Demurrer
Answer -- Unlawful Detainer
Request to Inspect and for Production of Documents
Form Interrogatories -- Unlawful Detainer
Settlement Agreement
Demand for Jury Trial
Forms to use if you lose an eviction
Application and Declaration for Relief from Eviction
Order Granting Relief From Eviction
Application and Declaration for Stay of Eviction
Order Granting Stay of Eviction
Notice of Appeal and Notice to Prepare Clerk's Transcript
Claim of Right to Possession and Notice of Hearing
Index
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