California Tenants' Rights

Janet Portman, J. Scott Weaver

• Publisher: NOLO
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781413325263
• Edition: 21
• Topic: Diritto
• Subtopic: Diritto immobiliare

Many tenants have to deal with roommates who don't pull their weight, neighbors who routinely engage in illegal activities, landlords who don't know -- or won't follow -- national or state laws and local rent ordinances. Use this book to give you the information and tips you need to protect and assert your rights as a renter in California.Find out how to:

• understand and negotiate a lease
• inspect a rental before moving in
• fight discrimination
• get needed repairs and maintenance
• deal with a nosy landlord
• break a lease with minimum fall-out
• get your security deposit back
• figure out rules for rent increases
• fight an eviction.
  

CHAPTER

1

Looking for a Place and Renting It

Get Organized and Set Your Rental Priorities

Learn About Leases and Rental Agreements

Oral Agreements

Written Leases and Rental Agreements

Which Is Better, a Lease or a Month-to-Month Rental Agreement?

The Relationship Between State Law, Local Law, and Rental Agreements

Illegal Units

Typical Provisions in Leases and Rental Agreements

Names and Addresses of Landlord and Tenants

Rental Property Address and Details

Term of the Tenancy

Rent

The Date Rent Is Due

Deposits and Fees

Utilities

Condition of the Rental Unit

Tenant’s Repair and Maintenance Responsibilities

When and How Landlords May Enter Your Rental Unit

Extended Absences

Limits on Your Behavior

Restrictions on Use of the Property

Megan’s Law Database

Attorney Fees and Court Costs in a Lawsuit

Grounds for Termination of Tenancy

Invalid Lease Provisions

Provision That the Landlord Is Not Responsible for Damage and Injuries

Provision Making Tenant Responsible for Repairs

Provision Waiving Your Self-Help Repair Rights

Waiver of Rent Control Laws

Waiver of Right to Legal Notice

Right to Inspect

Right of Reentry Provision

Waiver of Jury Trial

Waiver of Right to Appeal

Provision Setting Notice Period

Cash Rent

Provisions That May Be Invalid Depending on the Circumstances

Late Charges

Rules on Number of Occupants

Requiring the Tenant to Give Notice on a Specific Day

Provision Restricting Water-Filled Furniture

Penalty and Liquidated Damages Provision

Holding Deposits and Credit-Check Fees

Holding Deposit

Credit-Check and Screening Fees

Rental Applications and Credit Reports

Rental Applications

Credit Reports

Investigative Reports

How Landlords Must Handle Your Credit Information

Safe Retention

Destroying Unneeded Reports Routinely

Remedies When Landlords Willfully Disregard the Disposal Rule

Permissible Reasons for Rejecting Tenants

How to Check a Place Over

A Checklist of Things to Inspect

What If the Place Does Not Meet the Above Standards?

How to Bargain for the Best Deal

Get All Promises in Writing

The Landlord-Tenant Checklist

Cosigning Leases

Know Your Manager

Looking for a house or apartment to rent is often a frustrating and time-consuming task. Because it is human nature to become harried and frazzled under pressure, many people make mistakes at this stage that later turn out to be costly, both in time and money. Try to stay cool.

Get Organized and Set Your Rental Priorities

Before you start looking for a place, make a list of your housing needs and priorities, including:

• how much you can afford to pay

• what your space and living needs are

• how long you plan on staying, and

• what sort of area you want to live in.

Be realistic both as to your budget and as to what is available, and set definite guidelines in advance. If you can’t find a place that meets your guidelines, don’t change them without taking time to think the matter over carefully. Some of the worst and most costly mistakes are made by people who sign a lease or put down a deposit at the end of a long, frustrating day only to realize later that the place is unsuitable.

It is extremely important that you keep good records. Get a large manila envelope or file folder in which to keep all papers having to do with your rental transaction. Misplacing and losing papers (deposit agreements, leases, rent receipts, and so on) is a common mistake to avoid. Your landlord is in business and has probably learned how not to make such basic mistakes, so you should do the same. Set up a safe place in which to save your papers, receipts, canceled checks, and anything else that you think might possibly be important later.

Here are examples of items to consider when choosing an apartment or other rental:

Price range: Jot down how much you can afford to spend on rent, including utilities.

Location: If you know what city or neighborhood you want to live in, list it. If you want to live close to friends, family, or public transit; or to a skiing, hiking, or surfing site, note that also. Be as specific as possible about where you want to live.

Rooms and interior features: Note the number, size, and types of rooms you want. List the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as their specific features. For example, if you must have two bathrooms, specify whether you need two full bathrooms or one full and one half. List any other rooms you’d like, such as a separate dining room, a family room, a finished basement, a separate home office, or a space for your washer and dryer. Be as detailed as possible about your housing needs. If sunny rooms, air-conditioning, a modern kitchen, and lots of storage are important, include them on your list. You might also be concerned about noisy neighbors. Ask the landlord or manager if there have been complaints about the neighbors—and confirm the answer if you visit, with people who live in the building.

Security: Depending on the crime rate in the area where you’re looking, you may want to rent in a building with a front gate security system. This type of system allows you to screen visitors at the front gate to the building before they actually get to the front door of your residence.

Pets: If you own a dog, cat, or other pet, you will want to find out whether the landlord allows pets.

Yard and exterior features: If you like to garden or need a yard for your dog, put this on your list along with details on the size or type of yard.

Parking: Parking can be a critical consideration if you are planning to live in a city. Write down how many motor vehicles you have and what type of parking you will need, such as garage parking or easy street parking with no restrictions. The crime and vandalism rate in your area will also determine the kind of parking you want.

Neighborhood features: This category covers a lot and should be considered carefully. Neighborhood features you may be concerned about include low crime rates; walking distance to bookstores, shops, or parks; proximity to public transit (even if you don’t use it, you may have friends who do); low-traffic streets; lots of families with small children; quiet neighborhoods; limited access communities; or senior citizen housing. If you have school-age children, the proximity to and the quality of local schools will be very important considerations.

Work or school commute: Consider the maximum times and distances you are willing to travel to and from work or school by car or public transit. If you want to walk or bike to work or school, note that here. If you want to commute by public transit, check out the nearest bus or train stops and lines.

Once you have a list of your priorities, it’s time to start looking. Craigslist will usually be your best resource, but also get leads from people you know who live or work near where you want to live. Also, walk the neighborhoods that interest you and look for “Apartment for Rent” signs. Other good resources include local real estate offices and property management firms that handle rentals in the area, and college housing offices or alumni.

Learn About Leases and Rental Agreements

Before you start looking for a place, you should know a little about rental agreements. First—the most important rule—don’t sign any papers until you understand what’s in them, or you may regret it later!

Landlords rent their properties using one of these methods:

• a written lease

• a written rental agreement, or

• an oral lease or rental agreement.

An oral lease or rental agreement is made without anything being written down—you just talk over what the deal is and agree to it. The other two, the written lease and the written rental agreement, have all the terms you agree to written down on paper, which you and the landlord sign. Let’s look at each in some detail.

Oral Agreements

It is perfectly legal to make a deal orally—that is, without writing anything down, and without signatures—as long as it covers a year or less. (If the oral agreement is for over a year, it is not enforceable by a court after the first year.) The landlord agrees to let you move in, and you agree to pay a certain amount of rent on some schedule, like weekly, every other week, or every month. Your payment of rent can be evidence of an agreement to rent, so it’s best not to pay in cash (you’ll want a canceled check or electronic trail that shows you paid the rent).

If you pay rent monthly, your agreement will be presumed to be month to month. If you pay weekly, then it is week to week. Most oral agreements are month to month and require a 30-day notice for either party to terminate. But once you have lived there for more than a year, the landlord must give a 60-day notice to terminate your tenancy (see “Termination in Tenancy” in Chapter 14, for more on terminations).

An oral agreement has some advantages: It is relatively informal, and you aren’t subjected to the long list of terms and rules contained in most written leases and rental contracts. But as time goes by and circumstances change, people’s memories can change, too. Then, if a disagreement arises, both sides end up in front of a judge who has to decide whose recollection of the agreement to believe. For this reason, even if you make an oral agreement, it is wise to get some of the landlord’s promises in writing. For example, if your landlord promises to make specific repairs, allow you to have a pet, or do anything else that you want to make sure the landlord remembers, write it down and have the landlord date and sign it.

If a landlord will not put agreements in writing, the next best thing to document the promise is to write a confirmation letter or email. An example is: “Dear Mr. Jones, It was a pleasure meeting with you today. Thank you for accepting me as a tenant and agreeing to install a washing machine in the laundry room before I move in next month. I am excited about moving into this house.” Email is perfectly acceptable and has advantages because it will be automatically dated. If you have the right email address for the landlord, he won’t be able to give you the “I didn’t get it” excuse.

Now, suppose the washing machine never shows up, and you want to sue for a reduction in rent, arguing that you’re paying for a rental with a washing machine, but have not received it. If Mr. Jones did not dispute your version of the agreement (by writing back, for example), your letter can be introduced in court as proof that the promise was indeed made, and was part of the reason you rented the place. (See Chapter 7 on how to get the landlord to follow through on promised repairs and improvements.)

Written Leases and Rental Agreements

A written lease and rental agreement are basically the same except for one important difference: The lease fixes all the terms of the agreement for a given period of time—most commonly, one year. When you rent under a lease, your rent cannot be raised until the lease runs out, nor can you be told to move unless you break the terms of the lease or the law. You, too, are e...