If you rent your home in California you are protected by tenants’ rights and laws. Here is some basic information that every tenant and landlord should know:
Tenants’ Rights
Under California law, tenants have certain legal rights and, additionally, may have other rights governed by local laws. They may have individual tenants’ rights agreed upon through a verbal agreement with a landlord or through a lease. All tenants have some basic legal rights, whether they are written or verbal.
Tenant legal rights include, but are not limited to, the following:
- The right to have the property they have rented and maintained in livable condition.
- The right to repairs for any serious maintenance issues that impact the health or safety of the tenant, and the right to deduct these costs from the rent if the landlord does not correct the problem in a reasonable time.
- The right to withhold rent under certain conditions.
- The right to have security deposits meet certain criteria, like the amount that may be imposed, and how the deposit will be returned upon vacating the property.
- The right to prevent the landlord from entering the rental unit without proper notice; and protection from eviction when it involves retaliation from a landlord.
- The right to proper notice and the expectation that the landlord, when seeking repossession of the property, will follow the laws governing these issues.
Housing Discrimination
The Federal Civil Rights Act and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act are part of landlord and tenant laws that prohibit discrimination. Nevertheless, there are many ways that an apartment manager, landlord, real estate salesperson or broker could violate these laws. In these cases, a tenant attorney should be consulted. Although not a complete list, the following are some examples of landlord and tenant law violations:
- Refusing to lease, rent or sell; providing segregated housing, or terminating a sale, rental agreement or lease based on age, religion, color, race, sex or sexual orientation, pregnancy, childbirth or medical conditions, disability, gender or perception of gender, ancestry, national origin, source of income, marital status or children under the age of 18 in the family.
- Providing housing under inferior conditions, such as one having old or dangerous electrical wiring or not meeting other local building and health codes.
- Harassing any individual in connection with current housing accommodations or their attempt to seek specific housing accommodations.
- Telling a person that housing is not available for whatever reason when it really is available.
- Refusing to make reasonable accommodations for a person with a disability in the policies or rules (like having a service dog or pet) or services provided, or denying a person with a disability the right to make needed physical modifications to a rental unit or house at their own expense.
For more key issues in landlord/tenant law, visit the San Diego County Bar Association website.
This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal counsel or serve as legal advice. If you have a landlord/tenant law matter, it is best to consult the advice of an attorney. You can get referred to an attorney for a free 30-minute consultation through the San Diego County Bar’s Lawyer Referral & Information Service at www.sdcba.org/ineedalawyer or by calling 1 (800) 464-1529.