What are my rights as a tenant in California? I've been taking it up the tailpipe for a while now and need to know what I should really have done. okay I've been renting a room out of a home in Los Angeles, I was gone for work for four months over the summer. While I was gone I paid rent. When I came back I find the family had moved into the room and some of their stuff was their and all my stuff was moved around. They got scared, obviously with their pants down and the mom went into the room, said not to come in cause she was naked- a flat out lie. When I did go inside minutes later stuff was moved aorund and my bedding was weird. I didn't say anything, thought I could hold it over their head later on if they ever gave me a hard time, right then I was just there for an hour to hook up my car that was in their front yard for all that time to a car dolly and drag it to the family mechanic 300 miles away.
A week later I come back, this time they stayed out of my room but there's all this junk everywhere. The sheets are pulled off the bed exposing the mattress, the cat pissed under the bed, stuff is moved around, I find their trash everywhere, I think they might have gone through my mail, the mom's clothing is in my closet, empty cans of pepsi everywhere etc etc.
I make a list of the things that were missing, including things from inside the locked car and my windows xp cd, I show it to the mom/landlady and she argues with me for a few minutes about how the things missing where never there in the first place or I must have taken them with me. I keep telling her that can't be true, I'm even finding things moved and broken.
She tells me I have to leave at the end of next month (october 31).
Now I find out stuff like she's not even the owner of the home, I found a reciept with her name on it inside my locked car on a dated a week I was gone, she keeps telling me to leave earlier and ealier (oct19 then the weekend before), that "they" are kicking her out of the house and hassles me about small stuff all the time now.
I was stupid and paid her cash most of the time, but I have records of two transactions paid directly to her bank account for two months, and a written statement of 1st/last + deposit. Technically she's asking me to leave before I get my last months rent, I haven't made an issue as I haven't moved out yet (car trouble) so I don't want to burn the bridge I'm standing on. She's also made me live with a broken window, no lock/working doornob (door can close though) but I put up with it and she is renting out all the bedrooms in her house to two other tenants as well while she and her two kids sleep on the sofa in the living room.
I hate being a dick, even though those kids are punks to me, but should I have really do now? Isn't there a proper course of action to protect tenants if the landlord is bad?
Name:
Anonymous2005-10-12 20:26 (sage)
tl;dr
Name:
Anonymous2005-10-13 13:03
She doesn't own the house? I say report her. You paid rent and they screwed with your stuff is simply unacceptable.
>>1
State, County and/or City regs will apply. Google them.
Here's what I'd around here. YMMV.
Go after the actual owner(s) of the house for damages. They are negligent and they have deeper pockets. Threaten a big time suit and an e-mail to a local TV station's Consumer Advocate around ratings week.
Be willing to take a reasonable settlement like 50% of the value of the stuff you lost plus six months free rent with an option to lease in another of their properties.
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy