Right to Repairs
Under California law, the right for a tenant to live in a habitable rental unit is implied in all lease residential agreements. A landlord breaches the rental agreement by failing to provide a habitable rental unit to their tenants. The implied warranty imposes a duty to the landlord to maintain the rental unit in a habitable condition throughout the term of the lease. This means that the landlord must repair any portion of the rental unit that was not caused by the tenants.
In order to bring a cause of action for the breach of warranty of habitability, a tenant must satisfy the following:
1. The existence of a materially defective condition affecting habitability. - Please see the list of conditions here.
2. The defective condition was unknown to the tenant at the time of move-in.
3. The tenant or landlord did not see the defective condition upon a reasonable inspection.
4. Notice was given to the landlord within a reasonable time after the tenant discovered or should have discovered the defective condition.
5. The landlord was given a reasonable time to correct the defect while the tenant remained in possession. - This amount of time to repair varies depending on what the defective condition is. California usually gives approximately 35 days for a landlord to repair a defective condition after the landlord has been notified under California Civil Code section 1942.4. (Learn more about Code Enforcement Violations here)
If you believe you meet all of the requirements listed above and the landlord did not repair or fix the defective condition after being placed on notice, you may be entitled to compensation.
Contact us at 949-381-1687 or message us through our contact us page to see if you have a case with a FREE CASE EVALUATION.