The following form is a list of the things that your landlord is responsible for keeping in good working order. The only reason your landlord or any property management company they employ should ask you to pay or for any insurance you may have to pay for any of the listed items is if you or someone with your permission “willfully or wantonly destroy, deface, damage, impair or remove” it. There is no renters insurance or liability insurance that you need to buy to make any of the repairs listed here if you did not “willfully” damage it. The landlord has this duty to repair because of a California Supreme Court case, called Green v. Superior Court, which held that all residential leases and rental agreements contain an “implied warranty of habitability.” Under the “implied warranty of habitability,” the landlord is legally responsible for repairing conditions that seriously affect the rental unit’s habitability. That is, the landlord must repair substantial defects in the rental unit and substantial failures to comply with state and local building and health codes. Generally, the landlord also must do maintenance work which is necessary to keep the rental unit livable.The law is very specific as to what kinds of conditions make a rental uninhabitable. These civil protections cannot be signed away in a lease agreement (an exception may exist if you specifically negotiated lower rent for an agreement to do specific repairs). These are some of the more common things attorneys representing tenants in habitability lawsuits look for in building a case to recover damages. If any of the listed issues arise, write a letter to your landlord or property manager to make the repair. If after 30 days they have not completed the repair, state law, Cal. Civ. Code §§1954.06, outlines the procedure to make the repairs yourself and deduct the cost from your rent. There is no need for you to ask an insurance company to pay on your behalf.
These are the relevant state laws that apply:
[1] Cal. Civ. Code §§1941.1, 1941.3, and 1941.4.
[2] Health & Saf. Code §§17920.3 and 17920.10.
[3] Cal Civ. Code §1942.3(a); see also Cal. Civ. Code §§1929 and 1941.2.
[4] Cal. Civ. Code §1941.2(a)(1)-(5).
[5] Code §§1954.06.
If any of these issues are not resolved and repaired by the landlord, the IE Tenants Union can help with writing letters requesting repair and or referring you to an attorney who will file a lawsuit.
