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Landlords faulty and dangerous house and now they want to charge us for it

Asked about 3 years ago - Seaside, CA

in california. we were evicted suddenly afer a laundry room fire (minor) event uncovered ilegal and extremely hazardous electrical conditions. notified landlords. no response for almost month. then we withheld the rent after pge came to house and issued hazard notice on eolectrical and on 4 applicancces leaking carbon monoxide, numerous code violations and worst of all, a year ago the owner said he had repaired appliances and they were safe to use. he even took myu co2 detector that was larming then and said he would take a look at it. after pge disconnected heater x3times in 11/2 years we stopped using it went without heat almost a yer. owner insisted he had fixed it himself. turns out he closed all ventilation off for heater and water heater. i went out bought x2 new co2 detectors both alarmed immediately. owner took 3 more months to fix co2 problems, cut off power to a1/3 of our hosue and the nonly repairs they made to faulty electrical was to remove their exposed wiring hnging from ceiling . still havent fixed the electrical. we have 3 electrican reports stating house is dangerous. they evicted us 4 hours after the heating/appliance repair man left. mediation was a joke. owner said he didnt know of any safety issues in his house. it was unbelievable. we have 4 kids. 2 year old will be monitored for 5 years for low level long term co2 exposure/. heater was five feet from our bedrooms. pge turns out has issued 4 tags on house. we didnt [ay them the rent we were holding and they didnt pay off the reimbursements bill they owe us. about even now they are keeping 1850.00 deposit and trying to charge us another 2900 for supposed damages. they claim things that were there when we moved into house of which i have pictures of move in and move out.
this is wrong. they cost us thousands to have to move at christmas time and not only do they now think their heating repairs have gotten them out of any trouble they are trying to make a buck on us!
is ther really any hope to put an end to them?

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Attorney answers (1)

Brian Richard Dinday

Reputation Level 16

Answered almost 3 years ago. Criminal Defense Attorney in San Rafael, CA.

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Wow. I wish I had seen this three months ago. What a death trap and what a monster of a landlady. Have you considered taking her to Small Claims Court? You say you are about even now, but I wonder. What about the medical expenses incurred and yet to come? Your Health Dept must be a joke if she is still allowed to rent this death trap. If they don't land on this monster with both jack boots, how the heck do they justify accepting their paychecks? If you have photos, Health and fire inspector reports and other eye witnesses to these events, I would not expect the judge to award this animal anything against you.

But you might also sue to recover a portion of the rent you paid all those months for uninhabitable premises. Maybe claim 2/3 of the rent as a refund for those substandard premises. You'll easily reach the $7500 Small Claims limit and you can record your judgment as a lien against the property.

There are probably a lot of ways in which the landlady damaged you and your family that did not appear in your post. Most personal injury lawyers could handle a case like yours. Why don't you get a free, in-office consultation with a local attorney and tell the whole story and see if it is worth pursuing? It may well be worth a lawyer's time and net you a large recovery. Search "personal injury attorney Seaside (or your County name)" and you should find several.

I sit as a Small Claims appeals judge and heard a case recently of a similar landlord who appealed the judgment against him. I increased the damage award.

Good luck.

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