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Tenant Rights - Slum Housing

HABITABILITY RIGHTS

California law requires that all apartments and rental homes are habitable. Habitable simply means that the property is maintained in a manner consistent with the health and safety of the tenants. Unfortunately, many landlords neglect their rental properties because they either don’t want to spend the money to make their rental property habitable or they simply don’t care about the people who rent their properties. 

These negligent landlords take advantage of tenants by ignoring their tenants, or simply bullying their tenants. Unfortunately, many tenants are fearful to challenge their landlord when repairs are not made because they are fearful of retaliation such as raising the rent, eviction, or in some cases, fearful of deportation. Landlords who have no problem collecting rent but fail to provide habitable living conditions because they are too cheap or simply don’t care are the definition of slumlords.

DO I HAVE A VALID CASE AGAINST MY LANDLORD?

California law provides that all residential lease agreements have an “implied warranty of habitability” which sets out the minimum standards which every rental property must have in order to be habitable. 

If your rental unit has any of the following defects and your landlord consistently refuses or repeatedly fails to repair these defects, you may have a valid claim against your landlord:

WHAT IF MY LANDLORD RETALIATES AGAINST ME FOR COMPLAINING?

A landlord cannot retaliate against a tenant for exercising their rights in requesting repairs, or against a tenant for complaining to the housing or health department, or even taking steps to sue a landlord. Retaliation comes in various forms such as increase rent, ignoring repair requests, threats or harassment, or even threatens to report a tenant to immigration authorities. Retaliation is not taken lightly and there are strict laws to punish a landlord should they dare retaliate.  

THE ZOLFAGHARI LAW FIRM

Attorney Daryoush Zolfaghari spent over five years successfully representing some of the nation’s wealthiest landlords, property management companies and their insurance companies against tenants who sued their landlords and property management companies for failing to make proper repairs and failing to provide a safe and habitable place to live. Having spent so many years successfully representing the landlords, Daryoush brings a unique approach in litigating against landlords and their anticipated high-powered defense attorneys as he understands the defense’s strategy and how the insurance companies evaluate each case.