Landlords Responsibilities

I need to explain—or rant about—landlords’ responsibilities. It is imperative I do so, as many places I have in the past moved into were owned and operated by so many different individuals--those least rightfully the owners acting as if the place was theirs and acting without regard for landlords’ responsibilities, tenants’ rights, or human respect.

For example, one place was an “in-law” unit, attached at the far end of a huge house. The house was owned by one person, managed by a property management company (whose offices were one block away), and maintained by one of the tenants in the main house, a guy who had been there the longest and who is one very manipulative s.o.b., thinking he not only owned the property but had inalienable license to invade, steal, and abuse the others—who paid more, had real jobs, and who paid their taxes.

This guy pretended he was the one with the landlord’s responsibilities, but crossed the boundaries of law and ethics almost daily. He jammed music so loud it shook the house and the foliage. When the cops were finally called he would turn it down so they couldn’t hear from beyond the regulation 35-feet ordinance (in our state/city), and then the cops would tell those who complained that he could do what he wanted in HIS house. Not only are there NUMEROUS problems with that official response/solution, but the house is NOT his house. He pays 300 dollars of the seventeen-hundred dollar rent (the balance of which the two other renters split); he pretends he has the landlords responsibilities because he thinks he is the landlord.

He also thinks he can get away with smoking crack, doing crank, selling both, working on his worn old piece of crap vehicle in the driveway at unreasonably late hours, collecting SSI for a two-decade-old disability that no longer exists, working under the table, paying no taxes, using a key to enter my premises when I am away at a real job whereby I have to pay real taxes and stealing my shit, etc., etc..

I bitch about all of these even though they are in the past—as I have long since been reprieved of his so-called landlord responsibilities—to warn you who are thinking of moving into any situation where there is a real and/or posturing landlord. You have rights. There are tenant rights in every major and even many minor cities and towns. There are documented laws that include landlords’ responsibilities. For example, in most renters’ rights circumstances…

THE LANDLORD IS ALLOWED TO ENTER YOUR RENTED PLACE ONLY 1) IN AN EMERGENCY; 2) WITH “REASONABLE” ADVANCE NOTICE; AND 3) TO INSPECT, REPAIR, OR SHOW THE APARTMENT—ONLY DURING “REASONABLE/BUSINESS” HOURS AND ONLY WITH AT LEAST 24-HOUR NOTICE. THE LANDLORD MUST BY LAW PROVIDE/INSTALL DEAD BOLT LOCKS ON DOORS.

THE LANDLORD MUST HAVE IN HIS (OR IN THE LANDLADY’S CASE, HER) POSSESSION A DOCUMENT CALLED A CERTIFICATE OF OCCUPANCY, MAKING THE RENTAL UNIT A LEGAL RESIDENCE. IF HE/HE DOES NOT HAVE SUCH A CERTIFICATE, HE/SHE CAN NOT LEGALLY CHARGE ANY RENT. FAKE LANDLORDS CANNOT ISSUE WRITS OF NOTICE OF EVICTION OR OTHER PUNISHMENT, ETC..

LANDLORDS WHO HAVE RENTERS WRITE RENTAL CHECKS TO ANY NAME OTHER THAN HIS/HER ACTUAL NAME MUST HAVE A DBA (DOING BUSINESS AS) LISCENCE. These laws are just that, laws…for the state of California. Check your state laws for landlords’ responsibilities and tennants’ rights. Save yourselves the trouble, pain, and expense.