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A Neighboring Restaurant’s Rats Are Attacking My Apartment

A Neighboring Restaurant’s Rats Are Attacking My Apartment

A Neighboring Restaurant’s Rats Are Attacking My Apartment

I live above a restaurant in a one-bedroom I’ve had for over four years. There are two other residential units in the building. Lots of stuff breaks all the time in my place, and I’m sort of embarrassed to tell you that I’ve just gotten used to it over the years. The people who manage our building “fix” things pretty quickly, but stuff is never fixed for very long.

Anyway…while the constant plumbing leaks and appliance crap-outs are a nuisance, the latest problem is one that is, to me, downright dangerous. It appears we have mice or rats living in our walls (or, at least, traipsing through on a regular basis), and they have chewed through the wires of our doorbell buzzing system (more on that in a minute).

I happened to hear the rats last week, just as I was getting ready for an out-of-town trip for work. There was definite gnawing and scratching so loud from between my bathroom wall and the wall on the outside of the building that I was expecting to see an animal break through my wall at any moment. As soon as I heard it, I thought about our doorbell system, which has been “fixed” three times this year, and is broken again. Hmmm…

The property managers don’t have email, so I called them (I know you like to have everything in writing, and going forward I will do just that, but I was hoping you’d have some tips for me on things I definitely need to say in a forthcoming letter to the managers). They sent out an exterminator who determined that the rats/mice/whatever were coming up from the restaurant that makes up the bottom floor of our building. Our property managers told me they have “no control over commercial space,” and that the best they could do was send a “strongly worded” letter to let the restaurant know that someone would be calling the Health Department (and then they told me I would have to be that “someone”).

When I got home, I did call the Health Department, twice. I have not heard back yet, though it was Thanksgiving week, so maybe Anita (the person who I was supposed to speak with) was away. Anyway… At the same time that this was going on, PG & E pink-tagged my heater, saying it was unsafe due to a valve that was leaking gas, so I got a new heater. This meant contact with an electrician–the same electrician who has determined that, at long last, our doorbell system does not need fixing, but rather complete rewiring. When I asked him if, by chance, the wiring was shot from rodent damage, he replied, “Oh, most definitely. You can see it.”

1. While the rats may be coming from the restaurant, shouldn’t my landlord be doing something to ensure that our building is safe?

2. How can I make sure the Health Dept. responds to my complaint, if this coming week goes by and I still don’t hear back? Should I be making a paper trail for those conversations, too?

3. What are the “must-says” in my first letter to the property managers (besides recapping what has happened on my part–and not happened on theirs–so far)?

4. If nothing gets done once I start a paper trail with our property managers, what can I do?

A last bit of info that may or may not be relevant: The building owner lives in another city; the people I deal with are the property managers, whose office is near my apartment.

You can sign me “Frustrated and Out of Ideas,” ’cause that’s what I am.

Dear Frustrated,

I am frustrated too, frustrated with so-called property managers who refuse to do their job. What? Your property managers don’t manage the entire building? I find that hard to believe. Of course they have control over the commercial space. They should be relaying your complaints to the restaurant, as should you. They should be made understand that the landlord, their client, could eventually be sued. They could also be sued as the landlord’s agents.

Rats and mice are a well known public health problem. The San Francisco Department of Public Health has a special Rodent Abatement Program which is both proactive and complaint based. One can complain to the DPH about a variety of public health issues including rats mice and bedbugs. You have already called them but note that you can email them as well.

You didn’t mention if you contacted the restaurant. I think you should write them a letter as well. You should also look into “reviewing” them on Yelp, Urban Spoon, CitySearch, and any number of internet review sites out there. Remember if the rats made it up to your place there are plenty more in the restaurant downstairs. I frequent many restaurants and I don’t want to have to guess if that thing in my salad is a currant or a turd.

You should also copy all of your correspondence to the owner of the building. He or she may not know the whole story given the sloppy management.

Stay vigilant with DPH and also complain about the restaurant if they refuse to take steps to abate the problem.

Given the condition of the building and the inadequate repairs, you should also call a Housing Inspector at the Department of Building Inspection. Make sure that you are able to show the inspector everything you think may be a problem. If there is evidence of rats or mice, the Housing Inspector will note that too.

Take photographs. If you can trap a rat and snap a photo, there isn’t much more dramatic evidence. See for yourself at my blog post, Every Tenant Has One.

As you develop evidence make sure the managers and the owner get copies. Continue to press them to repair and exterminate. You should also demand that they partially credit your rent for decrease in services.

Finally, if the landlord’s response is inadequate or nil, file a petition for decrease in services at the Rent Board.

As usual, I recommend that you bring all of your documentation to the San Francisco Tenants Union to develop your overall strategy.

Living above a restaurant is never easy. One always runs the risk of rats, cockroaches and other vermin attracted by the food. There’s also noise and ventilation grease and late night activity. I would never live above a restaurant unless the establishment and my apartment were separated by several stories. And the rent would have to be cheap.

Call the Tenant Lawyers now for a free consultation.
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There’s A Mouse In My (Boarding) House

There’s A Mouse In My (Boarding) House

There’s A Mouse In My (Boarding) House

Boarding house mouse.

I moved to SF a couple of years ago, so there are things about the rental laws that I am just finding out. My particular lease doesn’t easily fit into the info I’m finding online so I plan to join the Tenants Union. Since other people might have the same thing happening, I figured I’d email you as well.

Here are the specifics:

I live in a rent controlled building. I moved in on October 1, 2010 and paid a security deposit of $950.00 (my rent is $975 plus water, garbage, and other utilities; the water and garbage bills are in our names and are split with the unit downstairs).

The landlord used to live in the first level unit but no longer does.

There are commercial units on the ground level; the first level is rented out as one unit; my level (the top level) is rented out to 3 people and we all have separate leases for our unfurnished rooms with access to the furnished common areas. This is great in terms of not having to cover for rent when one of the rooms is empty but makes it confusing in terms of applying the laws.

The landlord allows pets. We’re having a mouse issue right now (to be expected when living about restaurants, I suppose) so I’m considering getting a cat. When I asked about how much a pet deposit would be, I was told it’s usually one month’s rent but of the whole apartment, not just of my room, which the landlord said would be $2800.

I know that all deposits can’t be more than 2x the rent for an unfurnished unit and 3x for a furnished unit…but I could see that the landlord would argue that the place is furnished since the common areas are furnished.

So, my questions are these:

1. What is the legal amount of deposit he can ask for in this situation? Would be “unit” be considered to be furnished or unfurnished?

2. When I calculate my interest on security deposit, how much do I subtract for my portion of the rent board fees? Do the 3 of us split our half of the fee if we all have separate leases?

3. Is it even legal to rent out the rooms this way? Is it legal to make us pay the water and garbage?

Ah, life in the city. Always an adventure.

Yes, life is always an adventure when you have to put up with unscrupulous, greedy landlords, but somebody’s got to do it, right?

In this case, the landlord wants to have his cake and eat it too. How? First he rents the rooms in the unit separately, with separate leases and, I’m guessing here, his choice of your roommates. Then he wants to treat the unit as a single unit with three bedrooms for deposit purposes.  It’s a scam to collect $2,800.00 to deal with a problem that it is his responsibility to fix in the first place.

Carefully review your “lease.” When you say the landlord allows pets, do you mean that he just doesn’t enforce a “no pets” clause or is your lease silent on the matter?

If the only reason you want a cat is to deal with the mice, just call the San Francisco Department of Public Health. Get an inspector  to violate the unit and the landlord can deal with it accordingly. I’d do that anyway. Mice and rats are health hazards. They carry all sorts of diseases. Maybe you’ve read about the bubonic plague? A continuing mouse infestation is a per se violation of many housing and health codes, a per se breach of the implied warranty of habitability.

You are correct about deposits law, but Ca. Civil Code §1950.5(c) speaks to deposits “paid on or before initial occupancy.” So the furnished/unfurnished argument is irrelevant.

Because you unit is rent-controlled, any demand for extra money by the landlord will be treated as an illegal increase in rent. If you really want a cat and you need the landlord’s permission, you can point out to him that a $2,800.00 deposit constitutes an illegal rent increase and that you’d be happy to take the issue to the Rent Board.

Rent Board fees are assessed on a per unit basis. You are only liable for your portion of the fee.

If your lease provides for payment of water and garbage and the sharing arrangement is clear, it is legal for the landlord to charge for those utilities and services.

Is it even legal to rent out the rooms this way?

That’s a complex question. San Francisco Housing Code §401 defines lodging house “as any building or portion thereof, containing not more than five guest rooms where rent is paid in money, goods, labor or otherwise.” The San Francisco Building Inspection Department will not violate a boarding house (that’s what your landlord is running) that comprises 5 rooms or less.

Yet, if the landlord attempted to evict you, he would also have to evict your roommates because the unit is a single apartment. In an unlawful detainer (eviction) lawsuit, the landlord must seek possession of the entire unit, not just a room in the unit.

Interestingly, the Rent Board will consider your room as a separate unit for purposes of deciding a petition you may file without adding your roommates. However, I always think it’s better for the tenants in these arrangement to maintain a united front.

As you might imagine these arrangements are frought with problems–problems between tenants who don’t know each other; problems with understanding ones rights and obligations (like yours); but mostly problems with greedy landlords trying to maximize their dough and control. Of course, this type of landlord doesn’t give a rat’s ass if you have mice.

Readers: If you think that living with roommates is a pain in the ass, try living in a boarding house.

Your decision to join the Tenants Union is a good one. Actually, yours is a very common issue. You can go over your lease and any communications between you and the landlord and develop a strategy to “educate” him.

Remember, landlords who rent to tenants in this manner are often psychotic control freaks. They rarely back down. You may also want to consider an exit strategy.

Call the Tenant Lawyers now for a free consultation.
(415) 552-9060

Time To Get Medieval?

Time To Get Medieval?

Time To Get Medieval?

A few weeks ago, in one of my usual internet searches for local tenant news stories, I ran across an article that saddened and enraged me.

A three-month old baby in Louisiana died in her home from blood loss due to rat bites. There were holes in the walls and holes in the floor. Evidently, the landlord spent FEMA money earmarked to repair the house on something else, but the authorities were still trying to determine if they should file criminal charges against the parents! Judging by the comments I found on various websites, most people want to blame the tenants for this tragedy. “They should have been watching their kid.” Or this particularly vile response from an especially moronic Examiner reader: “It’s always someone else fault, isn’t it? Why not blame the landlord …? Yes, he may be a slumlord. His rental house is probably a dump. But it’s a matter of common sense and personal responsibility. Natalie’s parents must have had the option of moving out and finding a better place. Or taking it upon themselves to fix up the home.”

William Randolph Hearst would have been pleased with this commentator—another dupe so mired in her own petty, vindictive, little world that she will buy anything and crap on anyone less fortunate to make herself feel better. How about a little compassion?

I mentioned last week that many tenants opt to live in these hovels because they’re afraid they’ll be evicted if they complain or that they can’t afford to move.

Why not blame the landlord? It’s a good place to start. I don’t know if Natalie’s parents informed the landlord about the conditions in the house. I don’t know where his culpability began. All I know is that he must have known something. He freakin’ applied for FEMA money to repair the house! The news article notes that the landlord was unavailable for comment. If he won’t comment I will.

We don’t live in the middle ages. Or do we? As I have already noted, it wasn’t until 1970 that California codified what constituted a “tenantable” dwelling and finally in 1986 the California legislature passed the law allowing a tenant to avoid eviction for nonpayment of rent on an uninhabitable dwelling.

We do not live in the New York City tenements in 1881 when the New York Times graphically reported that a baby died from rat bites. Or do we? Note that the report stated that the family was “poor but cleanly” but the landlord who rented the dwelling to them was not mentioned at all.

What happens to landlords who are convicted of habitability crimes? Not much, it seems, just like medieval times. I did a quick search of the web to find articles about landlords who have been punished criminally in the United States.There a few instances when landlords have been sentenced to jail for code violations, but it is interesting to note that most of the articles that chronicle criminal sentences for landlords come from Great Britain and Canada, not here. Is there a health care comment in that? This example while rare is, unfortunately, typical: An Ohio landlord was sentenced to ninety days in jail for renting a trailer that he knew had faulty wiring. Five tenants died in a fire caused by that faulty wiring.

Or the Bronx landlord who was was finally sentenced to nine days in jail and fined $156,000 for failing to address 2,268 open violations at this building. Ninety days in jail when five people are dead? Nine days in jail for endangering the lives of hundreds of tenants? There are plenty of pot smokers in the United States spending far more time in jail. “Oh, Dave,” some of you more legal-minded folk out there are saying. “You’re a lawyer, you should know that you can’t charge people with crimes if you can’t prove their intent. That slumlord in Ohio didn’t intend to kill five people.”

Bad Landlord

Well, I say, that’s the problem when you apply medieval legal doctrine to modern problems—a conundrum unique to landlord tenant law.

In other words, we must change our core assumptions about the landlord tenant dynamic. Rather than relying on thousand year old common law to assess a landlord’s intent when he takes a tenant’s money, only to put the tenant in peril, we should pass laws to define that transaction as theft.

If a tenant dies during the commission of that theft, the landlord is guilty of murder, pure and simple. It is only a matter of writing laws to define the crime, just like we did when we mistakenly defined smoking marijuana as a crime. When tenants can get sick or die due to a landlord’s fraud, it is no mistake to define that as a crime.

Tenants need legislative protection from unscrupulous landlords and should be demanding it every minute of every day. Oh, you say, it will cost too much money to enforce new laws to curb murderous landlords. In California we spend $170,000,000 a year to to enforce marijuana laws. Don’t tell me we ain’t got the dough.

Finally if we, as a society, are going to insist upon maintaining our medieval, status quo assumptions about how landlords and tenants should interact, maybe we should consider bringing back medieval punishment for bad landlords—pillories.

Call the Tenant Lawyers now for a free consultation.
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A Cave By Any Other Name

A Cave By Any Other Name

A Cave By Any Other Name

When my landlord voluntarily replaced the roof on my (his) building a couple of years ago I was blown away. It was the first time in nearly 30 years of my life as a tenant that this happened. It was the first time in my career as a tenant rights lawyer that I’d heard of such a thing. Usually when my clients complained about a leaking roof, the landlord’s response, after suggesting that the tenant empty the buckets more often, is to jab some tar in the hole. Every landlord has one…no, not a tar hole…an implied warranty of habitability.

The warranty of habitability, the landlord’s guarantee that he will provide you a unit with more amenities than a cave or a cardboard box, is implied in every lease, written or verbal. Unfortunately, many landlords think their properties should perform like an annuity—that the rent should just roll in, like interest, while the landlord does nothing to maintain them. After all, the lord already did the work; he bought the property. I can’t count the number of times tenants have told me when they request repairs that the landlord tells them they can fix it themselves. Or better yet, tries to charge them for repairs he has the legal duty to provide.

California Civil Code §1941.1 provides a list of minimum requirements for a habitable or tenantable dwelling. In other words, if the landlord doesn’t provide or fix the items listed in the code, he’s breaking the law. He is breaching the implied warranty of habitability in violation of your lease, whether it’s oral or written.

Roof leaks are one of the most common tenant complaints. For some reason landlords, especially the do-it-your-self types would rather spend thousands of dollars and countless hours smearing Blackjack on the roof rather than replacing it. These Cheese Balls spread more tar, one gallon at a time, than the Exxon Valdez. Any professional roofer will tell you that you can’t permanently fix a leaking roof in that manner. I had a client who successfully withheld rent for over two years because the landlord would not replace the roof and instead tried to dab it with tar. Don’t try this without legal representation.

Roof leaks are also a major cause of mold and mildew, but when you complain about the mold, the landlord invariably will tell you to open the window while you’re taking a shower. Which shower? The one from the ceiling in the living room? The health risks from certain kinds of mold are well documented.

Cracks in your ceiling and peeling paint are another indication of a roof leak. Peeling and chipping paint on the window frames can also indicate water leaks, if not from the roof, the windows and window frames. In old buildings, peeling paint can be a big problem because the paint chips contain lead. Though lead started to be removed from paint in the 1940s, only building built after 1978 are relatively free of it. The layers of paint from the past do not simply disappear. When the pail peels the old lead layers become exposed and introduce lead into your environment. Lead is especially harmful to children and can cause many health problems including brain damage.

Tenants often come to me complaining about a lack of heat. The heater goes out in the unit. The tenant informs the landlord and the landlord empathetically shrugs his shoulders and offers to provide the tenant a space heater rather than repair or (horror of horrors) installing a new heater. Never mind that your electricity bill jumps to $700.00 a month. There are actually some landlord lawyers who, with a straight face, will tell you that this is a viable alternative. It is not. Civil Code §1941.1(d) is clear that a unit is untenantable if it lacks “heating facilities that conformed with applicable law at the time of installation, maintained in good working order.” Space heaters are not facilities and have never, ever conformed with applicable law.

Old buildings often have plumbing problems. When you inform the landlord that your apartment has a six inch layer of excrement on the floor because the plumbing backed up while you were away for the weekend, the first thing the landlord asks is, “Have you been flushing tampons down the toilet?” In one of our cases at trial, the landlord testified that the hardwood floors were damaged in the when the kitchen flooded. Of course, he blamed our clients because they had the audacity to put cooked spaghetti in the garbage disposal. The last time I checked most dwelling units are required to have functional indoor plumbing. Sewer backups and leaks are the landlord’s responsibility.

I spoke to a tenant recently who showed me an email in which the landlord stated that rats in the apartment was just a consequence of urban living. What? Like the bubonic plague? Yes, millions of rats live here, but they are not supposed to be able live with you. If you have breaches in the building like holes in the walls, rats come in. And you never get the adorable ones who’ll teach you how to cook like in the movie Ratatouille. You get the rats that carry disease and crap and pee all over the place. It is the landlord’s responsibility to remove them, period.

This ain’t Florida, thank god. You don’t just assume that cockroaches will be living in your apartment. Cockroaches also carry diseases. And they’re just plain disturbing. They are very difficult to eradicate, but it is the landlord’s responsibility to get rid of them.

What have I missed? Windows that rattle and leak cold air; unfinished repairs that leave exposed walls; smelly, frayed carpet installed in 1916; gas leaks; exposed electrical wiring; leaky faucets; landlord trash storage in the backyard; rotten decks; rotten stairs; rotten floors; rotten windows; rotten doors; no second fire exit; unsecure building; no locks; inadequate heat; failed steam valve spewing hot steam throughout the unit; bedbugs (yuck)…all of these and the many other issues I haven’t discussed can be violations of the implied warranty of habitability.

The whole point of the implied warranty of habitability is to prevent landlords charging you for what your ancient ancestors could do for free—live in a cave. What can you do to get what you’re paying for? Or make the landlord pay? I’ll give you some suggestions next week.

I want to thank Claudio Bluer of Austral Housing Inspections in Oakland, California for providing some of the photos for this post. Claudio has been serving the tenant community in the Bay Area for years, documenting habitability horrors and helping tenants win their cases against negligent landlords.

Call the Tenant Lawyers now for a free consultation.
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