California Tenants' Rights

1. Looking for a Place and Renting It

• Get Organized
• Learn About Rental Agreements
• Typical Provisions in Leases and Rental Agreements
• Fees and Deposits
• Rental Applications and Credit Reports
• How Landlords Must Handle Your Credit Information
• How to Check a Place Over
• How to Bargain for the Best Deal
• Get All Promises in Writing
• The Landlord-Tenant Checklist
• Cosigning Leases
• Know Your Manager

2. Sharing a Home

• The Legal Obligations of Roommates to the Landlord
• Having a Friend Move In
• Guests

3. All About Rent

• When Is Rent Due?
• Late Charges
• Partial Rent Payments
• Rent Increases
• Rent Increase Notices
• Rent Control and Eviction Protection
• General Types of Rent Control Laws
• Rent Control Board Hearings
• What to Do If the Landlord Violates Rent Control Rules
• Rent Control Laws

4. Discrimination

• Forbidden Types of Discrimination
• Legal Reasons to Discriminate
• How to Tell If a Landlord Is Discriminating
• What to Do About Discrimination
• Sexual Harassment by Landlords or Managers

5. The Obnoxious Landlord and Your Privacy

• Permissible Reasons to Enter
• What to Do About a Landlord’s Improper Entry
• Other Types of Invasions of Privacy

6. Major Repairs & Maintenance

• Your Basic Right to Livable Premises
• Your Repair and Maintenance Responsibilities
• Agreeing to Be Responsible for Repairs
• How to Get Action From Your Landlord: The Light Touch
• What to Do If the Landlord Won’t Make Repairs

7. Minor Repairs & Maintenance

• Minor Repairs: What Are They?
• The Landlord’s Responsibilities
• Agreeing to Do Maintenance
• Getting the Landlord to Make Minor Repairs
• Making Minor Repairs Yourself

8. Alterations & Satellite Dishes

• Improvements That Become Part of the Property
• Improving Your Rental Without Enriching Your Landlord
• Cable TV Access
• Satellite Dishes and Other Antennas

9. Injuries on the Premises

• What to Do If You’re Injured
• Is the Landlord Liable?
• If You’re at Fault, Too
• How Much Money You’re Entitled To

10. Environmental Hazards

• Asbestos
• Lead
• Radon
• Carbon Monoxide
• Mold
• Bedbugs

11. Crime on the Premises

• The Landlord’s Basic Duty to Keep You Safe
• Problems With Other Tenants
• Illegal Activity on the Property and Nearby
• Getting Results From the Landlord
• Protecting Yourself

12. Breaking a Lease, Subleasing, and Other Leasing Problems

• What Happens When the Lease Runs Out
• Subleases and Assignments
• Subleasing and Returning Later
• How to Break a Lease
• Belongings You Leave Behind

13. Security Deposits and Last Month’s Rent

• Amount of Deposit
• Nonrefundable Deposits
• What the Deposits May Be Used For
• Landlord’s Duty to Return Deposits
• Effect of Sale of Premises on Security Deposits
• Effect of Foreclosure on Security Deposits
• May the Landlord Increase the Security Deposit?
• Avoiding Deposit Problems
• When the Landlord Won’t Return Your Deposit
• Rent Withholding as a Way to Get Deposits Back in Advance
• Interest on Security Deposits
• Last Month’s Rent
• When Your Landlord Demands More Money

14. Evictions

• Illegal Self-Help Evictions
• Illegal Retaliatory Evictions
• Overview of Eviction Procedure
• Tenancy Termination Notices
• Your Rights if Your Landlord Suffers Foreclosure
• Your Options After a Three-Day or 30-, 60-, or 90-Day Notice Is Served
• The Eviction Lawsuit
• Stopping an Eviction
• Postponing an Eviction
• Appeal From an Eviction
• After the Lawsuit—Eviction by the Sheriff or Marshal

15. Renter’s Insurance

16. Condominium Conversion

• Legal Protection for Tenants
• Changing the Law

17. Lawyers, Legal Research, and Mediation

• Lawyers
• Typing Services
• Legal Research
• Mediation

Tear-Out Forms

Index